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Biotech / Medical : Ligand (LGND) Breakout! -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: j g cordes who wrote (13495)	1/20/1998 6:54:00 AM
From: Henry Niman	Respond to of 32384

Jim, LGND has siad that Phase II clinicals for KS, Prostate, and Ovarian Cancer will be released this quarter. Timing of stock prices are very difficult. The diabetes areticle on Saturday may get things moving today. LGND can move very far very fast. I expect announcements concerning trial results, start of INDs, filing of NDAs, and new analyst coverage to be happening throughout the year. As LGND's potential comes into focus, I also expect more big boy participation. I'm still comfortable with my prediction of $30 by this summer.

To: j g cordes who wrote (13495)	1/20/1998 6:58:00 AM
From: Henry Niman	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 32384

Jim, Yesterday's NY Time had an interesting article on medical progress, including cancer. Although significant progress has been made in some cancers, overall there has been little change in mortality. Thhus, proving efficacy or improvement over existing therapies is still relatively easy. Even drugs that improve quality of life, without increasing life span, will have a market. LGND is attacking many different cancers, and as soo as Targretin and Panretin is approved for one type, off label use will have an impact: Science Triumphant? Not So Fast By JOHN HORGAN ARRISON -- These are giddy days for scientists. In his new book, "Remaking Eden," Lee M. Silver, a biologist at Princeton, foresees an era in which humans attain virtually infinite power to manipulate their bodies and minds. Our descendants will be smarter than Einstein and more athletic than Michael Jordan, he predicts, and they will live for hundreds of years, if not forever. Recent events lend support to these sci-fi scenarios. Two weeks ago, Richard Seed, an unaffiliated physicist in Illinois, announced plans to open a clinic for cloning humans, a notion inspired by the cloning of a sheep last year. Last week, researchers at the Geron Corporation reported their discovery of a possible "fountain of youth," a method that could prevent the aging and death of cells. Forgive me for being a bit jaded, but my own recent experiences give me a somewhat different perspective on the potential of these new breakthroughs. Two years ago my brother-in-law, a vibrant man in his mid-50's, was found to have cancer. He underwent the usual gamut of treatments, including surgery, chemotherapy and radiation -- and a promising experimental technique using antiangiogenic therapy. Nothing worked. He died last fall. Since President Richard Nixon officially declared a "war on cancer" in 1971, the United States has spent more than $30 billion on cancer research. Scientists have taken enormous strides toward understanding how different types of cancer occur, and they have invented sophisticated methods for detecting the disease and tracking its course. But overall mortality rates from cancer have remained virtually unchanged since 1971, and in fact for the 50 or so years for which reliable data exist. Maybe someday all our research will yield a "cure" that will render cancer as obsolete as polio. I certainly hope so. But the record so far does not offer much hope. Science has also made pitifully little progress at understanding, or healing, our fantastically complicated minds. A couple of months ago, while doing research on mind-related science, I watched depressed patients at the New York State Psychiatric Institute at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center receiving electro-convulsive therapy. More popularly known as shock treatment, it has been refined since the days when it was portrayed in "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest." Patients are given muscle relaxants and mouth guards to prevent teeth and bones from shattering, and dosages are calibrated to reduce memory loss. No one has any idea why shock therapy works; it's the equivalent of kicking a TV set that is on the blink. The relapse rate is extremely high, as much as 90 percent. And yet, incredibly, for severe depression, shock therapy is the most effective treatment we have. So much for the claims that we are on the verge of abolishing despair and anxiety through drugs. The potential of human genetics has also been overrated. Over the past decade or so, scientists have served up finding after finding proclaiming the discovery of genes that supposedly control complex human traits and disorders like novelty-seeking, homosexuality, schizophrenia, manic depression and alcoholism. Researchers hope they will be able to customize human personalities through genetic engineering. But so far not a single one of these claims linking genes to complex traits has been corroborated by follow-up studies. Researchers have made genuine progress in finding genes associated with certain diseases -- cystic fibrosis, Huntington's disease, Lou Gehrig's disease and early-onset breast cancer. Tests are now available for identifying those who carry these genes and thus are likely or certain to come down with the associated disease. But none of the promises of therapies based on this genetic knowledge have been fulfilled. It is natural for biologists and journalists to focus on the advances of science. But given how little progress science has made against such fundamental problems as cancer and mental illness -- and given how desperate people are for relief from these and other afflictions -- all this talk about our impending biological omnipotence strikes me as unseemly. By drawing attention to science's failures as well as its legitimate achievements, perhaps scientists and journalists alike will present a less distorted, more honest picture of science's real prospects. John Horgan is the author of ''The End of Science.''

