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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 (741)	9/3/1998 4:35:00 PM
From: Anthony Wong	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1722

[LLY] Synaptic Rises as Drug Moves to Late-Stage Testing (Update1) Bloomberg News September 3, 1998, 1:57 p.m. ET Synaptic Rises as Drug Moves to Late-Stage Testing (Update1) (Adds executive's comments in 5th through 9th paragraphs.) Paramus, New Jersey, Sept. 3 (Bloomberg) -- Synaptic Pharmaceutical Corp. shares rose as much as 26 percent after the drug research company and Eli Lilly & Co. said the migraine drug on which they're collaborating will advance into Phase III, or late-stage, testing. Synaptic rose 2 1/8 to 13 in midafternoon trading of 253,700 shares, more than seven times the three-month daily average. Earlier, shares touched 13 11/16. Lilly, maker of the world's best-selling antidepressant drug, rose 3 1/8 to 72 3/8. Paramus, New Jersey-based Synaptic and Indianapolis-based Lilly will form a product team to research development of the drug, which treats migraines without cardiovascular side effects associated with products currently on the market, Synaptic said. ''We have several programs with Lilly in various stages to develop other compounds,'' said Kathleen P. Mullinix, president and chief executive of Synaptic. ''This migraine drug is the most advanced we have so far.'' Synaptic and Lilly, which have been working on the migraine treatment drug since 1994, are also working on a drug to prevent migraine headaches, another to help smokers quit, and drugs to treat obesity and depression, Mullinix said. ''We only go after drugs for very large markets,'' she said. While Mullinix said that Synaptic will receive royalties for the drugs once they get to market, she declined to disclose any figures. Synaptic is also working with Merck & Co. on a prostate drug, with Novartis AG on an obesity drug, and with Warner- Lambert Co. on drugs to treat obesity and diabetes. ''We do the high-tech research and the big drug companies take care of testing and marketing,'' she said. Phase I trials typically are aimed at measuring the safety of new drugs, not efficacy, while Phase II studies are designed to measure efficacy and determine optimal dosages. Phase III studies, the final stage, are designed to show statistically significant safety and efficacy. --Anthony Massucci in the Princeton newsroom (609) 279-4048 sgp