Biotech Values

[DewDiligence]

Re: Albumin, Abraxane, and goats

>>From what I have read, this APPX drug that just got approved is a new class of cancer drugs based around a protien called "Albumin". Now I might have this all wrong,so maybe somebody can take over and explain that. Anyway, I think i have seen Dew and some other GTC longs state that other things in the pipeline are every bit as exciting os the one GTC has on the EMEA's docket currently...I gues I am asking the board if this breakthrough for APPX can give GTC a lift ? <<

Albumin is a commonly used excipient; i.e. albumin itself is inert but it serves to stabilize the active ingredients in drug formulations and enhance bioavailability. Albumin has value both ex vivo (maintaining product integrity and extending shelf life) and in vivo (increasing a drug’s serum half-life).

Abraxane’s breakthrough relative to ordinary Paclitaxel is not due to albumin per se, but rather to the microparticle technology, which incorporates albumin and allows the toxic excipients in ordinary Paclitaxel to be removed.

In other cases, relatively simple tinkering with the amount of albumin in a drug formulation can make a large difference in a drug’s safety and efficacy. An example of this is ConjuChem’s diabetes drug –see #msg-3587713.

Currently, albumin used in pharmaceuticals is derived from either human or bovine blood, and hence it carries a risk of containing blood-borne pathogens or prions (e.g. mad cow). GTCB’s human serum albumin (HSA) should greatly reduce this risk and I expect it to be of interest to many drug companies in due course. The ConjuChem case is instructive in that ConjuChem deliberately avoided using albumin in its initial product formulation because they were concerned about the safety of blood-derived albumin. They decided to use albumin only when the initial drug formulation proved to have too short a half-life and a high rate of nausea.

>>I guess I am asking the board if this breakthrough for APPX can give GTC a lift? <<

I don’t think so. The relevance to GTCB’s HSA program is too indirect for the market to perceive any connection. I would submit that many (perhaps most) investors do not even know that GTCB has an albumin program.

>>Lastly, would transgenically produced Albumin be appealing to a company like APPX???<<

Very much so, but GTCB and has more work to do before the HSA program is ready for prime time. I consider the HSA program to be GTCB’s ace in the hole. For now, while the ATryn application is pending, GTCB isn’t saying much about HSA. However, long-term holders ought to be rewarded when this hole card is ultimately revealed.