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 : Ligand (LGND) Breakout! -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Henry Niman who wrote (26966)	12/18/1998 10:33:00 AM
From: aknahow	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 32384

I was totally unaware that clinical investigators can own stock in the drug under investigation. Think this stinks. Have mixed emotions about posting this, as I don't understand why people just don't subscribe on their own. thestreet.com Herb on TheStreet: New Disclosure Rules for Medical Investigators Won't Apply to PR By Herb Greenberg Senior Columnist 12/18/98 6:30 AM ET Fried-Day: Take two aspirin and buy this stock: Financial conflicts of interest involving clinical investigators of medical products are so common that starting in February the Food and Drug Administration will require all medical companies to disclose investments by investigators that are worth more than $50,000. What won't be required, however, is disclosure of the investments held by supposed experts quoted in company press releases. Take the case of Sunrise Technologies (SNRS:Nasdaq), the maker of an eye laser to treat farsightedness. The company points out in a recent registration statement that more than half of its clinical investigators are also investors in the company. (That's more than the norm, according to several industry observers, but at least it's disclosed.) However, unless you read the company's Securities and Exchange Commission filings, you'd never know that Dr. Donald Sanders, who runs the Center for Clinical Research in Elmhurst, Ill., owns more than 5% of the firm. Sanders was quoted liberally in Sunrise's recent press release announcing that it had filed an application for FDA approval of its laser. Quoted in the same release: Dr. Douglas Koch of Baylor College of Medicine, a clinical investigator who, according to the registration statement, is also a Sunrise investor. Shift over to Staar Surgical (STAA:Nasdaq), which makes implantable contact lenses, and there's Dr. Sanders being quoted again. (No mention that he's a director of the company as well as an investor.) And it's all legit. All the FDA requires is that the comments be factual.