Biotech Values

[DewDiligence]

Allergan update:

I just listened to AGN’s “R&D day” webcast and I conclude that AGN can be eliminated from contention as a partner for Squalamine.

AGN has a multi-faceted approach to AMD and macular edema that is more robust than what the company had previously disclosed:

1. A biodegradable implant technology, acquired in the recent merger with Oculex. The implant is tiny and is capable of delving drug to the virtual chamber for at least six months and perhaps as long as a year.

2. Posurdex, a steroid drug acquired from Oculex, has completed a phase-2 trial in macular edema and it will eventually be tested in AMD. In the phase-2 trial in macular edema, 19% of patients gained 3+ lines of vision at six months (vs, 8% on placebo) and there were no cases of endophthalmitis or retinal detachment. (I.e., AGN’s implantation technique appears to be very much safer than the intravitreal injections used with Macugen.)

3. A small-molecule tyrosine-kinase inhibitor called AGN-6 which works on the VEGF-2 receptor and is delivered via the same platform as Posurdex. AGN-6 is in preclinical testing.

4. Tazarotene, a retinoid drug (vitamin-A derivative) that is already approved in topical form for acne and has development programs as an oral compound in acne and psoriasis as well as AMD. A randomized phase-2 trial of oral Tazarotene in AMD is expected to begin in the second half of 2004.

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Clearly, AGN has a pretty full development program in the area of retinal diseases.