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[waldron] 10/1/2009 13:33

Genentech Rises on Report of Higher Roche Buyout Bid (Update2)
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By Angela Zimm

Jan. 9 (Bloomberg) -- Genentech Inc. rose 2.3 percent in New York trading on a Financial Times report that Swiss drugmaker Roche Holding AG is preparing to raise its bid for the biotechnology company to $95 a share.

The South San Francisco, California-based Genentech rose $1.94, to $86.34, at 4:03 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The $95-a-share offer is likely to be presented to Genentech's board in February, according to the FT.com report, which didn't cite a source.

Roche, based in Basel, Switzerland, offered $43.7 billion, or $89 a share, on July 21 for the 44 percent of Genentech it doesn't own already. Genentech rejected that bid as too low, although the company said it is open to talks.

"There's no way to know how credible this report is," said BMO Capital Markets analyst Jason Zhang, in a telephone interview. "Roche is serious about this, they want to finish the deal, but $95 isn't high enough to get the deal done. You have to get above $100 a share."

A Genentech spokesman, Geoff Teeter, declined to comment on the report. Chief Executive Officer Arthur D. Levinson didn't reply to e-mailed requests for comment.

"We do not comment on market rumors," said Martina Rupp, a Roche spokeswoman.

The acquisition would enable Roche to boost its share of profit from the cancer drugs Avastin and Herceptin, which generated a combined $10 billion in global sales last year, according to Zhang.

To contact the reporter on this story: Angela Zimm in Boston [e-mail]

Last Updated: January 9, 2009 16:14 EST

[waldron] 20/12/2008 17:15

Genentech Says Eye Injuries Tied to Avastin in Canada (Update2)
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By David Olmos

Dec. 19 (Bloomberg) -- Genentech Inc. said it had received 36 reports of eye inflammation in Canadian patients who were given the cancer-drug Avastin to treat eye diseases.

The cases were reported in November by four different sites, Genentech, of South San Francisco, California, said in a letter to physicians posted today on its Web site. The injuries developed when doctors used Avastin to treat macular degeneration, the leading cause of blindness in the elderly, or diabetic retinopathy, the company said. Avastin isn't approved for use in the chronic eye diseases.

Doctors prescribed Avastin to treat macular degeneration before Genentech's Lucentis was approved for the illness in 2006. Both drugs target a chemical signal that triggers blood- vessel growth known as vascular endothelial growth factor, or VEGF. Some ophthalmologists prefer using Avastin, which is injected into a patient's eye, because it costs less than Lucentis.

"Physicians have the right to prescribe any drug off label," said Krysta Pellegrino, a Genentech spokeswoman, in a telephone interview today. "We don't interfere with a physician's prescribing choices. We believe Lucentis is the most appropriate treatment for macular degeneration."

Genentech described 32 of the 36 reported cases as involving "serious" inflammatory reactions. The company doesn't know if any of the cases resulted in permanent eye damage, Pellegrino said.

"We don't have full details of all the individual cases," she said.

Avastin, which is Genentech's biggest product with sales of $2.3 billion in 2007, is approved for patients with cancers that have spread beyond the breast, colon and lung.

To contact the reporter on this story: David Olmos in San Francisco at [e-mail].

Last Updated: December 19, 2008 15:43 EST

[ariane] 03/12/2008 17:01

HEALTH BLOG
WSJ's blog on health and the business of health. Blog Search:
< Problems in Primary Care Drive ER Crowdi[...] -- Previous | SEE ALL POSTS FROM THIS BLOG | December 3, 2008, 10:54 am
Genentech Carries On, as Roche Deal Simmers on Back Burner
Posted by Ron Winslow
Roche's blockbuster bid for the portion of Genentech it doesn't own has stalled amid the credit crisis and stock market plunge, and concern persists over the impact of the proposed transaction on the biotech pioneer's culture and productivity.

Not to worry - at least for now, said Stephen Kelsey, the company's VP for clinical hemotology/oncology. The Health Blog dropped in on the Genentech presentation this morning at Piper Jaffray's annual health care conference in Manhattan where Kelsey said Roche's $44 billion offer hasn't had any discernible effect on employee retention or morale.

People come to Genentech because it's a good place to work and because they believe the work is important, he said. "Until that changes, they'll continue to work there."

A big employee retention program the company announced shortly after the bid may have helped. Kathee Littrell, VP for investor relations, added that business development deals haven't been affected either.

A special committee of Genentech's board rejected Roche's $89-a-share bid in August as substantially under-valuing the company, but opened the door to a higher bid. With the company's shares currently trading at around $73, the market seems to be saying there won't be a deal anytime soon. Neither Kelsey nor Littrell had any comment on the status of the proposed transaction itself.

