MYGN, the Next AMGN

[NY4Ever]

Myriad and Abbott Enter Into Broad Discovery Collaboration
SALT LAKE CITY, April 11 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Myriad Genetics, Inc. (Nasdaq: MYGN) (www.myriad.com) and Abbott (NYSE: ABT) (www.abbott.com) announced today that the two companies have entered into a broad drug discovery collaboration to identify novel therapeutic targets. The collaboration will leverage proprietary technology from both organizations to identify favorable targets amenable to drug discovery.

Under the five-year research agreement, Myriad will use its genetics, RNA expression profiling, and other discovery technologies, to identify human genes and regulatory networks associated with a variety of diseases. Myriad will evaluate differences in DNA and the RNA expression between thousands of individuals to identify the genetic basis of disease. Abbott will advance these genes through its chemical genomics platform to identify targets and leads for drug discovery.

Each company will have exclusive rights to the therapeutic targets and drug lead compounds to expand their therapeutic pipelines. Myriad will receive approximately 40 percent of the targets with associated lead compounds identified under the collaboration. Abbott will receive approximately 60 percent. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

"The combination of technologies achieved through this collaboration will further the drug discovery efforts at both companies and is expected to lead to innovative solutions for a wide range of unmet medical needs," said Dan Norbeck, Ph.D., Vice President, Pharmaceutical Discovery, Abbott.

"We are extremely pleased to be working with Abbott to discover the next generation of lead compounds to treat diseases with major unmet needs," said Peter Meldrum, President and CEO of Myriad Genetics, Inc. "We will apply our expertise with leading discovery technologies along with Abbott's proprietary chemical genomics platform to produce a set of novel, high-value drug targets and lead compounds

[spikefader]

NY4ever

What is your average cost price long MYGN? And where is your stop?

Good luck with the trade dude!

[NY4Ever]

What is your average cost price long MYGN? And where is your stop?

22.50 Don't use stops. Volume today disturbing. Stock could test its 200 DMA. Right now at its 100 DMA. Biotechs out of favor, but damage in MYGN
has been severe.

[DSteckler]

MYGN = deep doodoo.

Intermediate-term support line is just below today's low, around 23. Long-term support line is around 21.85.

[NY4Ever]

Article Last Updated: 04/11/2006 10:54:45 PM MDT

Myriad Genetics teams with Abbott Labs
Opportunity: The alliance will give the SLC biotech company a 40 percent share of what it produces
By Bob Mims
The Salt Lake Tribune



A new, five-year partnership with Abbott Laboratories will give Myriad Genetics something small biotechnology companies seldom get: a piece of product. It also might get the opportunity to boost its battered stock.
"It is a rather unique strategic alliance," Myriad President and CEO Peter Meldrum said Tuesday. We "usually form the [drug] compounds and receive milestone payments and up-front money, while the other companies develop drugs perhaps worth billions."
In the research-and-development pact with Abbott, Myriad will receive no initial investments or milestone incentives. Instead, the Salt Lake City company, best known for its genetic cancer predisposition tests, will receive rights to 40 percent of the compounds it helps discover.
Studies and development of drugs will aim at a wide range of diseases, from heart ailments and neurological disorders such as Alzheimer's to cancer, pain relief therapy and HIV/AIDS.
"We get some of the compounds to develop on our own," Meldrum said. "This is the wave of the future for companies like Myriad that want to eventually sell their own drugs, and not just be researchers."
The partnership announcement came along with news of a major work force shift for the company. About 80 employees of the company's "CODIS" or genetics forensics section have been notified their positions are being phased out; most of them are expected to be redeployed elsewhere within Myriad.
The company also plans to hire another 150 people by year's end, bringing its work force to 900. Some of those new hires will go to the company's R&D work with Abbott; others will complement the company's predictive medicine group and other operations.
The deal with Abbott, a $22.3 billion annual revenue company, gives Myriad ($98.5 million) a powerful friend in the pharmaceutical development industry, Meldrum said.
Together, the companies will be well positioned to "discover the next generation of lead compounds to treat diseases with major unmet needs," he said.
Shiv Kapoor, an analyst with Montgomery and Co., said the pact with Abbott "testifies [to] Myriad's potential and strength in gene and drug target discovery technologies."
Kapoor also praised Myriad's success in nailing down a 40 percent share of the results as "impressive," but added a caution that "drugs from such a collaboration

