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

To: JOHN W. who wrote (2812)	11/15/1997 5:43:00 PM
From: Oliver & Co	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 6136

John, don't get all upset. Just do not pay attention. I do not know why he is posting all this rubbish, he will stop when we do not answer. I just came back from the Agouron meeting. Believe me, this company is only going up. The RVPI is comming very soon, I would think the final paper is being drafted as we speak. Thymitaq looks great, release for the end of 1998, excellent results when combined with radiation. The MMP inhibitor they feel is the greatest thing since penicillin. Their phase 1 looks great. European approval is expected by Jan-Feb. So buy, buy, buy. And let Senor Henry say what he wants. By the way, we all (HIV treaters) agree with you. Like Margaret Fischel said today,"we do not have the cure but we have treatments to tie us over till the cure". Bye, JLL

To: JOHN W. who wrote (2812)	11/15/1997 7:01:00 PM
From: Henry Niman	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 6136

JOHN, I'm not an MD and don't give medical advice. I have stated for years that the virus will be very tough to conquer. When the initial PI data came out, I said that there would be resistant strains. Now that patients are feeling better, these resistant strains will spread, as concerns about safe sex decrease. I don't think its gloom and doom, it's just reality. I really haven't said much about AGPH, Viracept, or treatment modalities, and I certainly haven't told anyone to stop taking their medication. I think its pretty clear that PIs help for the short term. I think that talk of "cures" or holding the virus at bay are at best misleading.

To: JOHN W. who wrote (2812)	11/15/1997 7:16:00 PM
From: Peter Silsbee	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 6136

John, I strongly disagree with some of your comments here. I really don't understand the hostile reaction of you and a couple of others to the posts of Henry Niman. (1) you keep asking Henry "what do you propose as an alternative..." I could be wrong, but I don't recall that he has ever said anything on here that could remotely be interpreted as a claim that an HIV+ person should not be taking protease inhibitors. Maybe that's why he doesn't answer the question. (2) Claiming that Henry is "dangerous" because he posts articles, etc. is somewhat absurd... and implying that he said "resistance will develop in couple of days" is, well, let's be nice here and just call it a falsehood. The best evidence indicates that, for most patients at least, even "undetectable" levels of the virus do not mean "no" virus. If you were HIV+, wouldn't this knowledge give you MORE, not LESS, motivation to stay compliant? How is it dangerous to post such information? Finally, I agree with you that I'd rather he kept the LGND posts to the LGND thread. But I guarantee (well, pretty much) that if you post a dig at LGND here, he'll respond. So, if you really want him off the thread (which I, for one, don't), when you feel the urge to mention LGND, just bite your tongue (or finger). All my opinion. PLS

To: JOHN W. who wrote (2812)	11/16/1997 11:37:00 AM
From: Andreas Helke	Respond to of 6136

John, how do you interpret the figure in Agourons 1997 annual report that shows that after only 48 weeks more than 10% of the patients have already failed to respond to Viracept? If one looks a little bit closer it seems that the majority of failures occur in the first half year. It may bee that the failure rate then goes down to 2-3% per year. But even with those low rates you would have failure in most of the patients after 50 years. There is of course a good chance that a new effective therapy will be developed if the patients survive long enough due to PI and nucleosides combination therapy. Andreas