To: Andreas Helke who wrote (3106 ) 12/3/1997 3:37:00 PM From: margie Read Replies (2) | Respond to of 6136
Agouron Comments On Recent Decline In Stock Price Wednesday December 3, 3:10 pm Eastern Time Company Press Release SOURCE: Agouron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Agouron Comments On Recent Decline In Stock Price LA JOLLA, Calif., Dec. 3 /PRNewswire/ -- Following the recent decline in Agouron Pharmaceuticals, Inc.'s (Nasdaq NNM: AGPH - news) shares, Peter Johnson, President and CEO issued the following statement: ''We are shocked by the magnitude of the devaluation of AGPH shares in response to our decision to discontinue development of a cancer drug from which most analysts were expecting a contribution to our profitability of about 15 cents per share in the fiscal year 2000. It seems temporarily to have been forgotten that Agouron is the company that took control of a research compound from which a major pharmaceutical company had withdrawn financial support, successfully obtained FDA approval after completing one of the fastest development programs in the history of the US Pharmaceutical industry, and itself launched a drug in the US which after seven months has overtaken its three competitors to become the leader of its class in dollar market share, and appears to be on its way to generating greater first year sales than any other product from the biotech industry. Every successful research-based pharmaceutical company must have a first commercial product which stands alone until a second emerges. For more than ten years Agouron scientists have worked to assure that we will not remain a one product company. The breadth and diversification of Agouron's current portfolio of R&D programs is a powerful hedge against the inevitability that not every drug in research and development will succeed.'' Agouron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is an integrated pharmaceutical company committed to discovery, development, manufacturing, and marketing of small- molecule drugs engineered to inactivate proteins which play key roles in cancer, AIDS, and other serious diseases. For further information about Agouron Pharmaceuticals, Inc., please see Agouron's web site at agouron.com SOURCE: Agouron Pharmaceuticals, Inc.