AMGEN ENDS TWO LICENSING PACTS.Amgen Inc. dropped agreements with two pharmaceutical groups Wednesday, as the biotech juggernaut Juggernaut, India: see Puri. Juggernaut (Jagannath) huge idol of Krishna drawn through streets annually, occasionally rolling over devotees. [Hindu Rel.: EB, V: 499] See : Destruction clamped down on business ventures that have stalled. ``I view this as an opportunity for Amgen to clean house, regroup re·group v. re·grouped, re·group·ing, re·groups v.tr. To arrange in a new grouping. v.intr. 1. To come back together in a tactical formation, as after a dispersal in a retreat. and reposition themselves,'' said Jennifer Chao, a senior biotech analyst with Leerink Swann & Company in Boston. Amgen abandoned agreements with Waltham, Mass.-based Praecis Pharmaceuticals Inc. to develop Plenaxis, an experimental treatment for prostate cancer prostate cancer, cancer originating in the prostate gland. Prostate cancer is the leading malignancy in men in the United States and is second only to lung cancer as a cause of cancer death in men. . The company also ended a licensing agreement with Baltimore-based Guilford Pharmaceuticals related to nerve growth and repair drugs. Jeff Richardson, a spokesman for Thousand Oaks-based Amgen, said the company's decision involving Praecis comes after a meeting with officials of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration earlier this month. ``This is not signaling any grand strategy,'' he said. ``We just made partnerships that the company was better off exiting.'' The FDA FDA abbr. Food and Drug Administration FDA, n.pr See Food and Drug Administration. FDA, n.pr the abbreviation for the Food and Drug Administration. had previously rejected Praecis' application to market Plenaxis and wanted to see additional clinical trials after Amgen had been working with the company since 1999. ``Although Plenaxis is a promising treatment - given the profit share, it's not worthwhile for Amgen to continue working with Praecis,'' Chao said. Factoring Plenaxis into Amgen's arsenal of products over the next four years, the Years, The the seven decades of Eleanor Pargiter’s life. [Br. Lit.: Benét, 1109] See : Time drug could have boosted the company's revenue by about $200 million. ``But this projected revenue doesn't make any sense for the company,'' Chao said. The revenue generating potential associated with Amgen's relationship with Guilford also proved unfruitful. Richardson said the second phase of clinical trials with Gilford's neuroimmunophilin ligand technology did not substantially reverse the impairment of motor skills due to Parkinson's disease Parkinson's disease or Parkinsonism, degenerative brain disorder first described by the English surgeon James Parkinson in 1817. When there is no known cause, the disease usually appears after age 40 and is referred to as Parkinson's disease. . Amgen licensed Guilford's technology in 1997. ``Although neuroimmunophilin did not meet its primary end point and produce a significant reversal in the motor symptoms of Parkinson's disease, we were encouraged that it was well tolerated,'' Dr. Craig Smith For the rugby player, see . Craig Smith (born November 10, 1983 in Inglewood, California) is an American professional basketball player. After playing for Boston College from 2002-2006, he was selected by the Minnesota Timberwolves in the 2006 NBA Draft. , president and chief executive officer of Guilford, said in a statement. Fariba Ghodsian, an analyst with Los Angeles-based Roth Capital Partners Roth Capital Partners, LLC, is a full service Investment Banking firm, specializing in the small and micro cap markets. Roth’s focus, according to its official website, "has been, is, and will continue to be providing the full spectrum of investment banking services, Inc., said Amgen's Epo product may also be used in the place of neuroimmunophilin. The news of Amgen ending ties with Guilford and Praecis comes a day after the biotech giant announced the FDA approval of Aranesp, a drug that fights anemia. Chao said because most investors were appeased with Tuesday's news, the company probably decided to make Wednesday the date to announce ending the agreements. ``Amgen management is very well organized, with good strategic planning Strategic planning is an organization's process of defining its strategy, or direction, and making decisions on allocating its resources to pursue this strategy, including its capital and people. and execution,'' Chao said. At Wednesday's close, Amgen shares declined $1.43, or 2.41 percent, to $57.95. Chao attributed Amgen's fall to losses posted across the biotech sector. |
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