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Biotech / Medical : Biotime-Nasdaq's best kept secret? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Jim Roof who wrote (1109)	9/16/1998 1:10:00 PM
From: mesaone	Respond to of 1432

Jim, I think that we are going to hear some fundamental news soon. The peer reviewed article on Hextend has been written, hopefully all of the time the BTIM folks have been spending in Europe will result in a European deal, and then, of course, FDA approval. I agree, though, I hope today's movement is not just technicals. inch.com

To: Jim Roof who wrote (1109)	9/16/1998 1:15:00 PM
From: mesaone	Respond to of 1432

an informed investor who knows how to read the charts.. anyone willing to sell at 8 1/2 is evidently out.. those mid term folks will be glad to come back on the next short assault. one intersting trade of 10.4k below the bid..... shorts who sense pain coming will be trying to double down with more shorting to break momentum if we let them. day traders moved today on the bax news. steady longs will remember a couple weeks ago reference to a room of rollers who would work btim up to near 10. i said at that time if they did, i know of other rooms that could take it from there.. today we are having an example of a news related change in demand. longtimers know, as has been pointed out here, this was not really news for us. new readers saw monday's discussion of how far biopure is from even pretending to be in this. check mesa's site for good info on the next "news" as people realize the mkt for albumen is going to shrink,and a subsitute must be found. the real issue for longs is supply. control the supply. don't sell for less than u want, don't let short shrills cloud the issues, and don't let shares be loaned. u can sell from a cash account as fast as from margin. u can sell certs as fast as from margin. u can buy as fast into either one. today looks like a nice time to do it.take it to the street. inch.com

To: Jim Roof who wrote (1109)	9/16/1998 1:19:00 PM
From: mesaone	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1432

although Bax was trying to come up with a blood substitute, and Hextend is a plasma expander.. it is related news. Baxter Ends Blood Substitute Effort Associated Press Online - September 16, 1998 11:26 By CLIFF EDWARDS AP Business Writer CHICAGO (AP) - Baxter International formally pulled the plug on its HemAssist blood substitute, announcing it will take a $75 million third-quarter charge to end testing and suffering a setback in the race to become the first to market artificial blood. The company also announced several other charges against third quarter earnings due Oct. 22, resulting in a net $293 million taken against profits. Baxter's stock fell 6 1/4 cents to $60.75 in early trading on the New York Stock Exchange. The company had been expected to earn 61 cents a share in the third quarter. The Deerfield, Ill.-based pharmaceutical giant's move to end HemAssist was not unexpected. In June, the company suspended European tests of HemAssist in trauma victims after early results found no statistical benefits. And two months earlier, Baxter suspended testing in U.S. emergency rooms after more patients who used HemAssist died than did those in the control group. The company found that 46.2 percent of the people given HemAssist died, more than the projected 42.6 percent mortality rate and well above the 17.4 percent in the control group. "While we're disappointed, delays are sometimes part of the process of developing breakthrough medical therapies such as oxygen-carrying therapeutics," Baxter president Harry Jansen Kraemer Jr. said. The push to find a blood substitute has been intense because artificial blood could ease the effects of whole-blood shortages, lasts longer than conventional blood, eliminates the time-consuming need to match blood types and wipes out the risk of contamination with such viruses as HIV and hepatitis. The market would represent an instant billion-dollar potential because a blood substitute could be used on battlefields and at accidents, as well as in poor countries that have weak blood bank networks. Also, members of some religious groups refuse to accept transfusions of human blood. Northfield Laboratories Inc., Biopure Corp. and Alliance Pharmaceutical Corp. also are working to develop a viable blood substitute. Baxter in a statement said it will retool the huge Neuchatel, Switzerland, plant that was designed to manufacture HemAssist. The plant now will produce other biopharmaceutical products. About 100 jobs worldwide will be lost as the company ends HemAssist testing, Baxter spokeswoman Mary Thomas aid. The company now will focus on genetic engineering to produce new forms of hemoglobin molecules, a field already being pursued by its competitors. HemAssist was derived from human hemoglobin. Separately, Baxter said it also will take a net $178 million charge in the third quarter to set aside money for lawsuits over hemophiliac and intravenous blood therapies and breast implants. Baxter was among a half-dozen companies involved in lawsuits stemming from concerns that silicone implants have been linked with a range of health problems, such as silicone leakage which may cause autoimmune diseases and other health problems. The company never manufactured breast implants, but assumed the liability after its 1985 merger with American Hospital Supply Corp., which owned now-defunct implant maker Heyer-Schulte. The company also plans to take a $40 million third-quarter charge to write down investments and dissolve joint ventures.