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Biotech / Medical : IGEN International -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: James Perry who wrote (283)	3/8/1998 12:11:00 AM
From: John Zwiener	Respond to of 1025

Yes James, I saw that post. It was curious how that poster talked of the wasted great opportunities that could be done with Origen technology. Not sure what he was getting at, but I suspect it has to do with the possibilities of testing for things that can't be done very well with other competing technologies. Also, it is rumored that BMG was slow in getting the electsys system out and went down blind alleys. I've heard that Igen tried to guide them, but essentually, BMG wanted to do as much as they could by themselves. What got me going about ECL was that many tests that have to be sent out with 1 to 6 week delays due to the current technology used, could be done on the electsys in 9 to 18 minutes. I could go into it, but it would take all day. It's interesting, but the simple act of increasing sensitivity makes possible thousands of tests that currently have to be done by complicated, time consuming, and expensive means.

To: James Perry who wrote (283)	3/11/1998 1:54:00 AM
From: John Zwiener	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 1025

More interesting speculations on the rumor mill... Rumor Mill mentioned that lehman brothers is advising Igen, but not sure if this is true since part of it did not make sense. Possible scenario...and this is totally made up in my mind...Igen spins off all parts of the company (to shareholders) except for the part licensing to Roche/BMG and is bought out. This would make it a capital gain The remaining part of the company would be the rest of Igen which I believe to have excellent prospects all by itself and I believe would do very well all by itself (much better than people realize). Now how's that for a rumor. I made that up, but it kind of makes for a possible lead to a good idea. Also, on rumor mill, a so called ex-Igen insider believes that the high thruput instrument is the reason behind the runup. I can believe that one. Also mention was made of a possible settlement over the royalty dispute was being explored. (I might have mixed up which thing the ex-Igen insider said). Did you notice the massive selling at 32.5 and the drop to 28? At 28, buying picked up so that we closed at 30 3/8 and 30 3/4. We may have established a new trading range in one day. Maybe. I see no reason to sell since I think that 45 is minimum now, and I suspect that 70 may turn out to be a more reasonable minimum as soon as we know more how the residual DNA test and high thruput instrument are doing(and maybe more about what kind of deals they are doing when they place them). As long as we don't go above the minimum of 45, I doubt that there is much reason to consider any trading on this stock. I still consider this to be a boring stock since there doesn't seem to be much speculation as to what it "might" be really worth. I expect the same boring behavior from this stock. By the way, I have been looking at Aurora Biosciences, ABSC. I have nibbled a little. Though their technology doesn't seem as good as Igen's, they do have some interesting things going for them, and they have had a lot of money thrown at them. They are NOT competators for Igen. Igen's technology could really compliment what Aurora is doing. Basically, they are doing ultra high thruput screening and they were formed as a consortium of major biotechs, so they have a dedicated bunch following them. On the other hand, if some pharmacuetical companies have been frozed out, the Igen could give them an even better product. Another rumor born? No, just wondering what's next. You know, if ABSC can have all this work and money thrown at them, then there is no reason that we might not be seeing the beginning of the major drug companies making major deals with Igen for their seemingly unique screening technology. Also, Igen might consider that in addition to getting paid to screen for new drugs, aurora gets a 3% royalty on any drug brought to market (discovered through the screening). With the rapid agility of being able to check out unexpected finding (by making new tests in days instead of months), this technology may very well find itself in demand. (James, this high thruput is not a slam dunk yet, but in a few quarters, we will probably know).