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Biotech / Medical : VVUS: VIVUS INC. (NASDAQ) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Tunica Albuginea who wrote (3725)	12/16/1997 6:29:00 PM
From: Sonki	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 23519

bad news re: vvus, i m sure it's built into the stock. INSIDER -- Do Vivus, Integrated Medical Make Interesting Bedfellows? Also, more on Cisco and its rising inventories Herb Greenberg Last Wednesday the stock of Menlo Park-based Vivus, maker of a male impotence treatment, went limp after the company said it expected production delays. Vivus blamed its production delays on efforts to open a second plant, but skeptics thought they were really a ploy to help clear out a stuffed pipeline (something Vivus officials have denied). The very next day, Kansas-based Integrated Medical Resources announced it is closing five of its 31 impotence-treatment clinics as part of an effort to prop its profitability and cash flow. Integrated Medical claims to operate the nation's largest chain of impotence- treatment clinics under the name Diagnostic Centers for Men. It is believed to be a big Vivus customer. Think the timing of these two announcements is just a coincidence? Or could Integrated's problems be a sign that demand for Vivus' Muse product really isn't as good as Vivus would have you believe? Hard to say, but this we know: Within a month of going public at $6 a share just over a year ago, Integrated reported disappointing earnings, causing its stock to lose two-thirds of its value overnight. Integrated blamed its trouble on a temporary shortage of patients. But it said it hoped Vivus' Muse, which had just been approved, would stimulate demand. Publicity surrounding Muse helped Integrated's stock rebound, hitting $7.81 by February. But the euphoria was short-lived, and Integrated's stock started sliding toward its current price of $2.38. It's unclear what caused the change of heart, but by summer the company began disclosing that its Medicare reimbursements were being held up because its Medicare billing practices were under investigation by the U.S. Attorney's office and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. If Integrated, which had 6,000 patients last quarter, slows down, Vivus could be a victim. Integrated officials couldn't be reached for comment. SHORT POSITIONS -- Market madness: An item here on Thursday mentioned that Cisco's latest 10-Q quarterly report showed a surge in its finished goods inventories. Normally, that could be a warning that sales are slowing. But Cisco Chief Financial Officer Larry Carter quickly responded that sales weren't slowing. Instead, he said last week, inventories were up because of a shift in Cisco's product mix. Do you really think a guy like Carter, at a company like Cisco, would get on the phone and purposely make misleading statements? Nah. Usually, if there's trouble at companies as straightforward as Cisco, the execs just clam up and don't return your calls. Cisco's stock tumbled from around $85 per share on Wednesday to around $76 on Friday. It continued its slide yesterday morning before recovering to close at $77.50, up 94 cents. -- Robbing Peter to credit Paul: An item last week regarding San Francisco-based Brown, McMillan & Co., the investment firm that helped maneuver a recent Wham- O/Mattel deal, mentioned Brown, McMillan principle Paul McMillan. Should have been Peter.