By Stephanie O'Brien
CBS MarketWatch
Last Update: 5:17 PM ET Feb 3, 1999 See Medtronic story
NEW YORK (CBS.MW) -- Guilford Pharmaceuticals expects to start tests in
humans of a drug that could treat Parkinson's disease.
TIn a presentation to investors at the Piper Jaffray Health Care Conference
in New York, the company's (GLFD) CEO, Craig Smith, said the company expects
to soon start testing the drug it's developing with partner Amgen (AMGN).
With Amgen, Guilford's neurological program has developed a series of drugs
that can be given orally to regenerate nerve cells in people suffering from
spinal injury, Parkinson's, Alzheimer's and other disorders.
The drug protects nerve cells and appears to regenerate nerve cells, said
Peter Ginsberg, an analyst at Piper Jaffray. "It's a big step," he said The
drug, which will be in a pill form, will be less invasive than injection
into the central nervous system, he added.
The company's first approved delivery system, Gliadel, is a medicinal wafer
placed in the space left when a brain tumor is removed. Gliadel is being
marketed in the U.S. and abroad by Rhone-Poulenc Rorer. Gliadel prolongs
the survival rate for malignant brain cancer by 50 percent, Smith said.
Post surgery, the implant kills tumor cells at the edges of the surgical
cavity.
Guilford also hopes to expand the market for its wafer drug-delivery
systems. The company hopes to use similar technology to treat ovarian cancer
and aims to launch a study this year, Ginsberg said.
Separately, Smith told CBS.MarketWatch.com that he sees fourth-quarter
results in line with analysts' expectations. Guilford is expected to lose 47
cents a share, the average estimate in a First Call survey.
The Baltimore-based company is expected to report financial results on Feb.
16. Shares of Guilford on Wednesday rose 5/8 to 14 1/4. For more conference
reports, See our Renegade flashes