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Biotech / Medical : Biotechnology & Drugs -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: 2MAR$ who wrote (226)	2/28/2004 5:21:18 PM
From: 2MAR$	Respond to of 232

***1/14 DNA $90~$110~$107 Genentech beats by 2 cents (DNA) 90.67 +0.42: Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.27 per share, $0.02 better than the Reuters Research consensus of $0.25; revenues rose 25.7% year/year to $933.9 mln vs the $878.3 mln consensus. Co also announced that its Board of Directors authorized the repurchase of up to $1 bln of its common stock through Dec 31, 2004. follow up DNA: Genentech tgt raised to $150 at UBS, to $120 at WR Hambrecht 103.10: WR Hambrecht says it believes the Avastin approval is a relatively broad label and implies Avastin will likely get more widely used in both the Saltz and FOLFOX regimens, the leading first-line treatments. In addition, firm believes significant awareness, pent-up demand, and aggressive pricing of roughly $47,000 per patient (~10.6 months of treatment) will yield robust sales. Believes Avastin marks a significant new earnings driver for FY:04 and beyond. Firm raises price target to $120 from $102... UBS raising their Genentech (DNA) tgt to $150 from $115; due to upside in Avastin pricing. Firm also increasing estimates for 2004-06: for 2004, goes to $2.00 from $1.72, 2005 to $3.00 from $2.50 and 2006 to $4.50 from $3.50. 27-Feb-04 06:36 ET In Play European Summary : European markets showing solid gains lifted by gains in drug firm Roche and utilities as investors looked set to close the month with decent profits. Shares of Roche, the world's largest maker of cancer medicines and diagnostic tests, up over 3 percent to their highest level in almost two years. Genentech (DNA), in which the co has a majority stake, won U.S. approval for Avastin, the first medicine that fights cancer by cutting off a tumor's blood supply. Utilities up after Deutsche Bank AG upgraded RWE AG, Europe's third-largest utility to Buy from Hold. Sports car maker Porsche said it had recalled 22,158 of its Cayenne sports utility vehicles worldwide due to wiring problems that could lead to a cable fire beneath the instrument panel. ABB (ABB) on Friday named 44-year-old Swiss national Fred Kindle, head of smaller engineering rival Sulzer, its new CEO, disappointing some investors who expected a higher profile manager. The dollar is extending its gains versus the euro after European Central Bank council member played down the need for an interest rate cut in a newspaper interview on Friday, saying a strong euro was not stifling the euro zone economy, Reuters reporting... UK +0.67%, France +1.12%, Germany +0.90% 26-Feb-04 14:46 ET In Play Genentech: FDA approves DNA's Avastin as first-line treatment for metastatic colorectal cancer (DNA) : The FDA announces that it has approved Genentech's Avastin (bevacizumab) as a first-line treatment for patients with metastatic colorectal cancer. Avastin is the first product to be approved that works by preventing the formation of new blood vessels, and was shown to extend patients' lives by about 5 months when given intravenously as a combination treatment along with standard chemotherapy drugs for colon cancer. 26-Feb-04 09:02 ET In Play Tanox announces settlement of dispute with DNA/NVS (TNOX) 16.24: Genentech, Novartis, and TNOX announce that they have settled all litigation among them and finalized the terms of their collaboration (begun in 1996) to develop and commercialize certain anti-IgE antibodies, including Xolair and TNX-901. Under the terms of the settlement, DNA and NVS will each reimburse TNOX $3.3 mln for a portion of its TNX-901 development costs; TNOX will relinquish any rights to manufacture Xolair, and in exchange will receive payments tied to the quantity of Xolair produced; and TNOX will benefit from an accelerated forgiveness of a loan to finance the construction of its biologics manufacturing plant in the mid-1990s. 23-Feb-04 08:33 ET In Play Generex Biotech unit enters into collaboration to develop SARS vaccine (GNBT) 1.57: Co has entered into a collaboration with Dr. Bing Sun of the Chinese Academy of Science in Shanghai to develop a SARS vaccine. Dr. Sun has done pioneering work isolating SARS genes which can be used in a DNA vaccine. Antigen Express, Generex's subsidiary, has developed proprietary and patented technologies to enhance the potency of DNA vaccines. 23-Feb-04 08:18 ET In Play DNA cut to Underperform at RW Baird; target $82 95.32: RW Baird downgrades Genentech (DNA) to Underperform from Neutral, saying the stock is priced for perfection; following the stock's 150%+ run-up since May 2003, and the fact that it is now trading at more than 2x its peer avg for quite some time, firm sees the stock as particularly vulnerable; also, given what they see as increasingly overblown expectations for Avastin, and growth risk elsewhere in the product portfolio, they are concerned that any negative news could disproportionately impact the stock. Maintains $82 target.