Neuren Pharmaceuticals IPO - Phase 3 time!

[Dazza]

Anyone heard of this yet?
I just received their prospectus today. Im trying not to let my emotions get in the way, as i am a current student at AU in their medical department.

what do you all think?

Being in phase II is good... afta phase III is done that means its money time

some good ownership, pfizer/AU/even tindell!! hehe

here is their website:
http://www.endocrinz.com/

[Bubble Boy]

Its a good story, Dazzla. Smart science and good management. I met Clarke, the CEO, years ago, and he comes accross well. Gluckman has good wraps, saw him on the news about the babies brain cap recently. Whats the word around Auck Uni?

Company has a huge patent portfolio and IPO seems reasonably priced, cheap even, compared to other Aussie biotechs in phase II. They have some excellent links into Pfizer, US military, etc. That dont come easy. Got to be some value there.

NZ tax dollar seems to be paying off. THese companies are making the most of some great research being funded in NZ. Some broker friends of mine are telling me that interest is growing in Aussie for NZ bio companies on the back of the successful LCT listing. Speaking of which, LCT slipped back recently but is up more than 150% since the float about 4 mths ago.

Get 'em while they're cheap.

[beautifulmind]

Well, I've just sent my application for a few.

[labslave]

Don't be fooled by the prospectus or all the hype generated by Neuren's PR machine. Actually it's not smart science at all. In fact its rather old science that dates back to the 1980's.

Contrary to the impression created by their prospectus, Neuren’s drugs are not novel and were not discovered by Gluckman or anyone else at Neuren. Their scientific rationale is not unique and even though GPE (Glypromate) does occur naturally in the brain, it’s never been shown to be induced in response to brain injury or neurological disease. The notion that the injured or diseased brain produces GPE as a self-repair molecule is simply a fairy story concocted by Neuren.

The problem with Neuren’s neuroprotective drugs is their mechanism of action. If you read the prospectus carefully, buried away on page 56 you’ll see that GPE is in fact an NMDA antagonist. This is where alarm bells should ring because NMDA antagonists are characterised by their total failure in large-scale clinical trials. Quite why the supposedly independent science report from Aoris Nova didn’t point this out is unclear, but it was grossly irresponsible in my view.

NMDA antagonists exert their neuroprotective effects by blocking the toxic effects of glutamate which is released in excessive amounts after brain injury. Unfortunately, despite showing considerable therapeutic potential in pre-clinical (animal) testing, dozens of NMDA antagonists developed in the 1980’s and early 90’s have had to be abandoned either because of severe neurotoxic side effects (e.g. Cerestat; Eliprodil) or because there was simply no benefit over placebo when tested in Phase 3 efficacy trials (e.g. Gavestinel). In the worst cases (e.g. Selfotel) increased mortality in treated patients meant Phase 3 trials had to be aborted even though Phase 2 trials were reportedly successful. (Interestingly the Phase 2 trial that concluded Selfotel was safe and well tolerated was carried out by Neuren’s collaborators/partners at the University of Texas Medical Center so I wouldn’t rely too much on any endorsement from them!). Further references to reports detailing the rise and fall of NMDA antagonists as neuroprotective drugs can be found at www.scholar.google.com by searching ‘NMDA clinical trials stroke’.

The warning signs indicate a similar fate in store for GPE and its analogues. In 2002, former Neuronz employee, Lloyd Tran, revealed that animal tests by Neuronz’ own scientists showed inconsistent results – sometimes GPE improved outcome, sometimes it had no effect and sometimes it worsened brain damage or even killed the rats. Such results are consistent with the clinical effects now seen with the NMDA antagonists already trialed in humans.

Neuren’s real weakness is their irrational obsession with Glypromate. It’s not as though they discovered it -all they’ve done is acquire ownership of the original patents and give it a new name. GPE was actually first identified by Swedish scientists in the 1980’s. Further work in Belgium led to the filing of the first patent application for GPE as a neurotherapeutic agent in 1993, well before anyone in Gluckman’s lab began testing it. The original patents were assigned to Pharmacia & Upjohn (later taken over by Pfizer), but some time after Neuronz was formed in 1995 it seems ownership was transferred to Neuronz, presumably through a normal commercial transaction. So, while it’s true Neuren now owns the original patents for GPE that’s only because they bought them, not because they made any original scientific discovery. As for the rest of Neuren’s patent portfolio, the vast majority are simply patents for specific uses of GPE and its analogues in other neurological diseases. They are certainly not patents for novel molecules. It’s a similar story with the diketopiperazines. The original molecule, cycloprolylglycine, is thought to be a metabolite of GPE. It, too, occurs naturally in the brain and was first identified by Russian scientists who applied to patent it in the mid-1990’s.

