miezmiez
21.11.2000, 14:01
Schaut euch den Wert und das Chart an. Hier könnte im Biotechbereich u.U. ein neuer Highflyer geboren werden. Vorsicht ist trotzdem geboten. Nachfolgende zwei Artikel über das Unternehmenhttp://www.aktienboard.com/vb/images/smilies/biggrin.gif
Company Digest
Printer version
November 20, 2000 11:40
Onyx up on news of favorable cancer drug trial
NEW YORK, Nov 20 (Reuters) - Shares of Onyx Pharmaceuticals Inc. jumped on
Monday after the company said Phase II clinical data published in the journal
Cancer Research showed the company's drug ONYX-015 caused shrinkage in head
and neck tumors that previously failed to respond to other therapies.
The Richmond, Calif.-based biotech firm said ONYX-015 was shown to work
selectively in cancer cells containing a mutant, and therefore inactive, p53
tumor-suppressor gene -- while sparing normal cells that have a functioning p53
gene.
Shares of Onyx were up $1-9/16 to $14-3/8, or 12 percent, in morning trade on the
Nasdaq following description of the study in the November issue of the medical
journal.
"(ONYX-015) appears to be the first therapeutic agent specifically designed to target
p53-deficient tumor cells that has demonstrated selectivity in patients," said John
Nemunaitis, a Baylor University researcher who led the study.
Nemunaitis said the results justify continued study of ONYX-015 in head and neck
cancer and other types of tumors known to be associated with mutated p53 genes.
The p53 gene is considered one of the body's most important naturally occurring
tumor-suppressor genes. Those genes are believed to help control runaway growth
of cells and thereby prevent cancer. But when slight changes, or mutations, to the
p53 gene occur, it is believed to lose its tumor-preventing effectiveness.
By contrast, another group of genes called "oncogenes" stimulates runaway cell
growth and cancer.
The study enrolled patients with recurrent head and neck cancer and required they
complete at least two treatment cycles in order to be considered.
In the study, of 24 patients evaluated, 19 were assigned to a standard regimen
consisting of a single daily direct injection of ONYX-015 in tumors for five days and
five patients were given two smaller doses of ONYX-015 per day in tumors for five
days.
Of the 19 patients who received the standard dosage, the company said two
showed a complete disappearance of measurable tumors and two showed a 50
percent or greater decrease in tumor size.
Onyx said tumor samples showed a significant correlation between tumor size
reduction and whether p53 genes in tumors were mutated or were of the normal
"wild type."
Company Digest
Printer version
November 20, 2000 15:10
Biotechs droop amid high-tech selloff, election
quandary
By Ransdell Pierson
NEW YORK, Nov 20 (Reuters) - Shares of U.S. biotech companies fell on Monday
in sympathy with a sell-off in high-tech stocks and prolonged uncertainty over the
U.S. presidential election, analysts said.
The American Stock Exchange Biotech Index , consisting of 16 prominent U.S.
companies, was down 10.7 percent at 556.77 Monday afternoon. Nevertheless, the
index remains up 42 percent for the year to date amid heightened enthusiasm over
the promise of gene-based pharmaceuticals.
The technology-laden Nasdaq Composite Index was down 3.9 percent to 2909.16,
flirting with an intra-day low for the year after Morgan Stanley Dean Witter warned
that a slowing U.S. economy may dampen earnings growth of high-tech companies
next year.
"Biotechs are being brought down today by the rest of the technology sector,
including computer, Internet and wireless (communications) companies," said Todd
Nelson, a biotech analyst for Dain Rauscher Wessels.
But Nelson said the pain being suffered by biotechs was unwarranted. "The
fundamentals in our sector remain very strong and are not deteriorating," he said.
Nelson said all the major biotech firms his company follows met or exceeded
earnings expectations in the third quarter. Moreover, he said prospects of large as
well as small biotechs have brightened this year with the de-coding of the 3.1 billion
chemical pairs that make up the human genome, or genetic blueprint.
"The human genome will help provide drug targets for many years to come," Nelson
said, adding that the balance sheets of many biotechs have improved strongly in
2000 thanks to billions of dollars raised through secondary financings.
Many of the biggest losers on Monday were those whose shares have escalated
the most in the past year. Gene-hunting firm Millennium Pharmaceuticals Inc was
down $10 to $44-5/16, or 18 percent, on the Nasdaq. It remains well above its
52-week intraday low of $19-7/8, but below its year high of $89-13/16.
Celera Genomics Group , the firm that made history by sequencing the human
genome, was off $7-1/8 to $46, or 13 percent on the New York Stock Exchange.
Over the past year, it has traded in a range between $22-13/16 and $275.
Myriad Genetics Inc , another gene-hunting leader, was down 11-5/16 to $74, or 13
percent, on the Nasdaq. Its 52-week range has been $12-7/16 to $138.
But some biotechs bucked the downturn thanks to positive news on their
experimental drugs, including Onyx Pharmaceuticals Inc , whose shares were up
$1-7/16 to $14-1/4 in heavy trading on the Nasdaq.
The California firm said Phase II clinical data showed its drug ONYX-15 caused
shrinkage in head and neck tumors that previously failed to respond to other
therapies.
Jim McCamant, editor of the Medical Technology Stock Letter, noted that the
American Stock Exchange Biotech Index has fallen 27 percent since election day
on November 7. He said uncertainty over the results, and ever-hotter rhetoric from
aides to Democratic candidate Al Gore and Republican candidate George W. Bush
has helped unnerve biotech investors.
