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Biotech / Medical : Pharma News Only (pfe,mrk,wla, sgp, ahp, bmy, lly) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Anthony Wong who wrote (1427)	2/14/1999 2:13:00 PM
From: Anthony Wong	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1722

Immunex Shares Fall as Pace of New Enbrel Prescriptions Slows Bloomberg News February 13, 1999, 11:15 a.m. ET Immunex Shares Fall as Pace of New Enbrel Prescriptions Slows Washington, Feb. 13 (Bloomberg) -- Immunex Corp. shares slid 15 percent in the first two weeks of February, as investors realize it will take some time for the company's hot new arthritis drug Enbrel to reach its potential, analysts said. Shares in Seattle-based Immunex fell 2 3/8 to 136 5/8 Friday. Enthusiasm for Enbrel caused shares in Immunex to more than triple since October, peaking at 163 1/8 Feb. 1. The rise was driven by the company's reports that Enbrel sales had beaten expectations, and that the company's drug was the subject of a favorable study in an influential medical journal. Shares began their slide after officials, while reporting the company's first-ever profit for the fourth quarter, said Immunex will likely lose money over the next two quarters as it spends in order to further establish Enbrel on the market. Immunex fell 6 percent on the news. The stock's continued slide has been fueled by a dip in the growth of new prescriptions for Enbrel, according to weekly numbers released on Monday. ''The new prescriptions were down 5 percent over last week, and that can certainly have an effect,'' said Michael King, a biotechnology analyst with BancBoston Robertson Stephens, who has a ''long term attractive'' rating on Immunex. Lull in New Prescriptions For the week ending Jan. 22, there were 2,169 new prescriptions for the drug, down from the 2,286 new prescriptions doctors wrote for Enbrel the during previous week, according to IMS Health, a firm that tracks prescription and sales trends for drugs. Analysts though said that a lull in new prescriptions is a normal event during the course of new drug launch. Initially, demand for Enbrel surprised investors, and sales for the fourth - quarter beat analysts expectations by more than a $1 million. ''We shouldn't make too much out of this. New drugs don't go straight up, and nothing goes in a straight line,'' said BancAmerica's King. Immunex shares rose 13 percent on Wednesday and Thursday, before falling again yesterday. The drop in Immunex is due in part to the fact that the company's stock had more than tripled since October, driven by high hopes for Enbrel, analysts said. ''The stock was just priced too high,'' said Meirav Chovav, an analyst with Salomon Smith Barney. ''Enbrel is a very good drug, and Immunex is a very good company.'' New Class of Therapies Salomon's Chovav cut her rating on the stock to a ''neutral'' on Feb. 2, after the stock's price rose too high, she said. Her 12-month target price is 140. Immunex, which is majority-owned by drugmaker American Home Products Corp., reported fourth-quarter net income of $11.04 million, or 26 cents a share after a loss of 4.57 million, or 12 cents, a year earlier. Enbrel had 12.7 million in sales in the fourth quarter. The drug is among the first in a new class of therapies that combat diseases like rheumatoid arthritis by blocking a naturally occurring protein called Tumor Necrosis Factor, which plays a key role in inflammation. Centocor Inc. has applied for FDA clearance to sell its Remicade drug to treat rheumatoid arthritis. Remicade, which is already approved to treat a severe bowel disorder called Crohn's disease, targets the TNF protein differently. Immunex's chief executive officer has said he expects the company to record a full-year profit at the end of 1999. ''There is nothing fundamentally wrong,'' Chovav said. ''The company is doing great -- the stock just got ahead of itself.'' --Kristin Reed in Washington (202) 624-1858/ mfr