Drug Stocks: Biotechnology & Pharmaceutical Sectors - Discussion: IMCL : ImClone Systems

» Jen_ - IMCL : ImClone Systems

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now IMCLE since they were late on a SEC filing - and were threatened to be kicked off Nasdaq....but ImClone Systems is the biotech stock that just doesn't give up that easily ...have been ignoring this little biotech since the Sam Waksal and Martha Stewart scandals took over the news about the ImClone's cancer drug Erbitux....

see Kirk's post on the "Sec - Illegal Shananigans" thread thread here:

http://www.suite101.com/discussion.cfm/i...

I mean - how much bad news can one stock stand???

Well apparently a lot - with Sam Waksal and even his brother Harlan, the founders of IMCL, out of the picture - ImClone trudges on with the help of Merck and Bristol Meyers - and their cancer drug, Erbitux, looks like will be approved afterall for treatment of colon cancer and maybe even lung cancer. So the stock has risen on anticipation of good news.....this from 6/2 CBS MarketWatch.com....

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New results give lift to ImClone
Erbitux trials seen as encouraging in colon, lung cancer

By Ted Griffith, CBS.MarketWatch.com

BOSTON (CBS.MW) -- Shares of ImClone Systems surged Monday following the release of highly anticipated data on the biotech firm's Erbitux anti-cancer drug.

Shares of ImClone (IMCLE) tacked on $5, or 18 percent, to $33.50. The stock earlier in the session hit $38.14, its highest level since January 2002. The stock has been soaring this year as investors have shifted their focus from an insider-trading scandal that engulfed the company in 2002 to the promise of the experimental Erbitux. Year to date, shares are up more than threefold.

At a major meeting of cancer doctors in Chicago, ImClone's European pharmaceutical partner, Merck KGaA, said that Erbitux produced positive results, both on its own and in combination with chemotherapy, in testing on patients with advanced colon cancer. German-based Merck, which isn't affiliated with U.S. drugmaker Merck & Co., said the results support European approval for Erbitux.

ImClone and pharmaceutical company Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY), both of which are based in New York, hope to win U.S. marketing approval for Erbitux. Results released by ImClone and Bristol-Myers at the American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting also showed that Erbitux has promise as a lung cancer therapy.

Bristol-Myers shares added 40 cents to $26.

Bristol-Myers and ImClone said they are encouraged with the latest results and plan to discuss approval for Erbitux with Food and Drug Administration officials. However, the companies didn't say when the drug might be approved in the United States.

Merck said Erbitux may reach the market in Switzerland late this year, followed by approvals in other European countries in 2004.

Bennett Weintraub, an analyst with Biotech Tracker, a Web-based investment research service, said the Erbitux results "are quite good." But he cautioned that ImClone shares look to be overvalued.

"There's very little upside now, and there's potential for downside if the companies decide not to file for U.S. approval this year, or if the FDA requests further data," Weintraub said.

In the European trial, colon cancer patients that got both Erbitux and chemotherapy had a 22.9 percent response rate and an 8.6-month median survival time. In the Erbitux-only-arm of the trial, patients had a 10.8 percent response rate and a 6.9-month median survival.

ImClone and its anti-cancer drug have been at the center of controversy since late 2001 when the Food and Drug Administration refused to accept the marketing application for Erbitux, citing shoddy trials conducted by ImClone. Sam Waksal, ImClone's founder, was later accused of tipping off relatives about the FDA setback so that they could sell company stock before the news became public. Waksal faces sentencing on numerous charges, including insider trading, on June 10 in New York.

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<img src="http://ichart.yahoo.com/z?s=imcle&c=^spx..." width=512 height=288>
IMCL, Nasdaq, S&P500, 1 YR Chart

hmmm - maybe I should say "fooled me once - won't fool me twice!" ....but jeepers am still playing on house money on this one since sold 21% to Bristol Meyers at $70 and my purchase price is $13 split adj....so who knows - maybe this time IMCL will come through and I'd be feeling pretty dumb for selling it now????.....Jen

-- posted by Jen_