Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated Message Board

DRUGS:
It is about time for the drug sector
to make a comeback here. Many of them
have been
scalped for 25% and if the market strengthens they should
participate. I think MRK and PFE are logical rebounders, but
SGP, and BMY, JNJ and LLY could go well also if the
market gives in a bit.

BIOTECH:
I think this
will be a deciding week for biotechs (who have been a
favorite
of mine for months now) If fund money starts
to pull out it should be this week
so watch for
weakness in the names you have seen here so often INMX,
AMGN, and BGEN. VISX could remain strong as they took a
clubbing over patent questions and have room to rebound.
Smaller issues like IMCL, and ICOS look attractive as
managers are buying into them. We still like VGIN and ONXX
longer term

Memorable Plays:
We suggested
NSOL, CNET, and CMGI on 3/8/99 (+40), (+40), and (+47
1/2) respectively.
Not to mention EPAY on
3/15/99(+21 57/64).

For more info and some possible
plays for the rest of the week
http://207.158.224.126/NP/NP5.htm Free two-week trial newsletter and full access to
the site.

I am impressed with your posts and would be interested in corresponding with you.

Please contact me at PhDInvestr@aol.com. (No "o" in Investr.)

Thank you.

It may be irrelevant to discuss biotechs for the
long haul on a board of traders. Nonetheless, there
are those of us who do take positions for "ever." In
this case, I would think [opinions invited] that the
market cap is of perhaps primary importance. If a
biotech is big enough, it is unlikely that it will fade
away. And given time, most will produce returns. It
took Biogen years and years to get to Avonex. In this
regard, I would think that Biochem Pharma and Vertex are
two of the best bets around. The only problem,
perhaps, is an abortive buyout before the company realizes
it full potential. That is what killed Genentech
and, I suspect, Chiron. Though money was made in both
cases also. Just not as much as with Amgen and Biogen.

Its dirt cheap. Today's news wasn't really overly impressive though. Still all that cash, an approved product, fat pipeline.

``We are encouraged by these findings and believe
that Incel may provide clinical benefit for sarcoma
patients. Ten of the evaluable
study participants were
patients with GI stromal sarcomas, and we have learned
that the response of GI stromal sarcomas
differs
from that of other sarcomas,'' said Dr. George Demetri
of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Senior Author on
the Study. ``When
these patients are excluded, the
response rate is very encouraging for this
heavily-refractory patient population. The information
gained in
this study can be applied to develop a focused Phase
III clinical strategy for testing Incel in cancer
patients.''

The trial evaluated the safety, tolerability, and
efficacy of Incel administered intravenously in
combination with doxorubicin in
patients with progressive,
inoperable, advanced or metastatic soft tissue sarcoma.
Treatment with Incel and doxorubicin was well
tolerated.
Adverse events observed in the study, including
myelosuppression (associated with the highest doses of
doxorubicin
tested), nausea, vomiting, headache, asthenia (weakness),
diarrhea, mucositis and fatigue, were reversible and
generally mild to
moderate in severity. The incidence of
adverse events was similar to those associated with
treatment with doxorubicin therapy
alone. Treatment with
Incel produced sustained blood concentrations in excess
of the levels required to reverse MDR in vitro.
In
addition, Incel and doxorubicin showed no marked drug
interactions, and an optimal dose for doxorubicin to be given
in
combination with Incel was established.

According to
the American Cancer Society, more than 7,000 new
cases of soft tissue sarcoma, malignant tumors of the
connective
tissue, are diagnosed in the United States and Canada
annually. Doxorubicin is the standard chemotherapy
treatment for this
disease. Approximately 70% of
patients fail to respond to initial doxorubicin therapy,
and relapse following initial response
is
frequent.

The study is part of a broad Phase II program
evaluating Incel's potential to resensitize drug-resistant
tumors to chemotherapy in a
range of cancer types and
therapeutic regimens, with the goal of designing Phase III
clinical trials of Incel in cancer patients. Phase
II
studies investigating the activity of Incel in
combination with chemotherapy for the treatment of ovarian,
prostate, and small cell
lung cancers are ongoing. A
Phase II study of the activity of Incel in patients
with relapsing breast cancer has completed
enrollment,
and data analysis is underway. The Company expects to
report additional data from Phase II clinical trials of
Incel later this year.

Multidrug resistance
significantly limits the efficacy of many cancer chemotherapy
regimens and is a major factor in the failure of
cancer
chemotherapy. Clinical response to therapy is correlated to the
presence of molecular ``pumps'' that expel
chemotherapy
drugs from the tumor cells, and thus prevent the cancer
from being eliminated. Two drug pumps commonly found
in cancer are

P-glycoprotein (P-gp) and
multidrug resistance-associated protein (MRP). Vertex's
research shows that Incel can enhance the
accumulation
of chemotherapy agents in tumor cells by blocking
both P-gp and MRP, and thereby restore the sensitivity
of tumor
cells to treatment with chemotherapeutic
agents. P-gp and MRP overexpression have been associated
with STS that is refractory
to
chemotherapy

BioChem Pharma Inc. (Nasdaq: BCHE; Montreal, Toronto:
BCH) Vertex's partner for the development and
marketing of Incel in
Canada, participated in the
sarcoma and ovarian cancer trials.

