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Biotech / Medical : Monsanto Co. -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: jopawa who wrote (887)	1/15/1999 4:41:00 PM
From: Dan Spillane	Respond to of 2539

Actually, I wonder how much of this particular bad news is already figured in. The November news concerning one of those drugs had pretty horrifying wording. With all this bad news, I am thinking of buying Monsanto here.

To: jopawa who wrote (887)	1/15/1999 5:21:00 PM
From: Anthony Wong	Respond to of 2539

Monsanto Drops Two Experimental Heart Drugs in Advanced Tests Bloomberg News January 15, 1999, 4:23 p.m. ET Monsanto Drops Two Experimental Heart Drugs in Advanced Tests St. Louis, Jan. 15 (Bloomberg) -- Monsanto Co., one of the world's largest agricultural biotechnology companies, said it ended development of two experimental heart drugs that were in advanced testing. Monsanto, which makes drugs as well as agricultural products, said it decided to drop the drugs, xemilofiban and orbofiban, after tests indicated they didn't show a significant benefit in reducing death and heart attacks. The studies were among the largest ever done in cardiovascular medicine. In November, Monsanto said it scaled back a study of orbofiban after seeing more deaths than expected in one group of patients receiving the medicine. ''There was a little of hesitation about the drugs after the orbofiban results,'' said Tom Brakel, an analyst with Mehta Partners, who has a ''hold'' on Monsanto. ''The whole class was a little bit under scrutiny.'' Monsanto, based in St. Louis, fell 1/4 to 42. Combined, the two drugs might have had eventual sales of $500 million, Brakel said. Xemilofiban and orbofiban worked by interfering with platelets, cells needed to form blood clots. The drugs work on the same mechanism as do injectable medicines such as Centocor Inc.'s ReoPro, used in hospitals for patients with severe chest pain. Merck & Co. and Cor Therapeutics Inc. Monsanto's pills had more potential for long-term use by patients outside of hospitals. Still, they would have faced competition from existing pills, such as aspirin and Plavix, a drug sold by Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. and France's Sanofi SA. --Kerry Dooley in the Princeton newsroom (609) 279-4016/shw