Tuesday, June 28, 2005

Myogen is Hunkering Down

Three cheers for Myogen (MYOG).

The company reported yesterday that the enoximone program, for the treatment of advanced stage chronic heart failure, has been terminated as a result of their two phase III trials failing to demonstrate a statistically significant benefit for any of the three co-primary endpoints.

Despite the news something needs to be said for the talented management team, led by J. William Freytag, Mike Bristow and Joe Turner, for creating a richly diverse portfolio that though disappointed by the enoximone results Myogen will now hunker down and focus its attention on not one but two other late-stage clinical programs.

Two phase III trials were initiated in early ’04 with ambrisentan, for the treatment of patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension, and in July ’04 a phase IIb trial commenced for darusentan, an oral therapy for patients with uncontrolled hypertension. In addition, the company currently markets Perfan® in eight European countries to treat patients with acute decompensated heart failure and, also boasts a robust research and discovery program in cardiac signaling, fetal genes, cardiogenomics & cardioproteomics and, Myogen can also lay claim to perhaps the world’s largest heart tissue bank.

A true test of a champion is when knocked down to get right back up and keep fighting. Myogen not only has plenty of fight left in her but also plenty of cash to fund working capital requirements and capital expenditures through deep into 2006. But don’t just take my word for it – Wachovia Bank also released yesterday their upgrade of Myogen from market perform to outperform.

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