Perhaps more pressing is how biotech-friendly, or not, the incoming Obama adminstration and a heavily Democratic Congress will prove to be.

One worry, Kelsey said, is the details of expected legislation to pave the way for approval of generic biotech drugs - the industry likes to call them follow-on biologics. (We still call them generics.) Genentech, like its biotech brethren believes companies companies wanting to bring, say, a Herceptin knockoff to market should be required to prove its similarity to the real McCoy with data from a substantial clinical trial-not just a relatively simple lab analysis that is required to get conventional generics to the market.

High on the list of other concerns, Kelsey said, are the potential that medicare would be allowed to negotiate prices with drugmakers and whether NICE in the U.K. becomes a model for assessing value of drugs in the U.S.

Photo: Associated Press

[ariane] 21/7/2008 15:22

Genentech confirms buyout offer from Roche; shares rally




NEW YORK (Thomson Financial) - Shares of Genentech Inc. surged to their
highest price in more than two years on Monday after the San Francisco-based
biotechnology company confirmed its receipt of a buyout offer from Roche.
The shares jumped 14% to $93.09 on Monday on a volume of 8 million shares.
The issue's 30-day volume is 3.8 million shares. An intraday high of $94.19
represents the best price for the shares since January 2006.
Roche, which currently owns 55.9% of Genentech, offered to rest of the
company's stock that it doesn't already own for $89 a share. The offer
represents a 8.8% premium to the stock's Friday closing price of $81.82.
Genentech said a special committee of its board composed of the independent
directors will evaluate the proposal.
Ryan Vlastelica
rv/mb

[ariane] 21/7/2008 10:57

source: Cantos

Jul 20 2008
Roche makes offer to acquire all outstanding shares of Genentech
Dr Franz B. Humer, Chairman Roche makes offer to acquire all outstanding shares of Genentech
Strategic rationale

Q.
Why are you proposing to change the nature of your partnership with Genentech and increase your ownership from 55.8 per cent to 100 per cent?


A.
You need to look at the history. Genentech and Roche go back a long time together. We've got a history of 20 years of close collaboration. In those 20 years, a lot of things have changed. Genentech itself is a different company today than it was 20 years ago. It is a fully integrated pharmaceutical company. At the same time, the environment – the market – has changed. So we were thinking strategically, "What do we need to do to put that partnership on a new level for the next 20 years?" And we are absolutely convinced that it is in the interest of both parties that we acquire the 100 per cent and then structure it in a way that strengthens both sides of the operation.

We will run Genentech's research and early development as a separate, independent unit within Roche, thereby maintaining the spirit, the culture, the whole environment of creativity, of diversity of approaches in research, which is necessary for that success. And, on the other hand, by combining the commercial operations and other parts we'll be able to really achieve the synergies, the scale, that is necessary in other parts of the operation.





Q.
But isn't this deal really all about cost-cutting in a particularly competitive environment, particularly in the US?


A.
I don't deny that there is an increased competitive environment in our industry. But the key to success in this business is innovation. Are we able to create enough medically scientifically differentiated products that clearly bring a benefit to patients and to payers and to physicians? I think that's where the nucleus of what we are trying to achieve with this strategic move really lies. We want to strengthen even further the collaboration on both sides, in terms of creating new medicines. That's why we are keeping Genentech as an independent unit within Roche, while at the same time the possibility exists that both sides of research can tap into the pool of technologies, of capacities, of working with third parties. So that will foster and create a new and a better environment for innovation.





Q.
But aren't you putting a highly successful partnership at risk?


A.
I don't think so. On the contrary, I think we're putting it on a new level for the next 20 years. Simply continuing what we have done in the last 20 years is not good enough to succeed in the future. And the key, as I said, is innovation. So what do we need to do to foster that innovation, to create even more and better new products than we did in the past? I think the two corporations working together, while maintaining the diversity of approach, is the ideal way to go forward.





Q.
But you've always said that you wouldn't do a big pharma transaction like this. Why do this now?


A.
It isn't a big pharma transaction. Genentech is different. We've known this company for 20 years. They've known us for 20 years. We market the products that come out of Genentech outside the United States. So we're just putting it into a new framework, but we are not putting it at risk.




Enhancing innovation

Q.
What decisions have you made about the structure and the operations of the combined entity?


A.
Obviously at this point in time we are at a very early stage. We have made some high-level decisions, as I mentioned before. We will keep the independent research unit of Genentech. We have made the decision that we will relocate our commercial headquarters from the East Coast to the West Coast, so forming the seventh-largest pharmaceutical company in the United States in terms of market share. And with the United States being the biggest market in the world we are creating an enormous strength here.

