Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Biotech / Medical : VD's Model Portfolio & Discussion Thread -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Rocketman who wrote (5665)	9/25/1998 5:54:00 PM
From: Rocketman	Read Replies (5) \| Respond to of 9719

It's Time for Congress to Move On..... >> Now that the Starr report is out, and the worst is known, I've been >> hoping that congress would take swift action and then move on with the >> business of the country. But it seems our representatives are settling >> down for a long process, and I'm not sure I can stand it. Worse, I'm >> not sure the country can stand it. >> >> I'm helping launch an Internet campaign to tell our representatives >> that we've had enough. The President should receive censure from the >> Congress and we should all move on. And the independent counsel >> investigation should end. It's time for the public interest to come >> first, and for our representatives to show real leadership. >> >> Will you help? Just go to moveon.org to sign the petition. >> It only takes a minute. And then if you send a message on to your >> friends and colleagues, the ball will really get rolling. It's up to >> us. >> >> Please feel free to forward this message to anyone you think would be >> interested.

To: Rocketman who wrote (5665)	9/26/1998 4:05:00 PM
From: Andriy Turhovach	Respond to of 9719

More FYI to all: Top Stories: Crowded Field of AIDS Drugs Grows More Competitive By Jesse Eisinger Senior Writer 9/25/98 9:06 PM ET SAN DIEGO -- Merck (MRK:NYSE) shares got whacked Friday and the word among drug stock investors was that sales of its AIDS drug Crixivan are at risk. The drug competes with other drugs in its class, called protease inhibitors, or PIs, notably the more convenient Viracept from Agouron (AGPH:Nasdaq). Now it will compete with the recently approved Dupont's (DD:NYSE) Sustiva, which is expected to grab a big percentage of the 50,000-odd patients who come down with AIDS each year. Crixivan now is the No. 2 PI after Viracept. But money managers here don't think that it's well-positioned. Evidence presented here at the 38th Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy suggests that Sustiva raises the levels of Viracept in the blood, which several investors cited as positive for Agouron. In addition, Crixivan cannot be taken twice a day, while early evidence suggests that -- contrary to recent rumor -- Viracept can be taken two times a day. Initially, the drugs were prescribed three times a day, which is less convenient. Doctors continue to strive to make the AIDS drug-combination regimens as least onerous as possible. Whether this is good for Agouron continues to be debated. Bears continue to think that the overall AIDS drug market is not growing and that the shelf lives of the current AIDS drugs are starkly shorter than other medicines because of resistance. But bulls on AGPH are reemerging. One New York pharmaceutical money manager, who owns stock in AGPH, thinks that Viracept will gain share, even while the overall market only increases slightly. Some bulls cite recently announced manufacturing problems with Abbott's PI as good for AGPH. And then there are the undying takeover rumors; bulls think that Dupont, which has said it wants to get into the pharmaceutical market but doesn't want to make a large, dilutive transaction, will make a bid for the company. The argument is that after Dupont gauges how badly (if at all) Sustiva hurts Viracept in the market, it will figure out the proper valuation for Agouron and make a bid. Agouron has a policy of not commenting on such rumors. One New York hedge-fund manager who has been short Agouron for many years is sticking with his position, he said, and indeed shorting more. He thinks that Viracept sales are going the way of the Dodo and that Dupont has looked at AGPH and passed. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- An American Home Products (AHP:NYSE) pneumococcal vaccine for meningitis had impressive results. The vaccine showed 100% efficacy in a trial of 37,000 kids. That's pretty good efficacy. The fully vaccinated kids were 100% protected and so were the partially vaccinated ones. Even on an "intent-to-treat" basis, a more rigorous statistical analysis, it was 100% effective. The vaccine was safe and could be launched as early as next year. Alan Sebulsky of Lincoln Capital said that the drug could garner $250 to $500 million in annual sales, which would be a decent product for AHP, which has been floundering under the weight of drug withdrawals and lawsuits over the obesity drug Redux. The key to the AHP story is for the company to close its merger with Monsanto and get rights to Celebra, the new "super aspirin" in the COX-2 class. That could be a multibillion dollar category, analysts hope and pray, but a vaccine cushion would be nice for AHP investors. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- More flu news. It's too early to say who will have the marketing advantage on the flu therapies: Glaxo (GLXGilead (GILD:Nasdaq) and Roche, with its pill. Both companies' data looked substantially similar in the official presentation as they did in the abstract, which is gratifying to biotech investors who often see little changes in company studies. In the rock-scissors-paper game of Wall Street, pills beat inhaled drugs. But the GILD/Roche drug has got about a 10% incidence of both nausea and vomiting. It's easy to envision the Glaxo sales pitch: Don't take a drug that makes you vomit to prevent vomiting. It's probably pretty good to have both therapies on the market, because two sales groups make more noise than one. But that still doesn't mean this category is going to take off. These drugs will require what's called a "missionary" sell and the creation of a market, always a risky bet. From "The Street.Com" 26 September 1998 thestreet.com This one IS by subscription. Have an enjoyable weekend. Bo