Re: Gene therapy for Aterosclerosis

In article <efgi1u$n2b$1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
"rodney747" <rodney7472000@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Esperion Therapeutics

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/28/business/28bdrug.html?ex=1159588800&en=
597467912ec52690&ei=5070

Note Year 2004 and 3 or 4 %.

Edited for Brevity whole article at above URL.


Bill

.......................

One company, AtheroGenics, said yesterday that its drug for
atherosclerosis had significantly reduced the volume of plaque that can
clog arteries. The results, in a midstage clinical trial, sent the
company's stock soaring in after-hours trading.



The other company, Nabi Biopharmaceuticals, is expected to announce
today that its vaccine against nicotine helped people quit smoking in a
small clinical trial.

The results of the AtheroGenics trial had been eagerly awaited because
removing fatty plaque from the arteries is considered a new goal for
cardiovascular drug therapy. Even the statins, the widely used
anticholesterol drugs, do little if anything to reduce plaque.

AtheroGenics said its drug, AGI-1067, reduced plaque volume about 3
percent to 4 percent after a year, as measured with ultrasound. The
reduction was statistically significant compared with the patients'
starting levels, but not compared with the lesser reductions in patients
who got a placebo.

Doctors in the trial cautioned that the preliminary results covered only
133 of about 260 patients, but nevertheless were promising.

"We want to see the final data but at the same time, I'm encouraged,''
Dr. Steven E. Nissen, a cardiologist at the Cleveland Clinic, said on a
company-sponsored conference call with analysts. "It's a substantial
change.''

Dr. Nissen said that while it could be misleading to compare the results
of different trials, the reduction in plaque achieved by AGI-1067 was
roughly equivalent to that recorded in a 47-patient trial last year
using a drug developed by Esperion Therapeutics. In December, shortly
after the results of Esperion's trial were announced, Pfizer agreed to
pay $1.3 billion to acquire the company.

Speculation that AtheroGenics might also be acquired - or at least will
sell the rights to AGI-1067 for a large sum - helped fuel the rise in
the company's stock. The stock closed down 43 cents at $23.16 in regular
trading but soared as much as 80 percent in after-hours trading.

AGI-1067, which fights the inflammation involved in heart disease, is in
some sense more attractive than Esperion's drug because it is taken as a
pill rather than given by intravenous infusion. AtheroGenics, based in
Alpharetta, Ga., is already in a final-stage trial to determine if the
drug actually does prevent heart attacks. If so, it hopes to apply by
the end of next year for approval from the Food and Drug Administration.

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