Guest guest Posted March 25, 2006 Report Share Posted March 25, 2006 Piper Jaffray maintained an "outperform" rating on Human Genome Sciences and advised investors to buy on recent weakness in the stock. Shares of Human Genome Sciences (nasdaq: HGSI - news - people ) plunged 20% last Tuesday after the biotech firm reported mixed results for its experimental hepatitis C treatment, Albuferon, from a Phase IIb head-to-head trial with Roche's Pegasys. "In the aftermath of the interim Phase IIb Albuferon data, we believe weakness of Human Genome Sciences offers a compelling buying opportunity," wrote analyst Tenthoff in research report. "We continue to argue that the Phase IIb data should be viewed positively as it reduces the clinical risk of this program." According to the mid-stage data, the efficacy of Albuferon was slightly higher than Pegasys at 14-day dosing, but lower for the monthly dosing. In addition, Albuferon trial patients showed higher drop-out rates; 7.6% of patients at the high dose discontinued medication compared with 2.6% for Pegasys. "Our conversations with HCV doctors consistently find that efficacy is the most important criteria in prescribing HCV therapy," said Tenthoff. "As a result, we believe Albuferon will ultimately prove successful and win share from Pegasys." Tenthoff suggested that higher patient drop-outs may be due to the open-label nature of the trial. "Since patients knew they were on an experimental drug, they may have been more inclined to discontinue when flu-like symptoms set in," he said. Human Genome is expected to form a partnership for Albuferon prior to the start of Phase III trials later this year, according to Piper Jaffray. "While we believe HGS could conduct the Phase III trials alone, we suspect the company has already been approached by a host of interested partners," said Tenthoff. "We project Albuferon could be approved by 2010 and achieve peak sales of $2 billion by 2016 based on projected market penetration of 40%." The company is co-developing LymphoStat-B, an experimental lupus drug, with British drug giant GlaxoKline (nyse: GSK - news - people ). Messenger with Voice. PC-to-Phone calls for ridiculously low rates. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 25, 2006 Report Share Posted March 25, 2006 Tim, you seem to be somewhat of a parodox. On the one hand you are taking natural or alternative meds, yet you post this financial report about Albuferon, which has just as many side effects as Pegasys. The article even states that "Our conversations with HCV doctors consistently find that efficacy is the most important criteria in prescribing HCV therapy,". HCV doctors don't care about the patient's overall well being. Success is measured only by putting the virus into remission... and lining GSK's pockets. I'm sorry, but I don't quite understand where you're coming from... Lovingly, Eat well, sleep well, be well!Hillbilly Tim <knoxweb1@...> wrote: Piper Jaffray maintained an "outperform" rating on Human Genome Sciences and advised investors to buy on recent weakness in the stock. Shares of Human Genome Sciences (nasdaq: HGSI - news - people ) plunged 20% last Tuesday after the biotech firm reported mixed results for its experimental hepatitis C treatment, Albuferon, from a Phase IIb head-to-head trial with Roche's Pegasys. "In the aftermath of the interim Phase IIb Albuferon data, we believe weakness of Human Genome Sciences offers a compelling buying opportunity," wrote analyst Tenthoff in research report. "We continue to argue that the Phase IIb data should be viewed positively as it reduces the clinical risk of this program." According to the mid-stage data, the efficacy of Albuferon was slightly higher than Pegasys at 14-day dosing, but lower for the monthly dosing. In addition, Albuferon trial patients showed higher drop-out rates; 7.6% of patients at the high dose discontinued medication compared with 2.6% for Pegasys. "Our conversations with HCV doctors consistently find that efficacy is the most important criteria in prescribing HCV therapy," said Tenthoff. "As a result, we believe Albuferon will ultimately prove successful and win share from Pegasys." Tenthoff suggested that higher patient drop-outs may be due to the open-label nature of the trial. "Since patients knew they were on an experimental drug, they may have been more inclined to discontinue when flu-like symptoms set in," he said. Human Genome is expected to form a partnership for Albuferon prior to the start of Phase III trials later this year, according to Piper Jaffray. "While we believe HGS could conduct the Phase III trials alone, we suspect the company has already been approached by a host of interested partners," said Tenthoff. "We project Albuferon could be approved by 2010 and achieve peak sales of $2 billion by 2016 based on projected market penetration of 40%." The company is co-developing LymphoStat-B, an experimental lupus drug, with British drug giant GlaxoKline (nyse: GSK - news - people ). Messenger with Voice. PC-to-Phone calls for ridiculously low rates. Messenger with Voice. Make PC-to-Phone Calls to the US (and 30+ countries) for 2¢/min or less. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 25, 2006 Report Share Posted March 25, 2006 and if may help others thats good as well Messenger with Voice. Make PC-to-Phone Calls to the US (and 30+ countries) for 2¢/min or less. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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