Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Biotech / Medical : Ligand (LGND) Breakout! -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Andrew H who wrote (20503)	5/11/1998 7:58:00 PM
From: Mudcat	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 32384

Nay-sayers and Spin doctors may be in agreement for once.

To: Andrew H who wrote (20503)	5/11/1998 8:01:00 PM
From: Matthew S. Aas	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 32384

Wake up everyone, they "wouldn't buy" Seragen if they weren't going to get FDA approval. It's already a done deal. The date of 6-2-98 means nothing. They already are "in the know."

To: Andrew H who wrote (20503)	5/11/1998 8:18:00 PM
From: Torben Noerup Nielsen	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 32384

I'm sort of intrigued by this deal and I really wonder how strong the Seragen IP rights are. If I understand things correctly, this amounts to nanotechnology. This ''drug" is nothing but a tiny little machine that attaches itself to ''bad" cells and injects them with a toxin which then cause the cells to die off. I'm assuming that Seragen has some patent protection on at least some of this. If so, there could be a lot of money waiting. I gather that they already have proteins that bind to different receptors and I would guess that it might not be that hard to change the binding part of the protein to attach to a different receptor. Now, Ligand does have some experience with receptors.... Also, I would expect that with some work, you can change the toxin too. At some point in the not too distant future, it may well be possible to individualize ''drugs"; i.e., target them to specific abnormalities found in an affected individual. This seems to lead in that direction. Yes, I am reaching here and please consider this pure unenlightened speculation. I just have a hard time believing that Robinson hasn't looked at this carefully before signing on the dotted line. The whole thing is rather neat. Working on the cellular level where you can kill just the ''bad" cells is a whole lot better than the butchery we call treatment today. By the way, does anyone know if there is work going on to use this technique as an antibiotic of sorts? Seems to be a natural application. Yes, it would probably have to be injected, but given the number of resistant strains that are cropping up, that may be acceptable. All you need is a binding domain that recognizes a receptor on an undesirable cell in the system and injects it with a suitable toxin. Enough speculation for one day :-) Cheers, Torben