To: j g cordes who wrote (13495)	1/20/1998 7:03:00 AM
From: Henry Niman	Respond to of 32384

Jim, Sounds like the # of alliance partners for LGND may decrease by 1 soon. Two of its partners, SBH and AHP, are in merger talks.

To: j g cordes who wrote (13495)	1/20/1998 7:09:00 AM
From: Henry Niman	Respond to of 32384

Here's what the Financial Times had to say today: SmithKline Beecham: Shares jump on news of merger talks TUESDAY JANUARY 20 1998 Shares in the UK pharmaceutical company SmithKline Beecham rose sharply this morning after the company confirmed it has held merger talks with American Home Products. By mid-morning, the shares were up 47 pence at 790, building on gains seen since early last week, when reports of merger talks began circulating in the market. SmithKline shares have risen by more than 20 per cent since last Monday. The combined value of the companies stands at $US100bn and a merger would produce one of the world's largest pharmaceutical companies, next to Novartis which has a market capitalisation of some œ120bn. The companies are well matched on the consumer medicines side. SmithKline became one of the world's biggest consumer healthcare companies after its acquisition of Sterling Health from Kodak in 1995. AHP also has a strong presence in over-the-counter medicines with brands such as its Centrum vitamin supplements, Chapstick, and the haemorrhoid treatment Preparation H. Both companies have strong analgesic lines. Around half of SmithKline's sales and 60 per cent of AHP's are in the US. However, a full-blown merger may be difficult because of the potential liabilities faced by AHP in class action suits following the withdrawal of its slimming drug Redux, last year. Redux had been linked with heart valve problems in a large proportion of people taking in. Both companies have long records on dealmaking. AHP paid $10bn for American Cyanamid in 1995 and has made several disposal over the past 12 months. The news led to a surge in drug stocks on the FTSE 100, adding 40 points to the index this morning.

To: j g cordes who wrote (13495)	1/20/1998 7:14:00 AM
From: Henry Niman	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 32384

Here's what Dow Jones had to say: SmithKline, American Home Deal Would Create No. 2 Drug Co. By Erik Portanger LONDON (Dow Jones)--SmithKline Beecham PLC (SBH) said Tuesday it's in merger talks with American Home Products Corp. (AHP) of the U.S. - a marriage that, if consummated, would create the world's second largest drug company. At current market prices, the merged company would have a market valuation around 7.75 billion British pounds (GBP), making it only marginally smaller than Johnson & Johnson (JNJ). SmithKline Beecham, which has a market value of GBP4.50 billion compared with around GBP3.25 billion for AHP, said 'there can be no assurances that any such transaction will be agreed or as to what the terms of such transaction would be.' The U.K. company said it won't comment further until talks with American Home Products are concluded. Its statement was a response to recent market speculation that the two companies were in merger talks. The rumors first surfaced late Friday in the U.S. and prompted an immediate 7% surge in the value of SmithKline shares. Late Tuesday morning, analysts were still examining the potential synergies between the two companies. But they said the most obvious overlap lies in vaccines, in which both companies are world leaders. They also believe American Home Products is keen to get its hands on SmithKline's U.S. pharmacy benefit manager unit, Diversified Pharmaceutical Services Inc. Pharmacy benefit managers, or PBMs, are much sought after by drug companies because of the influence they have over which medicines are prescribed, and how much they cost. Other drug companies with pharmacy benefit units include Merck and Co. and Eli Lilly & Co. AHP has told analysts it has 60 potential products in its pipeline that could be launched in the next six years. Joining forces with SmithKline would ensure those products have a ready market if they gain approval from the U.S. Food & Drug Administration. For SmithKline Beecham, the merger would catapult the company back among the heavy hitters of the drug industry. In the past few years, SmithKline has slipped from its spot as the world's second largest drug company to around 9th currently. A few questions remain, however, before a deal can be stitched up. Will U.K. and U.S. regulatory authorities approve a deal that creates a company with such a powerful position in the vaccines market? And it isn't clear how the companies plan on dealing with the potential liabilities facing AHP from class-action law suits following the withdrawal of slimming drug Redux last year, which had been linked with heart valve problems. Around 1135 GMT, shares in SmithKline are up 51 pence, or 6.9%, to 794 pence. Shares in rival drug maker Zeneca Group PLC (ZEN), which also has been touted as a takeover target, have jumped 143 pence, or 6.2%, to 2440 pence, while Glaxo Wellcome PLC is up 55 pence, or 3.4%, to 1694 pence. -By Erik Portanger, 44-171-832-8166, eportanger@ap.org