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Biotech / Medical : Ionis Pharmaceuticals (IONS) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Micawber who wrote (2526)	3/12/1999 12:14:00 PM
From: sds	Respond to of 4676

Geesh! Get me back and then run me through the ringer!!!! ;) Haven't been posting because, frankly, there hasn't been much reason to... Kisner's departure: unfortunate, but not unexpected. I mean, any guy worth having would want to take that job, right? 2302: Feh! I just hope Crohn's works!!! Shelf filing: Much ado about nothing. Cowen: My hunch on this is two-fold. First, its a new analyst, so maybe he just wants to make his own way. Second, there's no reason to be too excited yet. I mean, Crohn's data won't be out 'til 2H'99, so why stick your neck out with a Strong Buy? I'm moderately bearish at this point. Actually, I bought some more recently (basically smoothing out my holdings into a better round lot). I still believe antisense (and Isis) can work, but Isis is running out of time.

To: Micawber who wrote (2526)	3/16/1999 12:09:00 PM
From: sds	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 4676

Brian, Further thoughts on the Cowen downgrade... I'm not sure if this is old news, but I got my hands on some information regarding the Cowen downgrade. Basically, the analyst cited the slow sales of Vitravene and the absence of near-term catalysts as the reasons for the downgrade. With the Crohn's data not coming out 'til later this year, he believes there really won't be anything out there to move the stock. Fact is, he's probably right, at least to a point. That said, though, there is an unspoken reason he did the downgrade. He is new, and he probably wants to "clear the decks" of any stocks that might have less than rosy pasts for Cowen. Isis is arguably the definitive controversy stock in biotech (you either believe antisense works and love Isis, or you believe antisense won't work and Isis is destined for Chapter 11), so I can't really blame a new guy for washing his hands of it at this point. Also, a "Buy" is still a "Buy" -- its better than a Neutral. sds