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

To: Toby Zidle who wrote (622)	3/18/1998 6:30:00 PM
From: Pseudo Biologist	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1686

Toby, here is a link to the 8-K report: sec.gov It deals with the same issue covered in yesterday's press release regarding settlement of a dispute with Asta in Biogen's favor (the bottom line seems to be As a result, the panel found that Biogen has no obligation to supply recombinant beta interferon to ASTA. ). For some reason yesterday this was no big deal, while today it is? Or maybe something else is going on. Pseudo Clueless

To: Toby Zidle who wrote (622)	3/18/1998 6:30:00 PM
From: Wowzer	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1686

News after the close: Wednesday March 18, 5:24 pm Eastern Time Schering-Plough up on hopes for earnings, Intron A NEW YORK, March 18 (Reuters) - Shares of Schering-Plough Corp (SGP - news) jumped Wednesday after the company said 1998 would be ''another good year of earnings growth'' and predicted its cancer and hepatitis drug, Intron A, would win extended life through an expected new patent, analysts said. Shares were up 3-1/16 to 84-9/16 in afternoon trade. The U.S. patent expires in 2002 on Intron A, the New Jersey company's second-biggest prescription drug with 1997 worldwide sales of $597 million. Schering-Plough highlighted Intron A in a private meeting with analysts Tuesday, said ABN-AMBRO analyst James Keeney. The drug, a form of naturally occurring interferon-alpha proteins that have antiviral and anti-cancer properties, was licensed to Schering-Plough in 1979 by Biogen Inc (BGEN - news) of Cambridge, Mass. Schering-Plough signed a separate cross-licensing agreement with Hoffman-La Roche Inc in 1985 under which the two companies are allowed to market their similar versions of interferon-alpha. Hoffman-La Roche, the U.S. pharmaceutical unit of Roche Holding Ltd (ROCZg.S), sells its product under the brand name Roferon. For years Biogen and Roche have been embroiled in a patent infringement lawsuit, each claiming to have discovered human interferon and claiming patent rights to the protein. Keeney said Schering-Plough told analysts Tuesday that it expects Roche or Biogen to win a new patent on interferon-alpha once their dispute is settled and that Intron A would be covered by the new patent regardless who wins the lawsuit. ''Schering-Plough said it was a 'win-win' situation for them because either way they get a new patent on Intron A, which will give the drug another 20 years of patent protection,'' Keeney said. ''Regardless who gets the new patent, we have a licensing agreement with each of them,'' Schering-Plough spokesman Bob Consalvo told Reuters, adding it remained unclear what type of patent it would be. ''But the patent we now have is different from the one they (Biogen and Roche) are seeking,'' Consalvo added. Biogen spokeswoman Kathryn Bloom declined to comment, adding that ''complex negotiations'' in the patent dispute were ongoing. Hoffman La-Roche said details were not immediately available. Schering-Plough sells Intron A in 16 countries under its license with Biogen. It is awaiting approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to expand use of the drug against hepatitis C by combining the treatment with ribavarin, an antiviral drug that would be sold under the brand name Rebetol. ''A new patent would allow the Intron A franchise to keep expanding without having to face the threat of generic competition,'' said drug analyst Viren Mehta, a principal of Mehta Partners of New York. Mehta said Schering-Plough's presentation Tuesday was otherwise unsurprising, but bolstered confidence the company would repeat in 1998 the double digit earnings growth it enjoyed in 1997. ''Schering-Plough expects to post another year of good earnings growth in 1998,'' the company said Wednesday in a summary of the Tuesday meeting. It added the company planned to invest about $1 billion in research and development during the year.