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

To: medsunman who wrote (28417)	2/27/1999 9:54:00 AM
From: Henry Niman	Respond to of 32384

I think that there is some confusion about "orphan" drug status. I believe that LGND has orphan drug status on Targretin (for CTCL), Panretin and ONTAK (for CTCL). Orphan drug status is designed to encourage companies to develop drugs for diseases that affect small target populations, However, it does not limit other, unrelated drugs. LGND's strategy is to gain approval for small target populations, and make most of their money on off-label uses for larger populations (and eventually gain approval for the larger populations). ONTAK targets advanced CTCL patients. Targetin oral and topical will target earlier stage populations. I haven't seen any of the SuperGen data on CTCL. I suspect that elevated triglycerides would limit Targretin for prevention of breast cancer, but doubt that it would impact treatment of early stage disease, which develops into a fatal disease if not treated. Its all based on risk/reward and in the clinical data is anywhere close to the mouse data, the treating early stage breast cancer with Targretin rewards will far outweigh the elevated triglyceride risk.

To: medsunman who wrote (28417)	2/27/1999 10:03:00 AM
From: Henry Niman	Respond to of 32384

A list of orphan drugs can be found at: verity.fda.gov Here's the orphan data on ONTAK: Generic Name: Denileukin diftitox Trade Name: Ontak Orphan Indication: Treatment of patients with persistent or recurrent cutaneous T-cell lymphoma whose malignant cells express the CD25 component of the IL-2 receptor. Sponsor: Seragen, Inc. Address: Hopkinton, MA Contact: Dr. Jill Hiller Phone: (508) 435-2331 Fax: (508) 435-9805 Designation Date: 08/21/1996 Here's Panretin oral: Generic Name: 9-cis retinoic acid Trade Name: Panretin Orphan Indication: Treatment of acute promyelocytic leukemia. Sponsor: Ligand Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Address: San Diego, CA Contact: Dr. Howard Holden Phone: (619) 550-7600 Fax: (619) 625-9524 Designation Date: 04/10/1992 Here's panretn Topical: Generic Name: Alitretinoin*** Trade Name: Panretin Orphan Indication: Topical treatment of cutaneous lesions in patients with AIDS-related Kaposi's sarcoma. Sponsor: Ligand Pharmaceuticals Inc. Address: San Diego, CA Contact: Dr. David Furlano Phone: (619) 550-7600 Fax: (619) 550-1827 Designation Date: 03/24/1998