CEO Interview: ZIOPHARM Oncology, Inc. - Dr. Jonathan Lewis

• On 5:26 pm EDT, Tuesday October 20, 2009

67 WALL STREET, New York - October 20, 2009 - The Wall Street Transcript has just published its Biotechnology Report offering a timely review of the sector to serious investors and industry executives. This 70-page feature contains expert industry commentary through in-depth interviews with public company CEOs, Equity Analysts and Money Managers. The full issue is available by calling (212) 952-7433 or via The Wall Street Transcript Online.

Topics covered: Heightened M&A Activity - Trend Toward Orphan Disease Drug Development - Generic Drug Competition - Current Length Of FDA Approval Process - Ownership Ego Preventing Shareholder Returns - IPO And Secondary Offering Window Opening - Big Pharma R&D Pipeline - Decreased Clinical Development Risk - Impact Of Health Care Reform - Convergence Of Large-Cap Biotech And Pharmaceutical Companies - Easier Credit For Small Cap Biotech Companies - Developments In Cancer Chemotherapeutics - Gene Delivery Technology

Companies include: ADVENTRX (ANX); Abbott Labs (ABT); Advaxis (ADVX); Amedisys (AMED); Amgen (AMGN); Amylin Pharmaceuticals (AMLN); Antares Pharma (AIS); BioDelivery Sciences (BDSI); Biogen Idec (BIIB); Biomarin (BMRN); Boston Scientific (BSX); Bristol Myers (BMY); CVS Caremark (CVS); Celgene (CELG); Cerner (CRN); Cerus (CERS); Coke (KO); CombiMatrix (CBMX); Coventry Health Care (CVH); DARA (DARA); Eisai (ESALY); Eli Lilly (LLY); GenVec (GNVC); Gilead (GILD); GlaxoSmithKline (GSK); Health Management Associates (HMA); Human Genome Sciences (HGSI); Inspire Pharmaceuticals (ISPH); Intellect Neurosciences (ILNS.OB); InterMune (ITMN); International Stem Cell (ISCO.OB); Javelin Pharmaceuticals (JAV); Johnson & Johnson (JNJ); Keryx Biopharmaceuticals (KERX); Kraft (KFT); MAP Pharmaceuticals (MAPP); Medco (MHS); Merck (MRK); Merit Medical (MMSI); Novartis (NVS); Novelos (NVLT.OB); Novo Nordisk (NVO); Nutrisystem (NTRI); OSI Pharmaceutical (OSIP); Orexigen (OREX); Pepsi (PEP); Pfizer (PFE); Rite Aid (RAD); Schering-Plough (SGP); Takeda (TKPHF); Teva Pharmaceuticals (TEVA); Viropro (VPRO.PK); Walgreens (WAG); Wyeth (WYE); XOMA (XOMA); ZIOPHARM (ZIOP).

In the following brief excerpt from the 70-page report, Dr. Jonathan Lewis, CEO of ZIOPHARM Oncology, Inc., discusses the outlook for the sector and for investors.

TWST: Let's start with a history of ZIOPHARM.

Dr. Lewis: The derivation of the Z in ZIOPHARM comes from Z in Ancient Greek, a symbol that means in pursuit of the truth, combined with the term bio. The company was started in 2004. We're based out of New York and Boston, and we have direct ties with several major cancer centers, patient and research centers, including Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York, M. D. Anderson in Houston and the Southern Research Institute in Alabama. The origin centered on a lot of the people who had worked at some of these places. For example, I had been instrumentally involved with Sloan-Kettering. In Boston we have people who have been involved working and leading - very successfully - in some Big Pharma companies and then in several biotech companies developing drugs. We acquired several programs. We have three now in cancer in the clinic, and we've now reached a stage where we are furthest along in a randomized Phase II trial with one program.

TWST: How does your cancer therapy differ from the traditional chemo, radiation therapies that are out there?

Dr. Lewis: One is oral delivery, and that's something several cancer therapies are moving towards now. Another is the idea of going after certain targets in cancer that are well validated. A third is the idea of lowering toxicity, and with that improving quality of life because increasingly that's becoming very important to all patients and families. Patients are becoming much more educated. With the advent of the Internet, people know and understand a lot more, and so it's not just about financial cost but also side effect cost. That's very important. But the cost in terms of all the side effects is also very important to people. If you can come out with drugs where people spend less time in hospitals with less side effects, fewer complications, it tends to work better all around.

TWST: You have three therapies in the pipeline, are there others out there that you're developing?

Dr. Lewis: The answer is yes. We are always looking, and we constantly keep our finger on the pulse. Right now there are a lot of molecules and programs out there that have lost value because of the financial markets. So it's a good time to be looking. Conversely, I've got to be cautious because I don't want to go out and just acquire something for the sake of doing it because it's always costly to develop. There's got to be a very strong rationale to acquire and it's really got to add value.

TWST: Two of your therapies have been named one of the 100 Great Investigational Drugs by Research and Development Directions. What does that mean?

Dr. Lewis: We take that as a great praise and are honored and humbled by that. It's not that easy to achieve. In addition, one of those drugs was chosen for one of the premier sessions at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) conference in June of this year. It was one of the highlights at ASCO. As we move the other program along, we think it's going to also be highlighted at some additional upcoming meetings.

TWST: Why should investors include ZIOPHARM in their portfolios over some of the other biotechs?

Dr. Lewis: I think there is an intrinsic value to the pipeline, and I think it may be undervalued right now. In the October 5 issue of BusinessWeek magazine, under a column headed Inside Wall Street is an article on ZIOPHARM titled An Undervalued Biotech?, with some Wall Street people and some science people who think it's a strong pipeline and it's probably undervalued right now. A lot of the science and medicine people have liked what they've seen. I think we really believe as many people do, it's just intrinsic value here so long as we keep it moving in a logical order.

The Wall Street Transcript is a unique service for investors and industry researchers - providing fresh commentary and insight through verbatim interviews with CEOs and research analysts. This 70-page special issue is available by calling (212) 952-7433 or via The Wall Street Transcript Online .

The Wall Street Transcript does not endorse the views of any interviewees nor does it make stock recommendations.

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