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Biotech / Medical : Pharma News Only (pfe,mrk,wla, sgp, ahp, bmy, lly) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: chirodoc who wrote (1102)	11/20/1998 5:45:00 PM
From: Anthony Wong	Respond to of 1722

Monsanto says does not conduct India experiments Friday November 20, 4:46 pm Eastern Time NEW YORK, Nov 20 (Reuters) - Agrochemicals company Monsanto Co. (NYSE:MTC - news) said on Friday that it does not own and did not develop a ''terminator'' seed or gene technology and is not conducting any field trials with such a gene in India. In a written response to a Reuters article from Bangalore, India, from November 19, in which the Karnataka State Farmers Association alleged that U.S.-based Monsanto had been undertaking ''terminator gene'' experiments in that country, Monsanto also denied that the gene technology existed. ''Monsanto does not own and did not develop the so-called 'terminator gene'...'' the company said in a statement. The phrase ''terminator gene'' refers to a technology that the farmers group alleged is used to switch off the reproductive cycle of plants. Monsanto said in the statement that no commercially viable seed-protection technology exists today, nor is it likely to exist for several years, although Delta and Pine Land Seed Co. and the U.S. Department of Agriculture own a joint patent on one potential technology. ''The Delta and Pine Land/USDA technology is still being researched and is yet to be demonstrated to work,'' Monsanto said. Monsanto added that it was seeking to buy Delta and Pine Land, but final agreement had not been reached.

To: chirodoc who wrote (1102)	11/20/1998 6:33:00 PM
From: Anthony Wong	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1722

[MTC MRK PFE BMY]DuPont bets on biotech/Beware of drug stocks side effects By Jeff Clabaugh, CBS MarketWatch Last Update: 11:52 AM ET Nov 20, 1998 How will chemical giant DuPont (DD), the six-armed company that gave us nylon and Kevlar, transform itself for the new century? DuPont's new boss has seen the future, and the future is "life sciences," or the marrying of chemistry with biotechnology. Fortune Investor Online says that may mean acquisitions are on the horizon, and writer Amy R. Kover says CEO Charles Holiday may soon be flush with the cash to make those acquisitions. Having just pulled off Wall Street's biggest IPO ever with the partial spin-off of Conoco Oil (COC), and with plans to sell the rest of the oil company to DuPont shareholders, Kover estimates DuPont will have about $9 billion in cash on hand. Likely takeover target? She guesses Monsanto (MTC) is vulnerable after its failed merger with American Home Products (AHP) last month. And she thinks DuPont may start buying mid-sized pharmaceuticals companies or a series of small biotechs. Kover quotes Holiday as saying DuPont's transformation will be a slow one and the company will cling to its traditional lines. Evidence of that in DuPont's $1.89 billion acquisition last month of Herberts, an automotive paint company. She warns DuPont may continue to post disappointing earnings for the next few quarters and writes, "After all, a $27 billion chemical cow can't change into a lithe biotech gazelle overnight." More on this recommendation is available at pathfinder.com. Beware of drug stock side effects Choosing which pharmaceutical companies to invest in should take into consideration not only research into what drugs the company has in the pipeline, but also its exposure to patent expirations. Multex Investor Network's The Ink Well interviews Alec Murray of Massachusetts Financial Services who likes a lot of what he sees in today's drug industry, but issues the patent exposure warning. Merck (MRK) is a good example. Murray says while Merck has a new form of pain killer coming to market called a Cox II inhibitor with the potential of generating billions of dollars in revenue, Merck also has a number of products that will lose patents between 2000 and 2002 including its second largest product, Vasotec, a hypertension drug. When a drug goes on the generic market, Murray says, the name brand equivalent typically loses 75 percent of its sales in the first year. One company Murray says has worked its way through its patent expiration problems is Bristol Myers Squibb (BMY), which is growing earnings by 13 percent a year. The company has two promising new products coming to market that could generate $500 million in annual combined sales. That would be on top of two other Bristol Myers Squibb drugs already on the market that are worth more than $2 billion dollars in sales. And yes, Murray likes Pfizer Inc (PFE) as one of his top picks, but not just because of its blockbuster Viagra, which now has the whole European market to conquer. He says Pfizer is also bringing a Cox II inhibitor to market that will compete with Merck's version. A company who's revenue was up 21 percent last quarter, Murray puts a 12 month target price on Pfizer at $130. More on this recommendation is available at multexinvestor.com. [Thread, the original article "Analyst Prescribes Drug Stocks" provides much more details. Do click and read the full article] cbs.marketwatch.com

