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

To: TomOrt who wrote (20921)	5/16/1998 10:36:00 AM
From: TomOrt	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 32384

May 18, 1998 Life Support Promising cancer therapies raise hope for beleaguered biotechs By Lauren R. Rublin Bright hopes and bold headlines to the contrary, man has not yet found a cure for cancer. Thanks to the recent hype surrounding EntreMed, however, bombed-out biotechnology stocks have found a wondrous new lease on life. Little EntreMed, of Rockville, Maryland, by now needs no florid introduction, save to recount that its shares two weeks ago zoomed overnight from 12 to 85 (later settling near 33) on a New York Times report that the company, in conjunction with a noted Harvard researcher, had eradicated tumors in mice........... . Signal transduction, the primary domain of Sugen and Ligand Pharmaceuticals, is yet another promising avenue of cancer research. The process hinges on a molecule designed to turn a gene on and off within a cell, effectively telling that cell to grow, divide, replicate or die. This technology underlies the success of Tamoxifen, Zeneca Pharmaceuticals' breast-cancer drug, and Evista, Eli Lilly's hormone-replacement therapy. Sugen's chief contender, SU101, is in Phase III trials for brain cancer, which likely will be completed in late '99 or early 2000. At this early stage, Butler handicaps the likelihood of FDA approval at roughly 60%-65%. Friday morning the company also announced it's initiating a Phase I/II study of an anti-angiogenesis compound, SU5416, in patients with Kaposi's sarcoma. The company's shares moved up 1 1/4, to 17 1/8, but remain below last fall's high of 20 7/8 . While Butler expects Sugen to lose almost $2.40 a share this year, he's encouraged by the company's eclectic research pipeline, which includes prospective treatments for afflictions in addition to cancer. Ligand, meanwhile, has oral and topical forms of two drugs, Panretin and Targretin, in advanced research. The company recently completed Phase III trials for Panretin Gel, a treatment for AIDS lesions, and plans to file a new drug application by the end of the quarter, while Targretin has shown early promise in breast-cancer therapies. Last week, Ligand acquired several smaller biotech firms, through which it obtained rights to Seragen's lymphoma drug, Ontak. The compound, which received "priority review," is scheduled to go before a government panel in early June, and approval could put Ligand on track to achieve its stated goal of profitability in 1999. If his stint in a white coat taught Tony Butler that nothing is certain in science, his years in pinstripes suggest the same about biotech shares. Product failures overnight have extinguished some seeming winners, while unfounded hopes have propelled obscure stocks into the stratosphere. These days, however, exciting laboratory developments offer more reason for hope, both for oncology patients and patient investors. TomOrt

To: TomOrt who wrote (20921)	5/17/1998 5:49:00 PM
From: Henry Niman	Respond to of 32384

Here's what Bloomberg had to say about the Barron's article: Coulter, IDEC, Sugen Among Analyst's Biotech Picks, Paper Says Bloomberg News May 16, 1998, 10:19 a.m. PT Palo Alto, California, May 16 (Bloomberg) -- Coulter Pharmaceutical Inc., IDEC Pharmaceuticals Corp. and Sugen Inc. are among the biotechnology companies that could boost earnings with promising cancer-fighting drugs, according to the head of Lehman Brothers global health-care research team, C. Anthony Butler, Barron's reported. Coulter and IDEC have both developed drugs that could be combined together as an alternative to chemotherapy treatments. Sugen, Ligand Pharmaceuticals Inc., EntreMed Inc. and Agouron Pharmaceuticals Inc. also have developed drugs that show promise in treating certain cancers or AIDS lesions, the paper reported. This weekend's annual meeting in Los Angeles of the American Society of Clinical Oncology is the largest ever, with 20,000 in attendance, following heightened public interest in the potential for cancer-fighting drugs. (Barron's 5/18 22 www.barrons.com) --Noam Neusner in the Princeton newsroom (609) 279-4091/shw