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Biotech / Medical : MedImmune -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: tuck who wrote (329)	8/31/2004 9:39:03 AM
From: sjemmeri	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 416

The opposite view on MEDI from briefing: MedImmune (MEDI) 23.79 -0.70: When your leading drug is entering a growth deceleration period, and your pipeline is thin and heavily weighted towards the early testing stage, you're not likely to find too many friends on Wall Street. That's just where MedImmune (MEDI) is - today and for much of this year. The company has been in an awkward transitional period, with things not panning out the way it intended for FluMist. The highly touted new drug endured a horrific launch as demand was disappointing for the arguably overpriced flu vaccine. Today, the biotech's troubles have been compounded by news it plans to discontinue Phase II trials for its Vituxan drug in rheumatoid arthritics and psoriasis. The compound demonstrated a lack of efficacy in both disease states and essentially closed the door on two different routes for the drug. The other two - melanoma and prostate cancer - are still in their own Phase II studies, although the prostate trial has been temporarily halted due to a protocol change. Preliminary melanoma results should be released at a melanoma meeting in late September, but analysts regard the findings as 'high risk/high reward' given the difficulty in treating the disease. As it stands now, MedImmune is not poised to have a new product on the market for at least another two years. Making matters worse, management has said Synagis sales growth (responsible for more than 80% of total revenues) should moderate to 10% this year - and an even slower rate next year. Negative sentiment is apt to weigh heavily as this company will only have one product in Phase III testing next year. We would continue to recommend caution in regards to MEDI - noting that biotechs with strong sales drivers and thick pipelines (AMGN, DNA) are having a hard enough time in this current trading environment. -- Heather Smith, Briefing.com