ILEX Oncology 907545 - 500 Beiträge pro Seite

[Medux]

Wer hat ´ne Ahnung warum die Aktie in 2 Tagen fast 25% verliert?
Gibt´s schlechte News vom potenziellen Blockbuster CAMPRATH?

[Genovevo]

@Medux

Nicht direkt !!!!!!

Nur das die FDA vorsichtig sein will und deswegen
Campath (MLNM und ILEX) erstmal für einen Versuchszeitraum von 60 Tage Zugelassen wird.
(haben viele falsch aufgefasst)


Gruss

Ramon

P.S.

Dabeibleiben !!!

[Rudra]

UPDATE 1 - ILEX loss widens, stock falls on warning
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2001 4:06 PM
- Reuters

(Adds analysts comments, details, updates stock price in graphs 7-11, 13-18)

By Edward Tobin

NEW YORK, Feb 14 (Reuters) - Drug maker ILEX Oncology Inc. (NASDAQ NM:ILXO) on Tuesday said its quarterly losses widened due to development costs for its experimental cancer medicine Campath, and sent investors scurrying with plans to boost research spending by more than 70 percent in 2001.

ILEX`s stock tumbled more than 20 percent, making it one of the biggest percentage-loss leaders on Nasdaq, before closing $5-5/16 lower at $21-3/8.

The San Antonio-based firm, which recently received U.S. regulatory support for Campath as a treatment for a rare type of leukemia, said it lost $22.5 million, or 89 cents per share, in the fourth quarter, more than eight times the loss of $2.7 million, or 15 cents per share, in the year-ago period.

The firm attributed the losses to sales training and expenses in preparation to market Campath.

Excluding $14.6 million in research and development costs, ILEX posted a loss of $7.9 million, or 31 cents per share, vs. a loss of $2.8 million, or 15 cents per share, in the 1999 quarter.

Industry analysts polled by First Call/Thomson Financial had expected a loss of 36 cents per share.

ILEX projected a surprisingly big 2001 loss of $35 million to $38 million, or $1.32 to $1.43 a share, excluding R&D expenses. This far exceeds analysts` consensus estimate of a 33 cents-per-share loss.

The red ink will come from continued spending "to build a pharmaceutical company focused on cancer," with plans to invest in its pipeline of experimental drugs as well as ongoing human clinical trials, and research organization, the company said.

"The stock is down because people thought ILEX would be profitable some time this year, but now they are talking about three to four years," analyst Jeffrey Dabbs of Kerchville & Associates said.

"The strategy in the long run is better because they are accelerating the development pipeline, but the initial response of the market is a knee jerk reaction to the guidance," he said.

CAMPATH SEEN GETTING APPROVÁ???

ILEX, which is developing Campath in collaboration with Cambridge, Mass.-based Millennium Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ NM:MLNM), is awaiting approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to sell the drug as a treatment for chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), a disease that is nearly always fatal. An advisory panel to the FDA has recommended the treatment be cleared by a 14-1 vote.

The companies are seeking permission to market the drug for patients who have tried two other approved CLL therapies that are no longer effective on users.

About 10,000 U.S. adults are diagnosed with CLL each year. In late stages of the disease, life expectancy is between 18 months and three years.

ILEX said its share of the loss from its Campath joint venture, Millennium & ILEX Partners, L.P., totaled $1.9 million for the fourth quarter, up from a small profit in the same period in 1999.

Peter Ginsberg, analyst for U.S. Bancorp Piper Jaffray, said he expects the FDA to approve Campath by April, and for the drug to achieve peak annual sales of about $250 million by 2005, with profits to be divided among ILEX, Millennium Pharmaceuticals and German pharmaceuticals group Schering AG (.

ILEX said it plans to spend betweó???venues this year.

Ginsberg said ILEX`s planned R&D spending is up to 65 percent more than the $31 million he had expected for 2001.

"The high research spending is the major reason for the bigger-than-expected loss (in 2001)," said Ginsberg.

ILEX said it would need to significantly ramp up its R&D spending in order to finance clinical trials on nine different drugs this year, including Campath and medicines for bladder cancer and colon polyps.

But in the long run, Ginsberg said ILEX`s bigger push into research makes sense because it will help the company more quickly realize its goal of becoming a "fully integrated oncology company" that develops and sells its own medicines.

(Additional reporting by Ransdell Pierson)

Rtr 16:06 02-14-01

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Copyright 2001, Reuters News Service