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Biotech / Medical : VVUS: VIVUS INC. (NASDAQ) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: BigKNY3 who wrote (7293)	4/20/1998 9:58:00 AM
From: Don Dunlap	Respond to of 23519

Another VVUS Wannabe: Powderject biz.yahoo.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Monday April 20, 2:44 am Eastern Time INTERVIEW-Big impotence role for PowderJect By Jonathan Birt LONDON, April 20 (Reuters) - Powderject Pharmaceuticals Plc on Monday predicted huge market potential for its needle-free impotence injection, riding on the coat-tails of a breakthrough tablet launched this month by Pfizer Inc (PFE - news). Far from being a threat to its own product, Paul Drayson, chairman and chief executive officer of the Anglo-U.S. group, said Pfizer's pill Viagra was expected to massively increase the market for impotence treatments, which to date have been inconvenient and sometimes painful. ''The male impotence market is going to grow significantly with the launch of this oral treatment,'' Drayson told Reuters in an interview. Earlier, PowderJect announced ''encouraging'' Phase I trial results from its supersonic powder version of established impotence treatment Alprostadil, which it said showed the fast-acting drug could be administered quickly and painlessly. The PowderJect system -- which is already being explored by five of the ten biggest drug companies in the world for use with their own drugs -- accelerates drug particles to supersonic speed directly into the skin. Although Alprostadil is highly successful at inducing erections, to date it has had to be administered either through a needle directly into the side of the penis or through a pellet inserted into the top of the penis. Analysts said last week pent-up demand for an alternative treatment was shown by dramatic early sales of Viagra, with some forecasting it will become one of the biggest-selling drugs of all time. ''The Holy Grail in this has been to come up with a tablet that works. Pfizer's Viagra has done that,'' Drayson said. ''But in around 20 percent of cases it won't work, and the next line will be locally administered Alprostadil. Our aim is to develop the best locally-administered method -- a gentle injection.'' Viagra, which has to be taken an hour before making love, acts by improving blood flow to the penis and enhancing response to sexual stimulation through inhibition of an enzyme, phosphodiesterase. Alprostadil, which can work in less than 15 minutes, helps dilate blood vessels to increase blood flow into the penis and cause an erection without sexual stimulation. ''The market to date has been held back because the drug that does work -- Alprostadil -- has to be delivered in a way that is relatively unpleasant,'' Drayson said. PowderJect's version, which is not expected to reach the market until 2001, would compete directly with Pharmacia & Upjohn Inc's (PNU - news; PHU.ST) CAVERJECT, where Aprostadil is injected into the penis with a needle, and Vivus Inc's (VVUS - news)'s MUSE, where a pellet is inserted into the urethra. Drayson estimated these forms of administration could cause some degree of pain in around 30 percent of cases. ''They are invasive and they hurt. What Powderject aims to do is take the same drug and administer it using a much more gentle, non-invasive powder injection,'' he said. ''We have seen that PowderJect can deliver the drug painlessly to the penis and get the required effect -- namely an increase in penis rigidity.'' Although two of the 98 injections administered in the Phase I trial resulted in some local discomfort, Drayson said changes to the speed of delivery and drug particle size should overcome this. The company plans a second Phase I trial to resolve these issues, and Drayson said the product was on target for launch in Europe in 2001 and in the U.S. in 2002. ''This is an enormous product opportunity for PowderJect. Our intention is to partner with a major pharmaceutical company, and having got the data from this Phase I we'll be in discussions with potential partners during 1998.'' Last month the company announced an agreement on gene-based vaccines with Glaxo Wellcome Plc which it said could be worth up to $300 million over the next few years. ------------------------- More Quotes * Pfizer Inc (NYSE:PFE - news) and News: * Pharmacia & Upjohn Inc (NYSE:PNU - news) * Vivus Inc (Nasdaq:VVUS - news) Related News Categories: health, international ------------------------- Help ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Copyright c 1998 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon See our Important Disclaimers and Legal Information. Questions or Comments?

To: BigKNY3 who wrote (7293)	4/20/1998 1:51:00 PM
From: incomep	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 23519

BigKNY3: I emailed Nina to comment about the rumors posted by Mr. Elvis (Dr-in-the house) on the Yahoo board. And this is her response: "Sorry, VIVUS cannot comment on conversations the Company may have had with journalists or potential partners". "May have had?" for a long, this sounds encouraging. For a short, by looking the market reaction, no one cares this issue. Dr-in-the-house (sound he is in charge of a hedgefund) have heard of 2 rumors on the street. I am not posting this to hype vivus stock. For the record I am long vivus so the shorts will indeed think that what I post is untrue. 1)CNBC will be airing a piece on vivus in the near future. I spoke with ir at vivus and they confirmed that they are speaking with CNBC about getting air time on an ED piece. I suspect that there will be input from all the ED players. I also suspect that Wilson will be interviewed. It probably will be similar to the report done last summer which involved Wilson and several doctors speaking about ED and available treatments. I don't recall for sure but I think there was a CEO from another ED company in that interview. 2)This one is a doozy. I was told that last year vivus was in talks in regards to being bought out. At the time the share price was around 50 presplit. I was also told that talks broke down because vivus management thought that a buy out in the 50's (25 now) was too low. I now hear (again rumor only), that management is at the table again discussing a merger or buyout agreement. I have heard of prices as low as 15 and as high as 25. If these rumors are true, there is some serious money to be made on the long side at these levels. I also spoke with vivus ir and was not given a clear answer ie I wasn't told that a takeover was going to occur but I also was not told that it was not going to occur. The latest news I heard on this rumor was today at about 11am EST. I think that all the accumulating of this stock from 12 on down was done by institutions with some type of knowledge in regards to this possible scenario. Again, I have no solid proof. Others should check with any and all other sources available to them. Good Luck. Buying at these levels IMO poses little if any down side risk and a lot of upside potential in the possibly short and most certainly long term outlook.

To: BigKNY3 who wrote (7293)	4/21/1998 7:50:00 PM
From: Edderd	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 23519

BigKNY3 Ihave been trying to get my ocr, my scanner, and MS word to help me get some articles on to the board. Today I received the abstracts to be presented at the AUA meeting in San Diego in June. Two presentations negative to MUSE (one from the VA which I feel is questionable do to the high noncompliance nature of VA patients) and three positives for those who actually count the number of papers. I will also post the drugs that are contraindicated with V and a list of Q & A from Pfizer about V. You can interpret these in many ways but I think MUSE is not yet dead. Ed