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Biotech / Medical : Pharma News Only (pfe,mrk,wla, sgp, ahp, bmy, lly) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Anthony Wong who wrote (558)	7/20/1998 12:22:00 PM
From: Anthony Wong	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1722

Shire Shares Rise on Report About Alzheimer's Drug Bloomberg News July 20, 1998, 11:01 a.m. ET Shire Shares Rise on Report About Alzheimer's Drug (Update2) (Adds fund manager comment in 4th paragraph.) London, July 20 (Bloomberg) -- Shire Pharmaceuticals Plc shares rose as much as 13 percent after the U.K. drugmaker said an Alzheimer's drug it is developing with Johnson & Johnson seemed to slow the progress of the brain-wasting disease. Shire rose as much as 61.5 pence to 549p, and recently traded at 540p. Meconic Plc, an Edinburgh, Scotland-based drugmaker that supplies raw materials for Shire, gained as much as 16p, or 7.5 percent, to 230p. Shire and Johnson & Johnson presented data at the 6th International Conference on Alzheimer's Disease and Related Disorders in Amsterdam at the weekend. Shire and Johnson & Johnson, the world's fifth-biggest drugmaker, are aiming to break into a $2 billion market for treating Alzheimer's disease that analysts say could grow rapidly as new treatments are introduced. John Hatherly, a fund manager with M&G Group Plc, said he's optimistic about Shire's prospects at a time when investors are fleeing the U.K. biotechnology and small-capitalization drug sector. ''It has elements of biotechnology, but these days having biotech stocks is a bit like having a lead balloon,'' said Hatherly, who says M&G holds an undisclosed stake of less than 1 percent of Shire's stock. ''Shire quite definitely has substance and if you are risk-averse, you can hold it.'' The drug, galantamine, is similar to others on the market, including Pfizer Inc.'s Aricept, although it acts in a slightly different way in the brain than other drugs, Shire said. It said the drug can ''significantly improve'' patients' scores in a test used to measure progress of the disease, although Shire continues to test it in phase 3, or final-stage, clinical trials. Biggest Seller ''The typical patient who took galantamine for a year showed a level of cognitive function that was comparable to their level when they began the study,'' said Shire in a statement. ''In further research, we are working to replicate these findings.'' If approved, the drug is likely to be Shire's biggest seller and sold under the trade name Reminyl. It will be sold by Johnson & Johnson's Janssen unit in the U.S. and most of Europe. Shire will copromote it with Janssen in the U.K. and Ireland. ''There's still a long way to go yet,'' said Steve Abbott, an analyst with Credit Lyonnais Securities. ''It looks reasonably encouraging but not stunning.'' Side-effects included nausea, vomiting and other gastrointestinal effects, which Shire said ''often subsided'' after a week. Shire also sells drugs to treat attention deficit disorder, or hyperactivity, in children, hormone replacement treatments and other drugs. The Alzheimer's conference in Amsterdam will continue for most of this week. --Dane Hamilton in the London newsroom (44-171) 330-7727/ab/ph