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Biotech / Medical : Ligand (LGND) Breakout! -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Ian@SI who wrote (31567)	3/30/2005 1:07:55 PM
From: Monte High	Respond to of 32384

Well, Ian you could be both right and wrong. I re-read the press release and took note of the following quote: "An initial trend analysis of sizeable sub-groups in the treatment arms of both trials suggests a relationship between Targretin dose intensity and biomarker response (i.e., triglyceride elevations) with survival, and is the subject of further evaluations in parallel with other risk factor analysis to better identify the determinants of benefit or risk to Targretin in a first-line setting." .....So, without being privy to the data, which in a trial this size would be substantial, we on the outside cannot jump to further conclusions on the future of Targretin. It seems the paradigm for development of these so called "targeted" therapies is shifting from the old chemotherapy days where response rate was "king. In fact, it has been subpopulations that reveal themselves in these large trials that end up being the basis for approval for the newer targeted therapies based on LOW response rates (Iressa case in point). I suspect the people as OSI a couple of years back were feeling how the LGND people must be feeling today when Pfizer dumped their drug (Tarceva) back in their laps. Tarceva failed in first line and then was resurrected as a 2nd/3rd line drug. It is premature for outsiders like us to pontificate on the future of the drug until ALL the data are out. It is particularly naiive for non-scientists who know NOTHING about the data to say what a company should do about development until all the data are out. Most of the "targeted" therapies today show little "response" rate but have an effect on survival in significant subpopulations. Genentec is building a BUSINESS out of these kinds of drugs. So, you may be right, you may be wrong. I think the jury is still out.