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Biotech / Medical : EntreMed (ENMD) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Nero who wrote (796)	5/6/1998 4:04:00 PM
From: PAL	Respond to of 2135

Ah, more bad news. The truth hurts. Your positive attitude is commendable. Good Luck to you. PAL

To: Nero who wrote (796)	5/6/1998 4:36:00 PM
From: Sam Citron	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 2135

Watson disputes NY Times Quote. Full text (since link will fade) Wednesday May 6, 3:10 pm Eastern Time Nobel laureate disputes cancer-cure quote in Times By Ransdell Pierson NEW YORK, May 6 (Reuters) - Nobel laureate James Watson is disputing a quote attributed to him in the New York Times in which he predicted cancer would be cured within two years by two drugs being developed by EntreMed Inc. The front-page article on Sunday spurred an explosion of interest in biotech company EntreMed (ENMD - news) and its two drugs, angiostatin and endostatin, helping boost its shares 500 percent on Monday. The two drugs are naturally occurring proteins that block growth of blood vessels that feed tumors. They were discovered by Dr. Judah Folkman, a cancer researcher at Children's Hospital in Boston, and licensed to EntreMed of Rockville, Md. In the New York Times article written by Gina Kolata, Watson is quoted as saying, ''Judah is going to cure cancer in two years.'' The article added that Watson said Folkman would be remembered along with scientists like Charles Darwin as someone who permanently altered civilization. Some Wall Street analysts said the bold statement by Watson, a co-discoverer of the ''double helix'' structure of DNA, was a key factor that inspired the EntreMed rally. Watson, who is director of the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in Long Island, New York, has submitted a letter to the Editor of the newspaper challenging the cancer-cure quote, according to laboratory spokesman Wendy Goldstein. Times spokeswoman Lisa Carparelli told Reuters said she was unable to immediately comment on Watson's letter but would do so later in the day. EntreMed officials could not be reached for comment. Goldstein provided Reuters a copy of Watson's letter, which she said would be submitted to the New York Times Wednesday for publication. In the 3-paragraph letter dated May 4, Watson states, ''In the May 3 New York Times article, Ms. Kolata reported that I predicted that Judah Folkman would cure cancer in two years. My recollection of the conversation to which she refers, however, is quite different.'' The letter continues, ''What I told Ms. Kolata, at a dinner party six weeks ago, was that endostatin should be in NCI (National Cancer Institute) clinical trials by the end of this year, and that we would know about one year after that whether they (sic) were effective.'' In the letter, Watson noted that the two drugs have not yet been tested in humans. The drugs have only been tested in mice, a point that the medical community and drug industry analysts have underscored in recent days as a reason for caution. Many drugs that work in mice have later failed to have the same beneficial effects in humans, according to industry analysts and scientists. ''The cancer research of Judah Folkman and his colleagues (as reported by Gina Kolata, Sunday May 3) is a remarkable step forward. But we shall not know whether angiostatin and endostatin will cure human cancers until they are tested in human beings,'' Watson said in his letter. ''The history of cancer research is littered with promised treatments that raised people's hopes, only for them to be dashed when the treatments were put to the test,'' he said. Goldstein said Watson was in California and could not be reached for comment. ''Dr. Watson feels very strongly about setting the record straight that he did not make such a statement. He is contesting that quote primarily because he feels a statement as bold as his coming from him has offered what could very well prove to be false hope to a great many people'' with cancer, Goldstein said. Carl Gordon, a drug analyst for OrbiMed Advisors in New York, said he believed Watson's quote and enthusiastic quotes in the same article about the two drugs by National Cancer Institute Director Dr. Richard Klausner were the biggest drivers of EntreMed's rally on Monday. Klausner was quoted in the article in the New York Times, which is published by New York Times Co. (NYT - news), as saying the two EntreMed drugs were ''the single most exciting thing on the horizon'' for the treatment of cancer. ''I am putting nothing on higher priority than getting this into clinical trials,'' Klausner continued, calling the mouse studies ''remarkable and wonderful.'' Gordon said Watson's cancer-cure quote was surprising because it is impossible to guarantee a cancer cure based on preliminary tests in mice. ''I'm glad he doesn't stand behind the statement because it raised cancer patients' hopes beyond what is justified,'' Gordon said. ''It's early data that hasn't been confirmed by other laboratories. And tests in humans are over a year away,'' Gordon said, noting EntreMed officials have said initial clinical trials in people would begin within 12 to 18 months. Klausner could not be reached for comment Wednesday. The Boston Globe reported on Wednesday that Folkman was trying to calm excitement about the two drugs he discovered and had canceled a speaking engagement set for Wednesday after learning television cameras and photographers would be there. ''However they (the drugs) will be used, they will be added to chemotherapy and radiotherapy and gene therapy and immunotherapy and vaccine therapy,'' Folkman told the Globe, adding he did not foresee the drugs being used as stand-alone treatment.

To: Nero who wrote (796)	5/6/1998 4:42:00 PM
From: Sam Citron	Respond to of 2135

I hope Gina doesn't own ENMD. ;-)

To: Nero who wrote (796)	5/6/1998 5:25:00 PM
From: Les H	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 2135

New York Times has a poor record of hyping stocks. 1) They hyped oilfield services in October before they crashed 50-75%. (the same article came out in Wash Post the next week) 2) They hyped Ballard Power Systems when it was 135. Now 110. 3) Now Entremed. One never knows who is feeding these stories to the "reporters". In 1995, Fidelity mutual fund managers were feeding Times and Barron's hype about semiconductor stocks just before they fell 50-80%.