To: chirodoc who wrote (1102)	11/20/1998 7:41:00 PM
From: Anthony Wong	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 1722

Monsanto, DeKalb Negotiating Settlement With Justice Department Bloomberg News November 20, 1998, 7:03 p.m. ET Monsanto, DeKalb Negotiating Settlement With Justice Department Washington, Nov. 20 (Bloomberg) -- Monsanto Co. and the U.S. Justice Department are negotiating to resolve antitrust concerns over seed technology related to the company's proposed $2.3 billion acquisition of DeKalb Genetics Corp., said two people familiar with the situation. Talks between antitrust enforcers and company attorneys center on problems that could arise if Monsanto, one of the world's leading agricultural biotechnology companies, controls two of the most popular genetic technologies used in the seed industry, as well as DeKalb's extensive seed business. These concerns could be resolved if Monsanto and DeKalb agree to license the technology to other seed companies, the people said. Though the two companies set Nov. 22 as a deadline for the Justice Department to clear the transaction or seek a court order stopping it, Monsanto spokeswoman Scarlett Foster said it wouldn't necessarily be in the company's best interests to go ahead without clearance. Foster declined to discuss details of what she said are ''confidential negotiations'' with federal antitrust enforcers who are reviewing the merger to ensure it doesn't impede competition in the seed industry. She said the Nov. 22 date may be ''fluid'' rather than a firm deadline. Monsanto and DeKalb both have key patents used in ''transformation technologies'' that implant genes in seeds to make them resistant to insects and herbicides. Bacteria and Guns Monsanto's agrobacterium technology uses bacteria to penetrate the seed and carry the gene with it. DeKalb's technology involves micro-projectile bombardment, which uses a gun to shoot the gene into the seed. Antitrust enforcers are concerned competition would be hurt if one company -- Monsanto -- controlled the most widely used gene transformation technologies, the people said. Officials are also concerned that Monsanto would have little incentive to license the technology to rival seed companies rather than keeping it for improvement of its own seeds, the people said. Monsanto's acquisition of the DeKalb, Illinois-based corn- seed producer would give it close to 50 percent of the market. St. Louis-based Monsanto already owns several seed companies, including Holden's Foundation Seeds Inc., which sells special corn seeds used to make to make hybrid versions, and Asgrow Agronomics, which sells a range of row crop seeds. Holden's breeding seeds are present in about 35 percent of all corn planted in the U.S. DeKalb is the No. 2 seller of corn seed in North America, with 12 percent of the market. Overlapping Markets In June, the Justice Department sought more information from Monsanto and DeKalb about the agriculture seed market in which both companies' businesses overlap. Last Friday, the companies said they'd extend a deadline for the Justice Department to complete its review of the transaction to Nov. 22 from Nov. 17. They also extended the deadline for the transaction's financing until Nov. 27. In May, Monsanto offered $100 a share for the remaining 60 percent of DeKalb it didn't own. DeKalb's shares, though, are trading well below that amount, closing today at 88 3/4, down 3/16. The same transformation technology that antitrust enforcers are concerned about is also the subject of court disputes among companies within the industry. DeKalb is suing Pioneer Hi-Bred International Inc., Novartis AG and Mycogen Corp., claiming their insect-resistant Bt corn infringes on DeKalb's gene-gun technology. DeKalb's patent relates not to the gun itself but to a process for transforming corn tissue using the gun. Mycogen and others claim the patent doesn't cover the tissue in their corn. Restricted Access Monsanto has already restricted access and raised the price of Holden's breeding seed, and has cut off Mycogen altogether because the two are involved in litigation over insect-resistant Bt technology, said Michael Sund, a spokesman for San Diego-based Mycogen Corp., a seed and biotechnology company owned by Dow Chemical Co. Monsanto could restrict access to its germplasm to companies who are prepared to accept and pay for Monsanto's genetic traits such as insect resistance, he said. ''Those are the conditions Monsanto is trying to impose on the industry,'' Sund said. ''You are going to have Monsanto as the only place that the industry can turn to for traits in germplasm.'' The Justice Department is still reviewing Monsanto's purchase of cotton-seed producer Delta & Pine Land Co., which would give it about 85 percent of the U.S. cotton-seed market. --Anne Marie Squeo in Washington at 202-624-1862 and Toni Clarke