"Some people are warning that the slowing U.S. economy could hurt earnings
growth of companies in many industries. And some investors are on a 'buying
strike' which probably won't end until they know who's going to be president,"
McCamant said.
But he predicted election clues will emerge later this week, after wh
Company Digest
Printer version
November 20, 2000 11:40
Onyx up on news of favorable cancer drug trial
NEW YORK, Nov 20 (Reuters) - Shares of Onyx Pharmaceuticals Inc. jumped on
Monday after the company said Phase II clinical data published in the journal
Cancer Research showed the company's drug ONYX-015 caused shrinkage in head
and neck tumors that previously failed to respond to other therapies.
The Richmond, Calif.-based biotech firm said ONYX-015 was shown to work
selectively in cancer cells containing a mutant, and therefore inactive, p53
tumor-suppressor gene -- while sparing normal cells that have a functioning p53
gene.
Shares of Onyx were up $1-9/16 to $14-3/8, or 12 percent, in morning trade on the
Nasdaq following description of the study in the November issue of the medical
journal.
"(ONYX-015) appears to be the first therapeutic agent specifically designed to target
p53-deficient tumor cells that has demonstrated selectivity in patients," said John
Nemunaitis, a Baylor University researcher who led the study.
Nemunaitis said the results justify continued study of ONYX-015 in head and neck
cancer and other types of tumors known to be associated with mutated p53 genes.
The p53 gene is considered one of the body's most important naturally occurring
tumor-suppressor genes. Those genes are believed to help control runaway growth
of cells and thereby prevent cancer. But when slight changes, or mutations, to the
p53 gene occur, it is believed to lose its tumor-preventing effectiveness.
By contrast, another group of genes called "oncogenes" stimulates runaway cell
growth and cancer.
The study enrolled patients with recurrent head and neck cancer and required they
complete at least two treatment cycles in order to be considered.
In the study, of 24 patients evaluated, 19 were assigned to a standard regimen
consisting of a single daily direct injection of ONYX-015 in tumors for five days and
five patients were given two smaller doses of ONYX-015 per day in tumors for five
days.
Of the 19 patients who received the standard dosage, the company said two
showed a complete disappearance of measurable tumors and two showed a 50
percent or greater decrease in tumor size.
Onyx said tumor samples showed a significant correlation between tumor size
reduction and whether p53 genes in tumors were mutated or were of the normal
"wild type."
Company Digest
Printer version
November 20, 2000 15:10
Biotechs droop amid high-tech selloff, election
quandary
By Ransdell Pierson
NEW YORK, Nov 20 (Reuters) - Shares of U.S. biotech companies fell on Monday
in sympathy with a sell-off in high-tech stocks and prolonged uncertainty over the
U.S. presidential election, analysts said.
The American Stock Exchange Biotech Index , consisting of 16 prominent U.S.
companies, was down 10.7 percent at 556.77 Monday afternoon. Nevertheless, the
index remains up 42 percent for the year to date amid heightened enthusiasm over
the promise of gene-based pharmaceuticals.
The technology-laden Nasdaq Composite Index was down 3.9 percent to 2909.16,
flirting with an intra-day low for the year after Morgan Stanley Dean Witter warned
that a slowing U.S. economy may dampen earnings growth of high-tech companies
next year.
"Biotechs are being brought down today by the rest of the technology sector,
including computer, Internet and wireless (communications) companies," said Todd
Nelson, a biotech analyst for Dain Rauscher Wessels.
But Nelson said the pain being suffered by biotechs was unwarranted. "The
fundamentals in our sector remain very strong and are not deteriorating," he said.
Nelson said all the major biotech firms his company follows met or exceeded
earnings expectations in the third quarter. Moreover, he said prospects of large as
well as small biotechs have brightened this year with the de-coding of the 3.1 billion
chemical pairs that make up the human genome, or genetic blueprint.
"The human genome will help provide drug targets for many years to come," Nelson
said, adding that the balance sheets of many biotechs have improved strongly in
2000 thanks to billions of dollars raised through secondary financings.
Many of the biggest losers on Monday were those whose shares have escalated
the most in the past year. Gene-hunting firm Millennium Pharmaceuticals Inc was
down $10 to $44-5/16, or 18 percent, on the Nasdaq. It remains well above its
52-week intraday low of $19-7/8, but below its year high of $89-13/16.
Celera Genomics Group , the firm that made history by sequencing the human
genome, was off $7-1/8 to $46, or 13 percent on the New York Stock Exchange.
Over the past year, it has traded in a range between $22-13/16 and $275.
Myriad Genetics Inc , another gene-hunting leader, was down 11-5/16 to $74, or 13
percent, on the Nasdaq. Its 52-week range has been $12-7/16 to $138.
But some biotechs bucked the downturn thanks to positive news on their
experimental drugs, including Onyx Pharmaceuticals Inc , whose shares were up
$1-7/16 to $14-1/4 in heavy trading on the Nasdaq.
The California firm said Phase II clinical data showed its drug ONYX-15 caused
shrinkage in head and neck tumors that previously failed to respond to other
therapies.
Jim McCamant, editor of the Medical Technology Stock Letter, noted that the
American Stock Exchange Biotech Index has fallen 27 percent since election day
on November 7. He said uncertainty over the results, and ever-hotter rhetoric from
aides to Democratic candidate Al Gore and Republican candidate George W. Bush
has helped unnerve biotech investors.
"Some people are warning that the slowing U.S. economy could hurt earnings
growth of companies in many industries. And some investors are on a 'buying
strike' which probably won't end until they know who's going to be president,"
McCamant said.
But he predicted election clues will emerge later this week, after wh