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Biotech / Medical : Sepracor-Looks very promising -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Ed Ajootian who wrote (1077)	8/12/1998 11:23:00 PM
From: John Metcalf	Respond to of 10280

Interesting question, Ed. Using Value Line as a source, Amgen and Biogen first were profitable in 1989. In '87, AMGN's market cap ranged from $338mm to $540mm. Also in '87, BGEN's market cap was $85mm to $356mm. GNE was profitable from its first year as a public company, 1980 (earned one cent per share). Market cap that year was $272mm to $690mm. For a number of reasons, these values are not comparable to Sepracor today. First, the market caps need to be adjusted for inflation (remember inflation?) Twenty years ago, no one knew what a biotech company was unless they knew GNE. Ten years ago, AMGN had just introduced Epogen to the market, and Neupo was in development. Biogen was nearing the market with Intron A and most of their income came from fees for a hepatitis B diagnostic. Sepracor has a much more visible pipeline than any of these companies. Allegra is on the market, selling nearly $500mm annually, and Levalbuterol is ready to go. In short, SEPR has much better defined prospects than the early biotech successes had at a comparable stage of development.