Biotech Values

[DewDiligence]

ALTU crushed in AH trading. (ENCY
was not the only blowup on Monday.)

http://yahoo.reuters.com/news/articlehybrid.aspx?storyID=urn:newsml:reuters.com:20060724:MTFH60776_2...

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Altus delays drug trials, stock falls 33%

Mon Jul 24, 2006 5:16 PM ET

LOS ANGELES, July 24 (Reuters) - Altus Pharmaceuticals <ALTU> said on Monday it will delay planned pivotal-stage trials of two experimental drugs due to manufacturing and supply issues, and its stock fell by a third.

The company's shares dropped 33.7 percent to $11.51 in after-hours trading after rising 4.7 percent to close at $17.37 on Nasdaq.

Altus, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, said it had previously planned to launch Phase 3 trials of the drugs, known as ALTU-135 and ALTU-238, in the second half of this year.

The company said it will do additional manufacturing development work before initiating a trial of ALTU-135, its orally administered enzyme replacement therapy for treatment of pancreatic insufficiency, after one of three lots of the therapy showed lower activity for one enzyme.

Altus also said that equipment for the production of ALTU-238, its crystalline form of human growth hormone, had been delayed.

The company said it does not believe that the delays are related to its protein crystallization technology, but instead are related to the challenges of implementing appropriate manufacturing controls and methods.
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