Tuesday May 18, 8:31 am Eastern
Time

Company Press Release

SOURCE: Vertex
Pharmaceuticals Incorporated

Vertex Reports Phase II
Clinical Data on Incel(TM) for
Treatment of
Chemotherapy-Resistant Soft Tissue
Sarcoma

- Company Provides
Update on Status of MDR Clinical Program
-

ATLANTA, May 18 /PRNewswire/ -- Vertex Pharmaceuticals
Incorporated (Nasdaq: VRTX - news) today announced results
of
a Phase II clinical trial of Incel(TM) (biricodar
dicitrate), in combination with doxorubicin, for treatment of
soft tissue sarcoma
(STS) refractory to
chemotherapy. Study results suggest that Incel helped restore
tumor sensitivity to chemotherapy in some
patients
who had failed prior doxorubicin treatment. The data
were reported at the 35th Annual Meeting of the
American Society
of Clinical Oncology being held this
week in Atlanta, Georgia.

``In this study of
stringently-defined doxorubicin-refractory soft tissue sarcoma
patients with documented progressive disease, we
saw
that Incel can restore or enhance the activity of
doxorubicin,'' said Dr. Vivien Bramwell of London Regional
Cancer Centre
(Ontario) and Chair of the Study.
``These data suggest that Incel, an inhibitor of
multidrug resistance, may have a significant effect
in
some of these difficult-to-treat cancer patients and
may offer a significant therapeutic
benefit.''

Enrollment is complete for this study. All 25 evaluable
patients had, on enrollment, doxorubicin-resistant
disease, either progressive
disease after failing prior
treatment with doxorubicin, or a disease type considered to
be unresponsive. Ten of the patients
had
gastrointestinal (GI) stromal sarcomas, a relatively rare subtype
of soft tissue sarcoma that is almost never
responsive to
doxorubicin therapy. Of the other 15
evaluable patients, 60% demonstrated overall clinical
benefit, with two patients showing
partial responses
and seven patients showing stable disease after
treatment with Incel and doxorubicin. In one of the seven
patients
with stable disease and in one patient with a partial
response, treatment with Incel and doxorubicin decreased
tumor mass
sufficiently to allow surgical resection
for curative intent.

Twenty-eight patients
enrolled in the efficacy portion of the study, of which 25
were evaluable for response assessment. Overall,
a
partial response (50% or more tumor regression) was
observed in two patients, who had progressed while on
prior treatment with
doxorubicin. These two partial
responses achieved 70-86% measurable tumor shrinkage. One
of the responses has lasted for one
year and the
other was sufficient to allow surgical resection of the
residual tumor. Stable disease (defined as less than 50%
tumor
regression or no evidence of progression for greater than or
equal to 6 weeks) was observed in eight patients.
Before enrollment in
this study, these eight patients
had exhibited either new lesions (two patients) or an
increase in measurable tumor mass of 23 to
141% within
eight weeks of study entry. One patient with stable
disease was stabilized sufficiently to have had the tumor
mass
surgically resected.

I read your previous post a little closer and
answered my own question, but thanks for the further
clarification. About not going 100% long yet... TOO LATE! I've
got 2000 shares and I need an upward trend so I can
resume normal sleeping pattern!

By 50% long I mean I would invest 50% of the
total planned investment dollars for this company in my
portfolio in the 20-ish range.

VRTX is a more
speculative biotech than some others that have more
established revenue streams, broader product lines, and
operating history, and the stock price and volatility
reflect the associated uncertainty. Due to these factors
it is hard to valuate companys like Vertex by
traditional financial measures. As such, the possibility of a
move to still lower prices cannot ever be discounted,
and indeed the major trend of the last year is
downward - for these reasons I would not go 100% long yet.

TraderJim: are you saying you think that Vertex
will run up %50 from here (to about $30) or that you
would now buy %50 of your total planned Vertex holding
(for example 1000 shares now and 1000 shares after
your sure we've turned the corner)?

I thnk when you look at all the indicators, chart
support, etc. the overall picture is strong enough to
suport going at least 50% long here.

Contracting
triangles almost always break out in the direction of the
trend that was in force when the triangle started, and
move a distance equal to the width of the base of the
triangle, from the tip. In this case the trend going into
the triangle was down, so it would predict a move
down to a slight new low, however the width of the
base here is so small (about 1 3/4 pts) that it would
not result in going very far below 20 - perhaps 19.
Since that might not happen, I would go 50% long here -
this triangle is not a large (in price amplitude) and
long (in time) structure - it is very small, and
therefore not of much significance. If this does occur, add
to the position once the target is achieved and go
100% long.