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Biotech / Medical : MGI Pharma MOGN New patents, anti cancer -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Biomaven who wrote (1130)	11/17/1998 5:13:00 PM
From: Russian Bear	Respond to of 1826

Peter, I agree, this press release is a bit "agressive" for MGI. They do earn some points, in my book, for releasing it after the closing bell, however. That shows a degree of professionalism and good judgement, especially in this crazy market. A quick question: <<"Of particular relevance to the present Phase II human study is the fact that MGI 114 has demonstrated excellent antitumor activity in animal tests where human pancreatic tumors were implanted in mice,'' explained Blitzer. ''At half the maximum tolerated dose, one of 10 mice showed complete elimination of the tumor, while the remaining nine mice exhibited tumor growth inhibition of about 37 percent. At the maximum tolerated dose, nine out of 10 mice showed complete tumor shrinkage. This compares very favorably to the results produced by gemcitabine, which only produced tumor growth inhibition of 23 percent at its maximum tolerated dose.">> Mr. Blitzer appears to use the terms "complete elimination of the tumor" and "complete tumor shrinkage" interchangeably in the second and third sentences. Is that the case, or is there a subtle difference in meaning, here? I realize that this detail may not be a particularly important matter (particularly, considering the fact that he was merely discussing pre-clinical results.) However, it struck me as being strange. Thanks, RB

To: Biomaven who wrote (1130)	11/17/1998 6:50:00 PM
From: David Cathcart	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1826

Peter, >>Upbeat (a little too so for my taste) news release<< I defer to your knowledge and experience on this judgement. I like the fact though that the one pancreatic patient is still in the phase I trial after six months and has had a >70% tumor reduction. I realize that one patient is simply an “observation,” but this one is a really nice observation. The drug does not have to work nearly that well in the phase II trial for MGI 114 to be the better mousetrap for pancreatic cancer. “Oh maybe not today, and maybe not tomorrow, but soon…” the street is going to start liking MGI 114 and the company that owns it. Maybe it will be tomorrow. David