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

To: Buckeye who wrote (298)	1/29/1999 1:46:00 AM
From: Guy Gordon	Respond to of 656

AP on Enbrel - Thursday January 28 New Arthritis Treatment Touted The standard medicine for rheumatoid arthritis appears to ease pain and swelling significantly better when combined with a new genetically engineered drug, researchers reported today. For the last decade, methotrexate has been the first-choice drug because it relieves symptoms quickly and more effectively than other drugs. Still, it doesn't help many patients enough, so researchers compared using methotrexate alone and using it with an injectable drug called Enbrel, the first genetically engineered medication sold for arthritis. In a 1997 study of 89 patients, doctors found pain and swelling decreased noticeably in 71 percent of patients who got both drugs for six weeks. The rate was 27 percent for patients who got methotrexate and a dummy shot. Symptoms decreased as much as 70 percent for 15 percent of the patients who got Enbrel and methotrexate, compared with none who only took methotrexate. Enbrel is made by Immunex Corp. (Nasdaq:IMNX - news) of Seattle, which funded the study. The lead researcher of the study reported in today's New England Journal of Medicine was Dr. Michael Weinblatt, director of clinical rheumatology at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disease in which rogue immune cells attack the tissue cushioning joints, eventually disabling many patients. It affects 2 million Americans, mostly women, and usually develops between age 25 and 50. Enbrel, chemically known as etanercept, caused few adverse effects in the study besides itching and rashes at the injection site, but it has one big drawback - it costs $12,000 a year. In an editorial in the journal, Dr. James O'Dell of University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha also noted the success of infliximab, a genetically engineered drug approved for a digestive tract disorder and being tested for rheumatoid arthritis. "A new era has begun," he wrote. "For the first time, clinicians can target a specific aspect of the pathologic process" in rheumatoid arthritis, rather than just reducing inflammation.

To: Buckeye who wrote (298)	1/29/1999 4:04:00 AM
From: synchro	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 656

It is a little curious how with the stock vaulting more than a hundred dollars a share since the fall there's virtually no following around here for the stock. Who do you think are jerking the stock $7 up and $9 down? Institutions? I have a feeling it ain't the Yahoo/Amazon crowd. Perhaps there simply aren't that many shares floating out there and the mutual fund herd is desparate to buy this thing. A thought about supply and demand: With all the internet craze out there, Wall Street has been more than happy to oblige in shoveling out more IPO paper out the door to feed the seemingly insatiable demand. The same can't be said for Biotech. I think there're still plenty of people out there who got burnt back during the '90-'92 Biotech crash that they are still swearing off this sector. This is in spite of the string of positive news coming out of the biotech sectors. And I haven't heard a big Biotech IPO out there in a long time. A bullish sign? From the way the four of the Big Five are behaving (Amgen, Biogen, Genzyme, Genentech), it seems like the institutions are still quietly accumulating after three months of activity. The sole exception being Chiron.