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Biotech / Medical : QLT PhotoTherapeutics (QLTI) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Edward W. Richmond who wrote (406)	1/11/1999 10:02:00 PM
From: Ian@SI	Respond to of 1321

Following Reuters story also mentions the $1B revenue number. Except this time it's in Canadian $ (about $660,000 / annum US$) and this time it's all QLT's share rather than the 50 - 50 split between CibaVision and QLT. In other words, I think QLT's estimated revenue has increased by about $160,000 US since the WSJ article last August. FWIW, Ian. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Monday January 11, 6:13 pm Eastern Time QLT soars on on its anti-blindness treatment tests By Scott Anderson TORONTO, Jan 11 (Reuters) - The shares of Canadian biotechnology company QLT PhotoTherapeutics Inc. (Toronto:QLT.TO - news) have rocketed 55 percent in less than a week, buoyed by positive clinical results for its anti-blindness treatment. QLT got an added boost on Monday after raising its profile at a presentation to analysts in San Francisco, analysts said. The shares of the Vancouver-based company rose C$7.75 to C$54.75 on volume of 1.1 million shares. On Nasdaq, the shares gained were up $5-3/8 to $36-9/16 on volume of 987,000 shares. QLT's shares took off last week following the release of positive Phase 3 results for Visudyne, its treatment for age-related macular degeneration (AMD), a leading cause of blindness among people over 50. Since the announcement on Jan 5, the shares have gained C$20.50 or 60 percent in Toronto. Prompting the excitement is positive test results which showed that Visudyne, coupled with QLT's unique light therapy, preserves vision in a significant number of patients with a form of AMD. The findings were based on a 12-month analysis of Phase 3 studies using Visudyne. The treatment also showed vision was stable or improved in 61.4 percent of patients treated with the therapy compared with 45.9 percent of patients administered placebo. It is estimated that 500,000 new cases of AMD are reported annually, with 200,000 alone in North America -- roughly the same number of new cases of breast cancer. About two million people are currently stricken with AMD and no cure is available. QLT expects to to file the trial data by the middle of this year and ask for a priority review from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The treatment could then be available to the public by early 2000. ''The procedure that they've got for slowing down blinding in the aged is really quite something,'' said Fred Ketchen, director of equity trading at ScotiaMcLeod. ''It will be a year or so before this stuff comes available, but there's already a lot of people asking for it. This will be a huge step forward and obviously major benefits for QLT when it does come about.'' The positive results forced analysts to quickly alter their earnings projections for QLT. Duncan Stewart, a portfolio manager at Tera Capital, in Toronto, revised his 12-month target to C$60-C$75 a share, from C$45, noting the great earnings potential for the company. ''This is a drug that three years from now could be $1 billion (corrects figure) in sales (for QLT),'' Stewart told Reuters last week. ''This is not a trivial market.''