Barron and all, article on the cancer conference:
Genentech, Biotech to Take Center Stage at
Cancer Conference
Bloomberg News
May 8, 1998, 1:08 p.m. PT
Genentech, Biotech to Take Center Stage at Cancer Conference
Los Angeles, May 8 (Bloomberg) -- Biotechnology firms
including Genentech Inc. are poised to take center stage, along
with the big pharmaceutical companies such as Eli Lilly & Co., at
an upcoming cancer conference, stepping into the now-white-hot
spotlight on cancer research.
The American Society of Clinical Oncology conference opens
next weekend, with investors focused as never before on promising
new treatments and potential blockbuster drugs.
''This will be probably be the most watched ASCO conference
in the 19 years I've been attending,'' because of the increased
attention paid to experimental cancer treatments, said Charles
Engelberg, an analyst with Americal Securities.
Provoked by glowing reports of the cancer-fighting effects
of two experimental drugs -- made by EntreMed Inc. -- in mice,
biotechnology companies have bathed in unprecedented public
interest.
Other companies, though, already have drugs in final stages
of testing and are much closer to grabbing a share of the
multibillion dollar market for cancer drugs.
''There's been a quiet revolution in the development of new
therapies for cancer,'' said Michael King, an analyst with Vector
Securities International. ''There are plenty of companies that
have products that are more developed than EntreMed.''
At the forefront of the year's premiere cancer conference --
the 34th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical
Oncology, being held in Los Angeles -- will be presentations by
Genentech, Lilly, Sequus Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Zeneca Group on
drugs aimed at shrinking tumors, boosting treatments and even
preventing cancer altogether.
Investors hoping to catch the experimental biotech wave will
be watching for data from companies including South San Francisco-
based Genentech, on the safety of treatment to stop tumors by
shrinking their blood vessels, a strategy similar to EntreMed's.
''This is a very credible effort,'' said Jon Alsenas, an
analyst with Furman Selz LLC. ''If this works they will be the
first to do it.''
More important to most investors and patients, however, are
studies Genentech will present on Herceptin, its revolutionary
breast cancer drug and only the second of a new class of so-
called monoclonal antibody drugs to be used to treat solid
tumors.
Genentech's drug is designed to latch onto and inactivate
receptors for a certain protein made in excess by some
women with breast cancer. The company has just filed an FDA
application for approval of the drug, and investors will be
looking at the data as their best way to gauge the strength of
Genentech's filing.
The treatment could benefit some 50,000 women initially and
the FDA has said it plans to do its review in only six months.
Possible Prevention
Investors and doctors will also see important data on drugs
made by Zeneca and Lilly aimed at preventing breast cancer in the
first place. FDA approval of the drugs for cancer prevention --
both are already FDA approved for different uses -- would
significantly increase their sales, analysts said.
Zeneca's drug, chemically called tamoxifen and sold as
Nolvadex, made news last month when government researchers said a
long-term study shows the drug prevents breast cancer in women at
high risk for the disease. Full data on the huge study will be
available at ASCO.
And Lilly will present the most comprehensive data yet on
the cancer-preventing potential of its drug Evista, currently
used to prevent the bone thinning condition osteoporosis.
Shares in the Indianapolis, Indiana-based company jumped 8
percent last month just on an advance summary of the
data to be shown. Since then, Lilly shares have declined on
worries that the drug won't perform as expected. Analysts will be
looking closely in Los Angeles, to see how strong the study
really is.
Evista -- believed to be as potent as tamoxifen and carry
fewer side effects -- has a peak sales potential of $1.5 billion
if the company succeeds in developing it for cancer prevention,
analysts say.
Still, Zeneca -- which applied last week for clearance to
market tamoxifen for cancer prevention -- is poised to take
advantage of its head start on Lilly, seen as years away from an
FDA filing. Analysts estimate the cancer prevention use could
jump-start the drug's currently flat $500 million in annual
sales.
Other companies hoping to wow investors include Menlo Park,
California-based Sequus Pharmaceuticals Inc., which will report
the results of several studies of its approved cancer drug Doxil,
Doxil is currently approved for AIDS-related Kaposi's
sarcoma, an increasingly rare condition since the advent of
combination anti-HIV therapy, and had about $30 million in sales
last year. Approval for wider uses could drive sales to $150
million by 2001, according to Leslie Wright, an analyst with
BancAmerica Robertson Stephens.
Sequus submitted over 20 studies to the conference, and is
also going to show off data on its developmental drug SPI-077, an
improved version of the widely used anticancer drug cisplatin.
''They've submitted a large number of abstracts for a little
company,'' said Morton Cohen, a fund manager with Clarion
Partners LP, which manages about $70 million in equities. ''We
think it will get a bunch of visability.''
And Annandale, New Jersey-based Medarex Inc., and Palo Alto,
California-based Coulter Pharmaceutical Inc. and Alza Corp. are
also expected to get attention at the converence.
Research has yet to find a silver bullet for cancer, and
there is plenty of room for new treatments. Although newer drugs
have come on the market, most patients are still treated with
harsher drugs so old that they've lost their patent protection.
''That's why when there's new about anything, no matter how far
off or even farfetched, people get excited, said Hambrecht &
Quist analyst Alex Zisson.
''If you have even the smallest glimmer of promise, the drug
is probably better than what we have now,'' he said.
--Kristin Reed in Washington (202) 624-1858 and Jim Finkle in San |
