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Biotech / Medical : Agouron Pharmaceuticals (AGPH) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: JOHN W. who wrote (2665)	11/5/1997 10:53:00 PM
From: JOHN W.	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 6136

Monday November 3 9:11 AM EST Prisons hit by rising AIDS costs A published report says medical costs have soared in Illinois prisons in the last year as hundreds of inmates have been treated for AIDS with a combination of drugs to fight the disease, the leading cause of death behind bars. Prison officials told the Chicago Sun-Times today that the cost of AIDS drugs has jumped from $30,000 a month to $300,000 a month over the last couple of years. The state's prisons have 633 inmates who are known to carry the AIDS virus. In 1994, Illinois taxpayers spent $600,000 annually to buy AIDS drugs for prisoners. This year, the state spent that amount in just two months. Illinois prisons spend between $8 million and $9 million annually filling prescriptions for prisoners. A prison spokesman was unable to give the Sun-Times an exact figure, he said, because the exact figure is ''buried in various contracts.'' State Rep. Cal Skinner, R-Crystal Lake, was not surprised by the figures. Skinner told the newspaper, ''Why should anybody be surprised that the Department of Corrections has high costs for the treatment of HIV when the department... has done nothing significant to stop it?'' Skinner said most prisoners crave sex and drugs when released from prison, both primary modes of transmission, and is worried inmates will spread the HIV virus into their communities upon release. Skinner suspects that many more of the 38,000 Illinois prisoners than the 633 known AIDS victims carry the human immunodeficiency virus and is calling for mandatory testing so the state can segregate and treat prisoners infected with the deadly virus. _- ------

To: JOHN W. who wrote (2665)	11/6/1997 10:53:00 AM
From: tommysdad	Respond to of 6136

John-- I'm confused. I have never attacked the fundamentals of AGPH and yet you want to go "bare knuckles" with me. That's inconsistent with: <<My "bitch" as you so eloquently put it, is posters (sic) opinion of a company's fundamentals that varies with their position.>> My position in AGPH right now is ZERO, but I like the company a lot. That is an inconsistency. Is that your problem? Why no AGPH in my portfolio now? Unlike Richard Harmon, I don't trade -- I plan on keeping stocks for years. And I think {WARNING: Opinoin to follow!} HIV is too nasty a virus to be tamed by any drug or combination of drugs for any length of time. Therefore, I think {WARNING: Opinoin to follow!} Viracept will have a short lifetime -- I understand that you do not and I do not wish to debate that here. Only time will tell who is correct. In any event, what will make AGPH a long-term play is not Viracept -- it's things like Thymitaq and AG3340 and the rest of their pipeline. But I have seen the "two new drugs per year" quote before and it just ain't going to happen -- the company doesn't promise it and simply does not have the capacity for it. It is dangerous for anyone considering AGPH to think this is possible -- they'll just be disappointed. (your average huge pharma, MRK or PFE for example, launches a new drug every other year or so). Viracept only got AGPH in the game in a big way (thanks to Lilly of course). So I'm a lurker because I don't care what happens to AGPH's price today or next week or next month, my horizon is 1999 or 2003. And in 1999 and 2003 Thymitaq and AG3340 will be driving the price of the stock. And data relevant to these two drugs doesn't come out every day like it does for Viracept. Finally, it is unfortunate that you feel that the correction of a factual statement that could easily be mis-interpreted by others is "an attack". It is not. It is a correction of a factual statement. Anyone with any info on Thymitaq and AG3340?