Replies to post #58856 on Biotech Values

[DewDiligence]

>VRTX – Do you think they are hearing footsteps and/or not as confident as they once were in their lead PI?<

Perhaps. Regardless of what happens with Telaprevir in the next few years, it’s clear that the long-term answer for HCV is not a drug that has to be taken every eight hours in order to preclude the rapid development of resistance. So it makes sense for VRTX to be aggressive in developing follow-up compounds.

[DewDiligence]

VRTX expects to lose about $400M in 2008 on a
GAAP basis. Hence the decision to raise almost
$500M from the sale of stock and convertible notes.
In AH trading, VRTX is trading in the 16’s, lower than
at any time since Telaprevir first captured the imagination
of Wall Street.

Telaprevir had better be a mega-blockbuster because
VRTX will have lost more money than any biotech
company in history by the time it reaches the market.

http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/080211/20080211006501.html?.v=1

>>
Vertex Pharmaceuticals Announces Proposed Concurrent Public Offerings of Common Stock and Convertible Senior Subordinated Notes

Monday February 11, 5:01 pm ET

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (Nasdaq: VRTX ) today announced that it intends to offer, subject to market and other conditions, 6,000,000 shares of its common stock in an underwritten public offering under an automatically effective shelf registration statement on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Vertex intends to grant the underwriters an over-allotment option to purchase up to an additional 900,000 shares of its common stock.

Concurrently with the offering of its common stock, Vertex also intends to offer, subject to market and other conditions, $250.0 million aggregate principal amount of convertible senior subordinated notes due 2013 in an underwritten public offering under a separate automatically effective shelf registration statement on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Vertex also expects to grant the underwriters an over-allotment option to purchase up to $37.5 million aggregate principal amount of additional notes on the same terms and conditions.

The common stock offering and the note offering are being conducted as separate public offerings, and the offerings are not contingent upon each other.

The price of the common stock and the interest rate, conversion price, and other terms of the notes will be determined by negotiations between Vertex and the underwriters upon the pricing of the offerings. Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated is acting as the underwriter in the offerings.
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[DewDiligence]

VRTX dropped VX-500, the ‘second-generation’ PI behind Telaprevir. The program for VX-813 (which had been the follow-up to the follow-up to Telaprevir), is still active. See announcement in the next post.