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Biotech / Medical : SARS and Avian Flu -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Maurice Winn who wrote (2739)	10/16/2005 12:52:37 AM
From: Amy J	Respond to of 4232

"How might another influenza pandemic affect the market?" Banc of America strategist Thomas McManus wrote to clients this past week. news.yahoo.com (Obviously, there would be more important concerns than stocks but for an analyst to discuss it, makes you feel the threat is very real.) Regards, Amy J

To: Maurice Winn who wrote (2739)	10/16/2005 7:08:58 AM
From: Elroy Jetson	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 4232

Passive immune therapy with IGG is hardly the nirvana that some people might suggest. When you become a "hammer specialist" the problem you can develop is that everything you see begins to look like a nail. IGG collection and production is expensive and not very quick and timely. There are also limited production facilities. What do you want to spend your investment capital on - an inexpensive preventative vaccine or a costly last ditch treatment that will provide uncertain benefit? Why would you need IGG from the huge number of survivors now that the plague has burnt itself out? That's the actual reality of the passive immune "solution". There are many who think that the WHO (World Health Organization) doctor, Dr Carlo Urbani, who died of SARS in Viet Nam in 2003 while treating people with SARS, might have contracted SARS from IGG he extracted from SARS survivors in an attempt to protect himself from infection. Of course he would have used the chemicals meant to kill pathogens in the plasma, but it doesn't always work, especially if the plasma is not dried before reconstitution and use. If we have a pandemic, I'm sure there will be those who will be able to produce a limited amount of survivor IGG for front line personal to use for additional protection. There will be no guarantee that it provides any actual protection against a rapidly changing virus, yet it will cost far more than antiviral drugs. .