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Approval delay for cancer drug cited in stock's rapid decline.


INVESTORS who bought shares earlier this year in American Pharmaceutical Partners Inc., the genetic drug maker controlled by Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850.  doctor Patrick Soon-Shiong, don't have much to feel good about these days.

The stock, which hit a 52-week high of $49.19 on March 31. has plummeted nearly 50 percent since then, and was trading just above $25 last week, not far from its 52-week low of $22.65 on Oct. 31.

Company officials have declined to comment on the share price, but American Pharmaceuticals appears to be suffering from a double whammy double whammy
Noun

informal a devastating setback made up of two elements

double whammy n (col) → palo doble

double whammy n (inf
: stagnant revenues of its core generic drug generic drug, a drug sold or prescribed under the nonproprietary name of its active ingredients or under a generally descriptive name rather than under a brand or trade name.  business and a realization by the market that its proprietary drug candidate Abraxane won't be a revenue producer this year, as the company had anticipated.

American Pharmaceutical is not the only generic drug maker with problems. Other players in that market, such as Watson Pharmaceuticals Inc., have seen their stock drop as pressure builds on the industry to keep down drug costs, a leading contributor to medical inflation.

But the company's troubles are complicated by Abraxane, the brand name it has given to a unique formulation for the breast cancer drug paclitaxel paclitaxel /pac·li·tax·el/ (pak?li-tak´sel) an antineoplastic that promotes and stabilizes polymerization of microtubules, isolated from the Pacific yew tree (Taxus brevifolia); . The company claims that its formulation allows the drug to be given in higher doses with fewer side effects Side effects

Effects of a proposed project on other parts of the firm.
, and is looking for Looking for

In the context of general equities, this describing a buy interest in which a dealer is asked to offer stock, often involving a capital commitment. Antithesis of in touch with.
 approval from the Food and Drug Administration sometime in the fourth quarter.

But just a year ago at least one bullish analyst was predicting as much as $150 million in 2004 revenue for the company from Abraxane, which would have been a significant boost for a

company whose core genetic drug business produced $351 million in revenue last year.
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Title Annotation:Wall Street West
Author:Darmiento, Laurence
Publication:Los Angeles Business Journal
Article Type:Brief Article
Geographic Code:1USA
Date:Jul 19, 2004
Words:274
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