Biotech Values

[mcbio]

SLXP/PGNX: I would like to see the data to better understand it. I am not as familiar with their sub-q product to easily compare with NKTR. The secondary end point is what would be a meaningful comparison. Not saying the data are bad but I don't see any p values or hard numbers (things are very vaguely worded) which would make me cautious if I were long.

I would imagine, as is sometimes the case, that they are saving the full detailed data for a 2012 medical conference (as alluded to in the PR). The PR makes it very clear that they will be submitting an NDA based on this data; doesn't really seem to be much wiggle room in that. So, I imagine there is confidence that this data supports approval of oral Relistor in this patient population (chronic, non-cancer). I think it's clearly this indication, not subQ, that NKTR needs to be more worried about from a competitive standpoint.

Keep in mind that PGNX is due 15-19% royalty rate on U.S. sales of Relistor from SLXP ( #msg-62151367 ).