Replies to post #50715 on Biotech Values

[north40000]

CORT, Wilson, Cook, Andersson and AMLN:

The following article is now >2 years old but gives some further color and background re the above:

http://www.ruggedelegantliving.com/a/003519.html

Alan is a very interesting individual...I had lunch with him shortly before Symlin approval. He also has invested in the lives of populations in Central and South America.

CORT looked interesting to me in mid-June and I bought a few thousand shares at $1.65. I did not know of Cook's and Andersson's interest then.

[corpstrat]

CORT / AMLN BOD and investor connection sure is confidence-enhancing. Thanks for pointing it out. I like Paperboy's self-description: "a merchant bank commercializing undervalued science since 2003." CORT has a very high-powered board, between their two fmr Lilly execs, AMLN board members and David Mahoney, a shrewd ex-McKinsey guy I knew slightly who survived and prospered through the McKesson / HBOC debacle. While several of these guys probably know less about the science / regulatory aspects of development biotech than I do (gasp!), they are more likely to ensure value for shareholders than, to take a non-random sore point, the DNDN BOD!

[gym gravity]

CORT...cortisol and bicycling...

professional cycling is known as a rolling pharmaceutical experiment. for years one of the most popular drugs has been high dose corticoseroids. there was a coctail called "pot belge" that cyclist used, a mixture of differing proportions of cocaine, heroin, caffiene and cortisone. it's easy to test for so they can't use it in races without risk, but they often use it on the most difficult training rides. your local doctor won't know that high dose cortisol produces euphoria. could be CORT is looking for mimics of this activity of cortisone.

http://outside.away.com/outside/magazine/0799/9907tour.html

follow the money. I'm in at 2k.

[gym gravity]

CORT may win the best turnaround of 2007 this year. Insiders think CORT is a steal at these prices. Last earnings report they said by the end of 2007 they should be enrolling for the Cushings syndrome trial. Also in the last ER they said they would be trying a new chemical entity with enhanced specificity as an agonist of GR-II in microtitration in humans, and mentioned the bioavailability data in the first quarter of 2008.

The fear of dilution is there though...they have enough cash until mid 2008. They sold shares (to the same friendly investors) to raise $10M last quarter, and seem interested in keeping the float as low as posible. Many suppose that a partnership (or more) is right around the corner. It would be good timing to impact the balance sheet without giving away shares.

http://www.form4oracle.com/company?cik=0001088856&ticker=cort
http://www.corcept.com/pressrel_11-08-2007.htm

"In the communication regarding the opening of the IND, the FDA indicated that a single 50-patient open label study may provide a reasonable basis for the submission of a New Drug Application for CORLUX for the treatment of Cushing’s Syndrome. Corcept has begun qualifying potential sites for this study and expects to open the trial for enrollment late in the fourth quarter of 2007.

In July 2007, the Company executed an agreement with Xceleron Limited to conduct a human microdosing study of one of Corcept’s new chemical entities, a selective GR-II antagonist, utilizing Xceleron’s Accelerator Mass Spectrometry technology. In early 2003, Corcept initiated a research program to discover and patent selective GR-II antagonists to create a pipeline of proprietary products. Three distinct series of GR-II antagonists were identified that appear to be as potent as Corcept’s lead product CORLUX in blocking cortisol but, unlike CORLUX, do not appear to block the progesterone or other steroid receptors. The human microdosing study with Xceleron will evaluate one of the compounds that developed particularly high plasma and brain concentrations in an animal bioavailability study."