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Biotech / Medical : XOMA. Bull or Bear? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Robert K. who wrote (7180)	9/5/1998 3:58:00 PM
From: jackie	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 17367

While we are on the discussion of the obvious, I want to quote from one of my all time favorite books. This is "The Youngest Science" by Lewis Thomas. He has an entire chapter devoted to LPS entitled "Endotoxin". "Endotoxin had its beginning as a biomedical problem with the first attempts, early in this century, to make a vaccine against typhoid fever. Typhoid vaccine quickly became famous, but not for any remarkable capacity to prevent typhoid fever. Indeed, although it remains in more or less routine use to this day, in much the original form of a crude suspension of heat-killed typhoid bacilli whose walls are rich in endotoxin, its effectiveness has always been marginal at best. The most spectacular and deeply interesting property of typhoid vaccine has, from the beginning, been its capacity to cause fever. The term "pyrogen" was instantly coined, and the massive literature on what started out as an inconvenient side issue began to accumulate. Today, the bibliography of scientific papers dealing with endotoxin and it biological and chemical properties numbers in the tens of thousands. From time to time long reviews of the field are written, usually from one or another specialized point of view-for example, the chemical structure of the lipopolysaccharide molecule in the bacterial cell wall, which is , in fact, the endotoxin-and the accumulated reviews themselves comprise a formidable body of reading, far beyond any single reader's endurance" He continues: "The center of the puzzle is that endotoxin is really not much of a toxin, at least in the ordinary sense of being a direct poisoner of living cells. Instead, it seems to be a sort of signal, a piece of misleading news. When injected into the bloodstream, it conveys propaganda, announcing that typhoid bacilli in great numbers (or other related bacteria) are on the scene, and a number of defense mechanisms are automatically switched on, all at once. When the dose of endotoxin is sufficiently high, these defense mechanisms, acting in concert or in sequence, launch a stereotyped set of physiological responses, including fever, malaise, hemorrhage, collapse, shock, coma, and death. It is something like an explosion in a munitions factory." All of this written in 1983. There you have it. Xoma is working on a solution, or part of a solution, to one of the most engrossing medical mysteries extant. It is not only BPI but the endotoxin itself which is so fascinating with the potential to kill quickly if not dealt with immediately. It has been said before, but I'm going to say it again. The BPI story is not about any specific indication. It is about an endogenous substance, which our body already produces and stores in neutrophils has a handy 'kill all' answer to bacterial invasion and shock. Because of the legal structures in this country, we need approval for only one indication. Any of them. It doesn't matter what the market size of this first approval is. Once we have that, anybody can use the drug for any non-labeled indication, provided they can make a medical argument for its use. Given the ubiquitous nature of the endotoxins everywhere there is trauma and many infections, who would argue against it? What would be the downside to giving a seriously ill person something they already have in their body? Who wouldn't want it for themselves or their family even if it can't be proven at the time it would positively work? I can see BPI in every emergency room and vehicle, as common as saline solution. Just something one automatically gives with any infection or trauma. It only has to be shown to be well tolerated. The fascination of the medical community with endotoxic shock will never end. Lots of people will want to try other applications, just as Epogen was with non-renal disease anemias. I think I've said enough. Regards, Jack Simmons

To: Robert K. who wrote (7180)	9/6/1998 3:06:00 PM
From: aknahow	Respond to of 17367

Bob, I am interested in which other companies will be presenting at the ICAAC meeting. Saw Microcide as moderator of one set of discussions. Does XOMA have 5 presentations are are some of them poster boards only? Five seems like a lot but I have no relative basis for comparison. Have spent time at the site but have not found what I was looking for. Even on the final schedule I am having trouble matching up the XOMA speakers with schedule. Long conference, 10,000 expected. Too bad XOMA starts off in the $2s'. I think the information on XOMA's work will be of interest to many and would like to see which other companies will be attending and participating.