Replies to post #56146 on Biotech Values

[Preciouslife1]

Rigel Shoots Out the Lights
Melanie Lindner, 12.13.07, 5:45 PM ET

http://www.forbes.com/2007/12/13/rigel-pharmaceuticals-closer-markets-equity-cx_ml_1213markets36.html?partner=yahootix

Autoimmune diseases plague millions of Americans, but Rigel might have discovered a treatment to alleviate their suffering.

Rigel Pharmaceuticals (nasdaq: RIGL - news - people ) skyrocketed after the company announced that its latest rheumatoid arthritis medication is showing positive results in a mid-stage study. Rigel climbed 224.4%, or $17.95, to $25.95, setting a new 52-week high for the South San Francisco-based company.

Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disease that causes chronic inflammation of the joints. It affects more than 2 million people in the United States.

Rigel's experimental drug, known as candidate R788 or tamatinib fosdium, was given to 189 rheumatoid arthritis patients. The patients received one of three doses of tamatinib fosdium. According to Rigel's study, the 100-milligram and 150-milligram doses showed positive results as early as one week after beginning the oral treatment. The 50-milligram dose did not appear to be effective.

Rigel plans to start its next clinical trial on the drug in 2008. The company believes that the significant affects demonstrated in the recent trial may make tamatinib fosdium a favorable alternative to the currently marketed biological agents.

While the experimental treatment led to significant improvements in patients' rheumatoid arthritis symptoms, there were several side effects to the drug. About 10.0% of patients developed the blood disorder neutropenia. Some experienced mild elevations of liver function tests and gastrointestinal side effects. However, Rigel said that dose reduction to one half the previously assigned amount was effective in 19 out of 21 patients.

Raul Rodriguez, a spokesperson for Rigel, said that the company is currently testing tamatinib fosdium on other autoimmune disorders, too.
So far, it has shown positive results on patients suffering from Idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP), a condition of having a low platelet count. ITP patients had fewer side effects from the drug than RA patients. Rigel believes that the greater number of reported side effects in RA patients could be related to the combination of tamatinib fosdium with methotrexate, a medication many RA patients were taking in addition to the experimental treatment.

Rodriguez noted that Rigel plans to begin testing tamatinib fosdium on patients suffering from Lupus sometime in 2008. Lupus, or Systemic Lupus Erythematosus, is an autoimmune disease affecting the heart, joints, skin, lungs, blood vessels, kidney, liver and nervous system.

According to CIBC World Markets analyst Brian Abrahams the success of Rigel's latest trial may unlock the potential for the agent to be used as treatment for other chronic autoimmune conditions as well.
Abrahams noted that while there were several adverse side affects, they appeared to be manageable and reversible, and therefore he expects that the drug would be acceptable to the rheumatoid arthritis population.

Lehman Brothers analyst Ajim Tamboli noted that the effectiveness of tamatinib fosdium exceeds other prodcuts on the market like Pfizer (nyse: PFE - news - people )'s oral Janus kinase 3 (JAK3) inhibitor, which was the best to date in its category. Pfizer slid 17 cents, or .7%, to $23.64 on Thursday.

One of the more popular rheumatoid arthritis treatments on the market now is Humira made by Abbott Labratories (nyse: ABT - news - people ). Abbott gained 27 cents, or .4%, to $58.38 in Thursday trading.