Toby Smith Stock Review

[MLD38]

ISIS & ALNY in "A Pharma Divorce, and Good Riddance"
By Brian Orelli September 20, 2007 ( Fool contributor Brian Orelli, Ph.D., doesn't own shares of any company mentioned in this article. Biogen is a pick of the Stock Advisor newsletter. )
http://www.fool.com/investing/small-cap/2007/09/20/a-pharma-divorce-and-good-riddance.aspx
Starts off:
..."It's not often that you see a developmental-stage biotech company's stock go up after it gets dropped by its pharma big brother, but Alnylam Pharmaceuticals (ALNY) managed to buck the trend yesterday with a 4% gain. Alnylam and Merck (MRK) decided to end their four-year-old RNAi partnership and go their separate ways. As with all good divorces, the desire to split was mutual and will probably benefit both companies more than staying together ever could have."...
Ends with:
..."The only real question is why the two didn't end the partnership months ago. While the dissolution of the partnership results in a loss of funding for Alnylam, it's not like the company has been left to go it alone. It still has partnerships with Medtronic (MDT), Novartis (NVS), Biogen Idec (BIIB), and Roche.

Last week, Alnylam Pharmaceuticals (ALNY) also announced a joint venture with ISIS Pharmaceuticals (ISIS) to develop micro RNA therapeutics.
The phase 2 clinical trial results from Alnylam's lead compound, ALN-RSV01, are due in later this year. If they are positive, Alnylam could score an additional partnership. But with an expected $435 million in cash at the end of this year, Alnylam could try to push into phase 3 clinical trials alone, especially if it can score a few more of those non-exclusive technology licenses like the one it has with Roche. "...

Background: see

Sept 2007 Double Your RNA Pleasure
http://www.fool.com/investing/high-growth/2007/09/10/double-your-rna-pleasure.aspx
...The ISIS and ALNY joint venture, called Regulus Therapeutics, will focus on the development of microRNA therapeutics... Regulus Therapeutics will compete against Rosetta Genomics (ROSG), which IPOed earlier this year....

Rosetta Genomics
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/pr?s=ROSG&partner=mf
ROSG chart:
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/ta?s=ROSG&t=1y&l=on&z=l&q=b&p=m10,m20&a=m26-12-9,...
ROSG appears to have IPOed the first of March 2007 @ $7.00,
http://www.ipohome.com/common/ipoprofile.asp?ticker=ROSG
the first of Sept, 2007, ROSG probably ended its IPO 180 day lock up period (7,166,154 shares, see page 92)
http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1362959/000114420407010127/v066894424b4.htm

July 2007 Everybody Loves RNAi
http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2007/07/11/everybody-loves-rnai.aspx

Dec 2006 Sirna Decides to Take the Cash and Run
http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2006/12/29/sirna-decides-to-take-the-cash-and-run.aspx