CuraGen Corporation (CRGN)

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Balanced Risk/Reward with CuraGen
Thursday April 17, 3:08 pm ET
By Grant Zeng, CFA

CuraGen Corporation (NasdaqGM: CRGN - News) is a biopharmaceutical company focused on oncology. The sale of 454 Life Sciences to Roche will reduce CuraGen's top-line growth dramatically in the coming years, but will strength its balance sheet and provide resource for advancing its clinical programs.

However, the company recently received a major setback by terminating its Velafermin program due to lack of efficacy. The company has only two candidates in clinical development, and we see increased risks due to the loss of its key driver Velafermin. Therefore, we maintain our Hold rating on its shares with a price target of $1.20.

Last week, CuraGen Corporation has advanced drug candidate CR011-vcMMAE into phase II for the treatment of patients with unresectable Stage III and Stage IV melanoma. CuraGen also announced that updated data from the ongoing phase I/II trial with CR011-vcMMAE will be presented at the 2008 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting, to be held May 30 - June 3, 2008 in Chicago, IL.