will take many years to go through trials before being approved."
Charles Duncan of JMP Securities called the pact "positive, external validation" for Myriad, though he added that the lack of financial detail made assessment of the partnership's profitability impossible.
David Webber of First Albany wrote Tuesday that the linkage with Abbott "strengthens the outlook for Myriad's long-term therapeutic pipe- line."
He went on to advise "accumulation of Myriad stock based on its strongly growing predictive medicine business [and] the higher profile of its therapeutic pipeline."
Myriad stock still continued to suffer the slide it has been on since last month, when questions were raised about the efficacy of its test for breast cancer-related genes.
Although the company has dismissed a University of Washington study as being misleading, Myriad's stock has fallen nearly $5 since the results were released in early March. Shares closed Tuesday at $23.24, down 85 cents, or 3.5 percent.
Abbott also lost ground in trading Tuesday, closing at $41.45 per share, down 43 cents and 1 percent.

[NY4Ever]

No change in opinion. 40 by end of June.

[NY4Ever]

Load up the wagon. $30 May $40 June

"Our doubts are traitors, and make us lose the good we oft might win by fearing to attempt." William Shakespeare

[NY4Ever]

Just broke out from its inverted head shoulders formation over 26. Stock remains a strong buy.

[NY4Ever]

Stock will prove a gigantic winner as today's earnings, news and conference call as evidence. You can hear the conference all by going to Myriad's web site.

I have left the board for good as I have more important things going on in my life than having to deal with a bastard like Steckler. You can have him and his sidekicks and good luck with the crap he dispenses. BTW, I have challenged this moron to a $100,000 wager that I am a retired V-P from a major Wall Strret firm. In fact, I was made a partner at age 38. Steckler hasn't the balls to take me up on this wager. He gets his kicks by driving people down and making them feel worthless. You can have him. You deserve him. Good luck !

[NY4Ever]

Today's Conference call:


Therapeutic products in development

We currently have four drug candidates in seven clinical trials and a number of drug candidates in late-stage preclinical development. Our most advanced drug development programs are described below:



• Flurizan™ (R-flurbiprofen): drug candidate for Alzheimer’s disease. Flurizan, our lead therapeutic candidate for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease, is the first in a new class of drug candidates known as selective amyloid beta lowering agents, or SALAs. In April 2005, we completed a Phase 2 human clinical trial of Flurizan in 207 patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer’s disease. The study found that patients with mild Alzheimer’s disease who received the 800 mg twice-daily dose of Flurizan achieved between 34 and 45% slowing in decline on the three primary endpoints (activities of daily living, overall function and cognitive ability). A 20% or greater slowing in decline is generally regarded as clinically relevant. Flurizan appeared to be well tolerated by Alzheimer’s patients in the Phase 2 study and adverse events were generally mild and non-specific and did not differ significantly between placebo and treated groups. Since April 2005, we have continued a Phase 2 follow-on study, gathering longer-term data from the same patients who elected to continue beyond the 12 months of the original study.

We have also initiated enrollment in a Phase 3 study in patients with mild Alzheimer’s disease. The Phase 3 trial is a two-arm study (800 mg twice daily and placebo) that will enroll 800 patients per arm in over 130 centers in the United States and is designed to assess the ability of Flurizan to reduce the rate of cognitive decline and decline in activities of daily living in patients with mild Alzheimer’s disease over an 18 month period. Alzheimer’s disease is a degenerative neurological condition affecting up to 50% of all people aged 85 or older, with an estimated four million cases in the United States alone.



• Flurizan (R-flurbiprofen): drug candidate for prostate cancer. Flurizan is also in a Phase 2b human clinical trial for the treatment of patients with pre-metastatic prostate cancer. This clinical trial is a three arm (800 mg twice daily, 800 mg once daily and placebo), 82 patient per arm study being conducted at 56 centers in the United States and Canada and is designed to assess the ability of Flurizan to delay the onset of metastatic cancer in patients with prostate cancer. Approximately 232,000 men in the United States were diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2005. It is the second leading cause of death from cancer in men.



