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Biotech / Medical : Agouron Pharmaceuticals (AGPH) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Oliver & Co who wrote (3793)	2/10/1998 12:15:00 PM
From: Zirdu	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 6136

It seems to me that the "Crix-Belly" and "buffalo hump" side effects are either a neutral or possibly a positive, for AGPH. My reasoning: 1. If these problems are common to all current PI's, as Neiman suspects, then all are equally affected. Since, as Dr. Oliver points out, advanced AIDS is a terminal disease, with life span of a year or so if untreated, these side effects must indeed be considered "inconsequential" in light of the alternative (i.e. near certain death). So if these problems are common to all current PI's, I see the effect as neutral to Viracept sales. 2. It is too early to tell, however, whether these problems are common to all PI's. We DO know these problems are apparently connected to use of Crixivan. We do not yet know whether they are connected to use of Viracept, or, if so, whether Viaracept use causes similar, though less severe, problems. Maybe, because of it's small molecular size and less "extraneous" material, for example, the "Crix belly" and "buffalo hump" problems will not be a side effect of Viracept, or maybe it will cause less severe effects. At this point, no one knows. Dr. Oliver's anecdotal reports of his 75 patients, most of whom are on Viracept and without these problems, is encouraging. So if it turns out that Crix belly and buffalo hump are restricted to Crixivan, or more severe in Crix than Viracept, then of course this would be a big positive for Viracept and AGPH. Again, it seems to me that it is simply too early to tell which of the above two scenarios will be the truth. If it is #1, then it is a neutral. If it is #2, then a positive. RR