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Biotech / Medical : Neurogen (NRGN) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Pluvia who wrote (140)	12/11/1997 12:12:00 PM
From: F. Jay Abella, III	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 523

Sorry to NRGN posters, but this is the last you will hear of this issue (from me). Lately, critics such as pluvia and celeryroot, have challenged us to find one example of "bad things" we have said about any of the companies we follow. To that charge, we respond: I, like you, want capital to flow to its best alternative uses - that is why stock analysts have jobs, even though it doesn't always look that way. Unlike other analysts, I publish my investment criteria for all to review, instruct readers about biotech investment risks, and analyze the bioworld daily. The mainstream ought to be doing this and they don't (and get paid a hell of a lot more by these companies in underwriting fees and transactions than I could imagine). In my mind, these should be the targets of your rage. That aside, if you read my work daily, you would see that "hype" is not my style and I am not afraid to point it out,using my real name and reputation. Some examples: 1.Life Medical - has paid us to come to conferences in the past. See my comments Aug 4-8, especially 7 and 8 about the Skarkare phenomenon. 2.Antivirals - paid to come our conference June 1997 - I said in our initial coverage that support in their IPO aftermarket would be tough because the company did not have a product in clinical trials. I was right, the stock is where it was in June. 3.IDBEF - never taken money for services from them, but began coverage based on valuation (as in, I thought the stock would go higher). See my comments Dec2 about their AIDS vaccine. As someone who has actually developed one of these gp120 loop inhibiting vaccines firsthand, I think they are crazy, and even said so on SI. This assessment is independent with my relationship with Cel-Sci, who is also developing a vaccine. 4.Geron - a potential client to whom I have been ruthless by Street terms (read Aug 18, the Geron Effect) 5.Inflazyme Pharmaceuticals, came to our conference Nov 1996, and I dropped coverage immediately after they mislead conference attendees during their slide show. In addition, no one in history has been more outspoken and critical against the approach of mainstream biotech "analysts" than I have been. This is historically Taboo on Wall Street - I have taken on H&Q, Montgomery, Murphy, and especially McCamant, etc. As a result of my no-holds-barred approach, Goldman Sachs and UBS are my biggest readers. But they are not immune, as my UBS / LIPO comments will attest. With regard to my portfolio, I must say that the objectives are a little different than yours. It is geared for investors and not for traders. If it were, I may have made the types of returns you claim to have made. That aside, my six month numbers are in positive double digits, despite being in the middle of tax loss season. I will show in the coming weeks that other anlaysts didn't even come close to me in 1997, especially the big guys. You may not be impressed by this, and that is your right. FJA PS - Added 12/11/97 - to celeryroot - if you want to continue to listen to Bear Stearns, the same people who brought you this weeks' Neurogen blow up, this is also your right. Please respect that if I choose to not endorse the same stocks you do, and can support my position analytically, this is my perogative. Speaking of the termination of the Neurogen obesity trial, Big Boos go to Biospace Online, who managed to bury the NRGN story as well as the story on Vivus Corporation's (Nsdq:VVUS) expected net losses for future quarters. That, celeryroot, is the difference between analysis and cheerleading due to financial conflicts of interest.