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

To: Henry Niman who wrote (15390)	2/19/1998 7:10:00 PM
From: medsunman	Respond to of 32384

Henry: I guess Dan Rather is coming on right about now, so his report will probably preempt my question to you. However, when you get a chance I would appreciate a response. Here's my question: Assuming that Panretin and Targretin are approved for KS and CTCL, is it really fair to say that off-label sales for other cancers will soon "explode". My understanding is that the cost of off-label prescription drugs is ordinarily not reimbursed by the payer, and this discourages off-label prescriptions. In order to get reimbursement for an off-label prescription I believe there must be at least two articles in peer reviewed journals concluding that the drug is effective for the off-label indication. If this is true, this may slow down the ramp-up of the off-label sales. On the other hand, if Ligand has several Phase II trials in progress for these other indications (head & neck, ovarian, breast, lung, etc.) it may not be long before the required articles appear, thus allowing off-label reimbursement and the "explosion" of off-label sales. I hope the off-label sales do happen, but it may not be as automatic and fast as we all hope.