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

To: aknahow who wrote (27368)	1/12/1999 12:37:00 PM
From: medsunman	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 32384

To the Thread: I was at the Ligand H&Q presentation yesterday, as well as at the breakout session afterward. As a matter of fact, I sat next to our esteemed friend Bernie at the breakout session. I'm afraid that I wasn't terribly impressed with what I heard. Last year the grand ballroom seemed filled to capacity for LGND's presentation - this year it wasn't. As he did last year, Robinson again emphasized the theme that LGND is on a march to profitability. However, he didn't have anyting noteworthy to add to the information which is already available. He stated that he expects ONTAK and Panretin gel approvals shortly. The work toward filing NDA's for Panretin oral and Targretin gel and oral are all on schedule. He expects Q4 '99 to be LGND's first profitable quarter. I asked him about the Phase II diabetes data, and what he expects Lilly to do with that product. He said the Phase II's are complete and the data is being analyzed. He then went on to explain at some length that Targetin in diabetes may not be viable due to side effect profile (elevation of triglycerides), and that therefore Lilly may not want to take this product forward. Both he and Andres Negro-Vilar then explained that LGND has an "embarassment of riches" in this area, because there is more than one second (or third) generation compound which looks as if it might work very well in diabetes without the side effects. All in all, I came away with the expectation that later this quarter the Phase II results may be announced, along with news that Lilly and LGND may decide to develop another later generation product for this market ( which, of course, would cause some delay). The Targretin Phase II results in breast cancer should be announce in Q3, which will be subsequent to the filing of the Targretin NDA for CTCL. Robinson seemed to have higher hopes for ONTAK than I had expected. He expects approval for CTCL shortly, and then LGND will seek to develop the drug for non-Hodgkins lymphoma as well. In general, the presentation was good, but there were no big announcements - just more of the same. Essentially the same message we have heard for the last year or so. LGND is on a march toward profitability in Q4 '99, with hopes to expand indications for Panretin, Targretin and ONTAK to larger markets in 2000-2001. Well, I'm heading back to H&Q now. I will try to post more detail later.