ANTX HOLDERS,
This is a re-post from the YAHOO chat line off Antex's web page in case other are not following. Nice hit in ORVX Friday after the news release. The competition is hurting. Hope ANTX is on the move. Come on Campy.
Rip
I thought this might find be of interest. I found it in The Daily Record (Maryland's business & legal news since 1888). It's from the April 15, 1998 issue. It can be found on page 1B.
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Antex Holds Promise in Biotech Industry As Local Success Story, Analysts Say
Firm Working With Navy, SmithKline Beecham on Vaccine That Analysts Estimate Worth $40M Yearly if Successful
By Shelly Schwartz
Daily Record Business Writer
As the adolescent Biotechnology industry begins churning out its own Wall Street success stories, members of the investment community are beginning to take notice.
Along Maryland's life sciences-rich Interstate 270 alone, companies like Human Genome Sciences of Rockville and Med Immune in Gaithersburg have gone public, moved from research and development to manufacturing, and created a virtual windfall for early-stage investors.
In fact, HGS has one of the most successful returns on investment in history-starting with $10 million in venture capital funding and reaching a market capitalization of $1 billion three years later.
Some analysts believe Antex Biologics is next.
"In our opinion, Antex is waiting to have its ducks in a row before telling what , in the best case scenario, will be as compelling a story as any the industry has seen in years, " Jay Abella, an analyst with Westergaard Online, wrote in his latest report on the company.
"For investors who can afford to speculate and have at least a 12-month investment horizon, Antex is an unusually attractive biotech risk/reward play," he said.
Valuable market
The company, Abella said, has been wise to maintain its "tight-lipped" approach with Wall Street, so as not to prematurely inflate its success or failure.
"Third-quarter 1998 will be a pivotal period for both Antex as a company and Antex as a stock..." Abella wrote.
Antex is working with the U.S. Navy and pharmaceutical giant SmithKline Beecham to develop a vaccine that prevents Campylobacter-related illness-a bacteria that causes severe diarrhea and sometimes death.
If successful, analysts estimate that the vaccine will be worth up to $40 million a year in the United States alone, propelling Antex into profitability.
The company could seek Food and Drug Administration approval on the product in the next four to five years.
Antex, the only company in the world developing a vaccine for Campylobacter, also is awaiting results of its second-stage Helicobacter pylori vaccine trials-due out this fall.
H. pylori bacteria are believed to play a role in peptic ulcers and other gastrointestinal disorders, including stomach cancer.
Abella estimates Antex could claim up to $23 million year of the total $375 million global market for such a product.
"Doctors now believe that helicobacter pylori causes ulcers and not stress alone," said Antex spokeswoman Theresa M. Stevens. "Each study strengthens the concept that it is that infection that may be the beginning pathway of events for stomach cancers."
"Antibiotics don't seem to completely eradicate the disease and you are really looking to prevent it from happening in the first place."
Lastly, she said, Antex hopes to begin clinical trials on its vaccine against otitis media later this year- the bacteria that causes ear infections that are the most common reason for trips to the pediatric office.
Supporting factors
Like other drug developers, Antex has been buoyed by two major trends in the industry: favorable legislation protecting vaccine developers from liability and the revival of preventive health care.
"There's been growing trend towards prevention," said Chapin Davis analyst Luke T. Smith in Baltimore. "It all started with the trend in health maintenance organizations. I guess the belief is that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of . Vaccine makers have enjoyed [renewed popularity.]"
Moreover, passage of a federal law in 1986 gave vaccine makers greater protection from liability claims against their products. The law, which did not protect drug makers against manufacturing errors, was viewed by industry as an invitation to jump back into the business.
In 1998, Antex hopes to move from the Over The Counter bulletin board exchange to the Nasdaq or AMEX small cap exchange.
Antex stock, hovering at about $1 per share, must reach $4 per share to qualify for the small cap markets.
"Once we can achieve that $4 per share it will enable us to be traded through major brokerage houses." Stevens said. "Many institutional investment houses have minimum share price requirements. Not only that, but being listed on the small cap [markets] removes much of the filing requirements and paperwork of the Over The Counter bulletin board."
That, in turn, should generate more interest in the company's stock.
For the year ended Dec. 31, 1997, Antex recorded revenues of $4.6 million, up from $3.8 million in 1996. Losses, however, reached $443,000, or 2 cents per share, compared with earnings of $535,00, or 3 cents per share a year earlier.
Cash reserves fell slightly but remain strong at $5.7 million for the year, compared with $6.9 million the year before.
At the same time, the company maintains a low net burn rate-spending less than $100,000 per month. It is not uncommon for biotechnology companies to spend up to $1 million a month.
Analysts say that's a positive sign.
"They are still a few months off from results of their clinical trials and without results it is still fairly speculative," Smith said. "But one of the things I like about Antex is they appear to have between three and five years worth of cash, given the amount of money they have been spending. [Antex President and CEO Vic ] Esposito seems to be very careful about not spending too much money far in advance of when he should." |