Before investing in Neuren ask yourself a few questions:
1) Gi

[labslave]

If you want to have a re-think, beautifulmind, now's your opportunity.
Contrary to the report in today’s Herald, Neuren won’t be listing on the ASX tomorrow. The Offer’s closing date has been extended to Jan 27th and the expected listing date is now Jan 31st. Go to http://asx.netquote.com.au/search-an...sp?asxcode=NEU

Although not reported by the Herald or any other media (- I wonder why??!!), it seems the ASIC issued an interim stop order on Dec 13th and required the lodgement of a Supplementary Prospectus. This means the Underwriter has the right to terminate the Underwriting Agreement at any time, in which case the Offer will not be underwritten. As a result all applicants have now been given the option of withdrawing their application and getting a full refund of any money paid to Neuren. All you have to do is make sure Neuren receive your withdrawal in writing by 5 pm on January 27th.

Anyone who originally applied for shares in Neuren because they believed the porkies in the Prospectus would be well advised to take advantage of this reprieve before it’s too late. No company that starts off by misleading its shareholders can be trusted not to do so again. Glypromate was NOT discovered by Gluckman or anyone else at Neuren and nor was its neuroprotective potential first recognised by them. All Neuren have done is acquire the IP rights to an old and abandoned European discovery. The underlying science is not unique, original or novel. Its more than 20 years old and has so far failed to produce any clinically useful neuroprotective drug. No wonder Pharmacia & Upjohn weren’t interested in retaining the IP.

[donner]

Thats quite some analysis Labman. You sure know your stuff.

So how do you rate GEN?

[beautifulmind]

Well ... I have just requested a withdrawal. Lab's write up started to give me doubts.

[Bubble Boy]

Well i am still taking a punt, for what it is worth. Still reckon it will make a good adddition to my biotech portfolio. The ramblings of a disgruntled ex-employee are not going to put me off. I doubt lavslave could back up his claims if it came to the crunch.

I dont even think he has read the prospectus. Pfizer and the US army not big enuf colaborators? They have successfully completed Phase 1 FDA trials. And besides, they have 71 patents in 5 product categories. I think they have moved on from the original, regardless of its origins (which i have no idea about).

Me thinks you are the one telling porkies, Labslave.

[marinesalvor]

suspect your analysis is more impressive than labslaves Bubbleboy.

[labslave]

You’re completely wrong if you think I’m a disgruntled ex-employee of Neuren’s. I’ve never worked for either Neuren, Neuronz or Endocrinz. I have, however, worked in the Pharmacology Labs of one of the world’s major pharmas and I’ve seen first-hand what it takes to develop a blockbuster drug. That’s more than can be said of any of Neuren’s scientists or their management. I also have a PhD in pharmacology so I reckon I’m probably better placed than either Bubble Boy or Marinesalvor to understand the underlying science. I can assure you that it’s not me that’s telling the porkies here. Everything I’ve said is true and can be easily checked out if you could only be bothered.

Obviously you’re entitled to your opinion and you’re free to gamble away your own money as you choose. I just hope that none of the major fund managers share your cavalier attitude, otherwise a lot of hard-earned retirement savings could go down the gurgler. Neuren are just preying on the fact that the average investor has neither the scientific nor the medical background to realise that most of their claims just ain’t true.

If the false and misleading picture emanating from Neuren is typical of the biotech industry in general then its not surprising that so many biotechs have failed. In fact, Neuren isn’t even a genuine biotech. That’s just another myth perpetuated by an ill-informed media that’s too lazy to check out the facts. Neuren’s drugs are synthesised chemically in just the same way that the traditional pharmas have been doing for more than a century. There's no biotechnology involved. GPE (Glypromate) can be bought ‘off the shelf’ from ordinary laboratory chemical suppliers – and that’s exactly how Neuren have been obtaining it for the last 10 years. Neuren didn’t discover GPE and neither do they actually make it. It’s not novel and the underlying science is most definitely not unique.

Glypromate is certainly not worth the A$40 million valuation that's been placed on Neuren, yet without glypromate they've got nothing else that's anywhere near ready for clinical testing.