Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

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

To: medsunman who wrote (13962)	1/30/1998 1:56:00 PM
From: tonyt	Respond to of 32384

> Are you forever a LGND bear, or at some point are you a buyer? We are approaching the season where I personally tend to stay away from biotechs for short term trades. I will re-evaluate in August (but I'll still follow them) > All of this makes Tony look like a genius. +blush+

To: medsunman who wrote (13962)	1/30/1998 2:49:00 PM
From: Henry Niman	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 32384

medsunman, I think it's worthwhile reviewing how LGND's alliances are structured. In general, LGND screens a library and selects a compound. Then they may help out with some of the pre-clinicals, but they really don't benefit much until the compounds enter the clinic. LGND then begins to get milestone (or more significant milestone) payments and the resources of their partner (large pharms) begins to be a factor. LGND really doesn't do anything at that point other than cash the checks. Thus, as more compounds enter the clinic, LGND will receive more in milstone payments. I believe that the LLY payments a quite significant and I believe that the start of US diabetes trials for Targretin, as well as an IND for one of the second generation compounds, will trigger those payments. Long term shareholders must take some reassurance from analyst's predictions. These projections are based in part on milestone and royalty payments from LGND's extensive pipleine. These payments begin when the compounds enter the clinic, which is why the series of IND filing is a plus. With repsect to Droloxifene, it should be noted that the PFE alliance is for osteoporosis and the cancer royalty rate was quite small (1%). For most of LGND's alliances, LGND can actually license back the selected compound(s) for cancer applications. The change in direction for Droloxifene should speed up approval for osteoporosis which is a larger market and LGND gets a higher royalty. However, from the science side, the SERMs will probably would better when given in combination with retinoids such as Panretin or rexinoids such as Targretin. Combination trials of Tamoxifen (which I believe is closely related to Droloxifene and Evista) and Panretin, have already begun for breast cancer (see home.att.net ) and animal data suggests that Targretin has breast cancer prevention applications as monothery as well as combination therapy with Tamoxifen. The LLY alliance will explore such combination (Targretin & Evista?) for applications for human cancer (breast?). Thus, the Droloxifene results may actually signal sucess for combinations, which could include two of LGND's compounds (each of which returns double digit royalties, or in the case of Panretin, returns the lion's share of profits to LGND).

To: medsunman who wrote (13962)	1/30/1998 3:02:00 PM
From: Henry Niman	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 32384

Speaking of reviews, CNBC just had Angela Christiano on discussing the discovery that the human homolog of the mouse "hairless" gene, is repsonsible for a severe but rare condition resulting in human hair loss (or lack of hair growth). I'm not that familiar with the gene, but I did read the Science abstract and it's a zinc finger transcription factor, as are the hormone receptors targeted by LGND's IR technology. Here's the abstract: Alopecia Universalis Associated with a Mutation in the Human hairless Gene Wasim Ahmad, Muhammad Faiyaz ul Haque, Valeria Brancolini, Hui C. Tsou, Sayed ul Haque, HaMut Lam, Vincent M. Aita, Jason Owen, Michelle deBlaquiere, Jorge Frank, Peter B. Cserhalmi-Friedman, Andrew Leask, John A. McGrath, Monica Peacocke, Mahmud Ahmad, Jurg Ott, Angela M. Christiano * There are several forms of hereditary human hair loss, known collectively as alopecias, the molecular bases of which are entirely unknown. A kindred with a rare, recessively inherited type of alopecia universalis was used to search for a locus by homozygosity mapping, and linkage was established in a 6-centimorgan interval on chromosome 8p12 (the logarithm of the odds favoring linkage score was 6.19). The human homolog of a murine gene, hairless, was localized in this interval by radiation hybrid mapping, and a missense mutation was found in affected individuals. Human hairless encodes a putative single zinc finger transcription factor protein with restricted expression in the brain and skin. W. Ahmad, H. C. Tsou, H. Lam, V. M. Aita, J. Frank, P. B. Cserhalmi-Friedman, M. Peacocke, A. M. Christiano, Department of Dermatology and Department of Genetics and Development, Columbia University, 630 West 168 Street, VC-15-526, New York, NY 10032, USA. M. F. ul Haque, S. ul Haque, M. Ahmad, Department of Biological Sciences, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, Pakistan. V. Brancolini and J. Ott, Laboratory for Statistical Genetics, Rockefeller University, 1230 York Avenue, New York, NY 10021, USA. J. Owen and M. deBlaquiere, Research Genetics, Inc., 2130 Memorial Parkway SW, Huntsville, AL 35801, USA. A. Leask, FibroGen, Inc., 260 Littlefield Avenue, South San Francisco, CA 94080, USA. J. A. McGrath, St. John's Institute of Dermatology, St. Thomas' Hospital, Lambeth Palace Road, London, SE1 7EH, UK. * To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: amc65@columbia.edu