opportunity for pi 88 in post resection hcc

PROGEN PHARMACEUTICALS LIMITED

Meeting with Management Highlights Market Opportunity for PI-88 in Post-Resection HCC

Recommendation : OVERWEIGHT

Company Update

Executive Summary

Management outlines growing market opportunity for PI-88 in post-resection HCC:

We recently met with Progen CEO Justus Homburg and VP of Business Development Sarah Meibusch to review the company’s clinical development programs.

Management focused on the clinical development strategy for PI-88, an anti-angiogenic and anti-metastatic agent, in the treatment of postresection hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

HCC represents the third leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide with approximately 80% of newly diagnosed cases occurring in Asia and developing nations.

Surgical resection of localized HCC currently offers the best prognosis for long-term survival with a median survival time of approximately 3-5 years post-resection; a sharp contrast to the 5-10 month median survival time of patients diagnosed with non-resectable HCC.

Management commented that surgical resection criteria vary widely between geographies and that the utilization of resection as a front-line treatment is highest in those regions demonstrating the highest incidence of HCC.

For example, surgical resection of HCC in the United States is limited to tumors less than 5cm in size and, thus, is only used as a treatment option in approximately 10-20% of newly diagnosed patients.

In Asia, however, surgeons utilize a less stringent surgical resection criteria and resection is used as a treatment option in nearly 35% of all newly diagnosed cases. As a result, we believe the Street may be underestimating the market opportunity for PI-88 given that;

(1) geographical HCC incidence growth rates directly correspond to the utilization of surgical resection as a front-line treatment; and

(2) the Phase III trial will be conducted across 14 countries, with data likely serving as the basis for approval in those same key regions.


The above executive overview was part of a nine page Company update report by Thomas Weisel Partners issued last week.


NOTE:
All dribble and frothing-at-the-mouth by mental blowhead Kzeldovich (also the user of these nicks just to mention a few; j.homburg, stevey_chang, garry.parr, kzeldovich, tobago.jack)
will be IGNORED.

Suggest others do the same. Without oxygen he/she will suffocate and the paid down ramping will be an absolute waste.

As an alternative take discussions the S S Forum where the blowhead has been expelled.