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Biotech / Medical : VD's Model Portfolio & Discussion Thread -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: squetch who wrote (3654)	12/5/1997 11:16:00 PM
From: Andrew H	Read Replies (5) \| Respond to of 9719

Friends, perhaps you will remember I was suggesting VVUS at one point. Well, there has come devastating news from an Italian study. You are not going to believe it, but Lancet actually published this. This has got to be the strangest study I have ever seen. I guess the Italians have taken the macho concept to another level. They just have a higher standard. (:>) BTW, 1 kilo equals 2.2lbs. VD Weightlifters, start your warm ups for the power lift.... Standard disclaimers about trying this at home. >>Friday December 5 5:10 PM EST Limp Results From Penile 'Stress Test' NEW YORK (Reuters) -- Tests on the impotence drug alprostadil reveal that use of the medication increases penile blood flow, but may not result in firm and lasting erections. "There was an increase in (penile) volume, up to 114%," say researchers at the Centre for Impotence and Fertility in Rome, Italy, "but not many (erections) had a real and lasting hardness." Their report appears in this week's issue of the British journal The Lancet. Alprostadil is administered in the form of a small pellet which, inserted into the urethra, can stimulate blood flow within erectile tissue. A 1996 study of 1,511 impotent men, published in The New England Journal of Medicine, found that nearly two thirds of men using the drug achieved scores of 4 ('erection sufficient for intercourse') and 5 ('rigid erection') on the standard 5-point Erection Assessment Scale (EAS). Sixty-five percent of those men went on to report successful intercourse occurring at least once during a three-month period of using the drug, compared with just 19% of those on placebo. The new Italian research focused on 123 impotent men, most of whom had already tried anti-impotence therapies involving the injection of medications directly into the penis. The investigators say special scanning devices detected immediate increases in penile blood flow (and penile volume) in all 123 men after insertion of alprostadil into the urethra. However, instead of using the EAS to measure erectile strength, the researchers chose what they considered to be a more "objective method." Erections were judged to be "positive" only "when a downward... strength of 1 kilogram did not buckle the penis." To test for such 'buckling,' they dangled 1 kilogram (approximately a half pound) weights from each erect penis. A special pressure-monitor was wrapped around erections to test for radial rigidity as well. The result? "Complete rigidity" was obtained by just 11 of the 123 study subjects, and a "full and not a lasting erection (1 to 2 minutes)" was achieved by only 16. "There seems to be no correlation between volume increase and hardness," the authors conclude. They say most of the men in the study seemed less than pleased with alprostadil's overall effectiveness -- "five patients wished to try the system at home, two of them got good results, the rest wished to stay on... (penile) injections." SOURCE: The Lancet (1997;350:1682) <<

To: squetch who wrote (3654)	12/6/1997 8:34:00 PM
From: CYBERKEN	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 9719

<<Burden away CY.>> I don't claim to pick 'um better than you or the others, so I'd definitely find it of interest if anyone else wants to throw in their list. Here's my current non-model stuff with brief comments::: ARRS/SQNA: Great science, fine mgt. team, lotsa cash and partnerships. Eventually, IMO, that's GOT to lead to big earnings. COCN: Good market potential for many CNS drugs of the future. It's my understanding that COCN has some of the best science in this area. That, and they just got toooo cheap. H & Q Life Science Investors closed-end fund: 18 % discount to market; and I couldn't afford all these stocks individually. CEPH: Possible myotrophin approval (Andy and I were just running that horse around the thread), selling for 2X cash. Decent pipeline. CHIR: (1/2 position): I'll buy the other half when they solve the CEO thing. Vivus: Funniest thread on SI!! Forget about Viagra or any other pill. Look at the product photos on their WEB page. What fun is in store!! The battle cry for aging boomers and X'er is going to become: "Noose 'em, Juice 'em and hang on to your hat!!!" (;->)