Biotech Values

[DewDiligence]

Update from DNA’s “analyst day” webcast:

On Friday, Genentech (DNA) held a 5-hour presentation for investors and analysts to pump their stock even higher. (That wasn’t the official reason, of course.)

The presentation produced some surprising and intriguing admissions about the status of the ECOG-3200 Avastin+FOLFOX trial in second-line colorectal cancer. I won’t repeat the details here because there is ample discussion of the issues on the IMCL message board.

Regarding Lucentis, DNA’s new chief medical officer, Hal Barron, was asked about the ocular inflammation that has been seen in the phase-3 Lucentis trials. Barron gave a tepid sort of denial, saying that the inflammation is not too severe and that “many patients recover” and remain in the trial.

Evidently, the seriousness of the inflammation is in the eye of the beholder --and the eyeball of the beholder’s patient!