• Azixa™: drug candidate for solid cancer tumors and brain metastases. Azixa, also known as MPC-6827, is a novel, small-molecule tubulin inhibitor that is being studied in two Phase 1 human clinical
trials. These trials use an escalating dose regimen designed to evaluate the safety and pharmacokinetic profile of Azixa in patients with advanced solid tumors and metastatic brain tumors, respectively. In preclinical studies, Azixa showed better activity against a range of human tumors in mouse xenografts than the standard of care treatments for those cancers. In addition, Azixa demonstrated the ability to effectively cross the blood-brain barrier and was not subject to multiple drug resistance. This drug candidate has demonstrated activity in preclinical studies against tumors of the prostate, breast, pancreas, colon and skin (melanoma). According to the American Cancer Society, these cancers are expected to account for approximately 642,000 new cases in 2005 in the United States alone. In addition, according to the National Cancer Institute, it is estimated that there were as many as 170,000 new cases of brain metastases in 2005.




• MPC-2130: drug candidate for blood cancers. Our drug candidate MPC-2130, a novel apoptosis inducing small molecule, is also in the Phase 1 clinical trial stage. The study is designed to evaluate the safety and pharmacokinetic profile of MPC-2130 in patients with advanced metastatic tumors or blood cancers as well as refractory cancer that has progressed despite previous chemotherapy. In preclinical studies, MPC-2130 demonstrated cancer cell killing activity in ovarian cancer and prostate cancer as well as two lymphoma cell lines, Burkitt’s lymphoma and T-cell lymphoma. In addition, MPC-2130 was not subject to multiple drug resistance and was able to cross the blood-brain barrier. According to the American Cancer Society, approximately 98,000 Americans were diagnosed with blood cancers in 2005.



• MPC-0920: drug candidate for thrombosis. In April 2006 we initiated a Phase 1 human clinical trial for our drug candidate MPC-0920, an orally available direct thrombin inhibitor. The study uses an escalating dose regimen designed to evaluate the safety and pharmacokinetic profile of MPC-0920 in healthy volunteers. MPC-0920 has demonstrated characteristics that may offer improvements over traditional anticoagulants, which have limitations such as nonselectivity, inability to effect thrombin-bound fibrin and drug interactions. We believe that deep-vein thrombosis and arterial fibrillation represent two large potential markets.



• MPI-49839: drug candidate for AIDS. As published in the scientific journal Cell in October 2001, our scientists and their collaborators discovered the viral budding mechanism in HIV and other viruses. This discovery led to the development of MPI-49839, an orally available viral budding/maturation inhibitor, which is one of a new class of drug candidates for the treatment of AIDS. MPI-49839 has demonstrated strong anti-HIV activity and has been shown to be active against many of the drug resistant strains of HIV. MPI-49839 is in late-stage preclinical development in preparation for human clinical testing in the future, and we may submit an Investigational New Drug application, or IND, as early as the end of our fiscal year ending June 30, 2006.



• MPC-4505: drug candidate for chemotherapy induced emesis. Our drug candidate MPC-4505, a small molecule that has demonstrated solubility and oral bioavailability, is an NK1 receptor antagonist for chemotherapy induced emesis (nausea and vomiting). We believe these characteristics of MPC-4505 make it suitable for both an oral formulation and a sterile IV formulation. MPC-4505 has shown central nervous system penetration, a long half-life and a favorable safety profile in preclinical testing. MPC-4505 is in late-stage preclinical development in preparation for human clinical testing in the future.

[NY4Ever]

MYGN Last
26.86
+1.54

Looking for a new high this week. Expect upgrades.

[New-born baby]

Nice call

MYGN Last
26.86
+1.54

Looking for a new high this week. Expect upgrades.

NY,
You really called a good one here.

[Gatorman]

MYGN Last
26.86
+1.54

Looking for a new high this week. Expect upgrades.

Own MYGN at 27.93. So far, so good. Waiting for the upgrades.

[NY4Ever]

Myriad Genetics "strong buy," target price raised

Wednesday, May 03, 2006 3:37:23 AM ET
JMP Securities

EW YORK, May 3 (newratings.com) - In a research note published yesterday, analysts at JMP Securities reiterate their "strong buy" rating on Myriad Genetics (MYGN.NAS). The target price has been raised from $29 to $33.

[NY4Ever]

Great close: High for the day: 27.30 52 week high of 28.09 should be taken out shortly. My only concern is that someone may try to take this company over since my 2010 target is $250.