We have made the decision that we will close Nutley manufacturing. We have made the decision that we will move Virology research from Palo Alto onto the Genentech campus and Inflammatory research from the Palo Alto campus to the New Jersey campus, so also strengthening our research operation on the East Coast.





Q.
You talked a little bit there about innovation. Can you talk a little bit more, in detail, about your ability to innovate?


A.
The ability to innovate is something that you can't command. Innovation is really dependent on the quality of the scientists; the quality, the integrity of the science that is being carried out; and on the ability to work long-term. Look at some of our most successful products today. Look at an Avastin, at Herceptin, at Xeloda – those are research projects which were started 20 years ago. And they are now coming to fruition. So what we are doing today, what we are putting in place today, will bear fruit in the next 10 to 20 years. Our investment to new technologies like RNAi, the way we are allowing diversity of approaches in research. That will create new products.





Q.
Yet Genentech is legendary for its innovative and science-driven culture. What will Roche do to preserve the entrepreneurship within that business?


A.
Everything that's necessary to achieve that. That's why we are keeping it as an independent unit. That's why we are not integrating it into our structures, into our way of working. They will be able to continue to make their own decisions on which projects to bring forward, which projects not to bring forward. And they'll have the ability to tap into all the Roche resources around the world if they so desire.





Q.
And how will these steps directly affect employees?


A.
It will affect employees on both sides. If you look at the Roche employees who will relocate from the East Coast to the West Coast, part of the researchers out of Palo Alto who will relocate to the East Coast. But it will also create new opportunities: the new commercial headquarters in South San Francisco and the ability to collaborate on a worldwide scale.




Impact of the transaction

Q.
What is the anticipated financial impact of this transaction on Roche?


A.
Let me first say it is in the interests of both shareholders to conclude the deal. Clearly, we are paying a full premium for acquiring the minority shareholding in Genentech. Second, it will be accretive in the first year after closure of the deal. And it will also create a much bigger cash resource for the Roche Group. Therefore we will be able to repay the debt relatively quickly.





Q.
And you talked about synergies earlier. Where are these synergies going to come from?


A.
The synergies will primarily come from back office functions, from the fact that Genentech will no longer be a public company. We will be able to avoid investment and expenditure in some of our manufacturing facilities. We'll be able to streamline our global late-stage development operations. That's where we expect synergies to arise, in the range of $750 million to $850 million.





Q.
And what happens to the two sales forces?


A.
Well, that's one of the great features of this deal. We need both sales forces, so they will be unaffected. They will be combined, but their total size will now be a commercial operation of 5,000 people. They will be promoting the key brands in many of the speciality disease areas; the leading company in oncology with sales of US$15 billion. A tremendous challenge for the sales force. That's why we need both teams.





Q.
And how do you think this will really affect the competitive position of Roche in the US?


A.
In the US, this will make the new company – which, by the way, will be operating under the Genentech name so, again, preserving the heritage, the reputation of that company - a powerhouse in the US market, now and for the foreseeable future.





Q.
And will this have any impact on Chugai?


A.
No, the Chugai operation is another part of the Roche Group. We own today nearly 60 per cent of Chugai, and it will continue to operate in the current form.





Q.
And how will this benefit doctors and patients around the world?


A.
It will benefit doctors and patients in a number of ways. First, we expect that we will be better able to create new and better products to treat disease. Let's not forget two-thirds of the world's diseases today are not being treated adequately. So there is a lot of room for improvement.

It will speed up our development programmes; therefore it will allow us to approach clinical trials in an even more coordinated way on a global scale.

Also, the way we can now offer the joint product range in the United States to payers and to physicians will deliver benefits.





Q.
And what about drug availability and drug access...?


A.
Will not be affected at all. The same way as the programmes we have in both companies today in providing access to people who can't afford our drugs, those programmes will continue the way they have been established.





Q.
And what about the philanthropic and the charitable commitments?


A.
The same. Both companies have, in different ways, their philanthropic, their charitable, programmes which they run in the United States and overseas. Those programmes will continue unaffected.




Next steps

Q.
So what are the next steps then? What has to happen to make this deal move forward?


A.
Basically, what we have done is we've informed the independent directors of Genentech. The independent directors will now seek advice on the legal front and also from independent investment bankers. And then the negotiation process will start. And, when that is brought to an end, it will be put to a vote of the minority shareholders.





Q.
And if the deal weren't to go through, would you consider selling Genentech to another party?


A.
Absolutely not.





Q.
So how would you summarise then the opportunity that this deal brings to you, to both parties?


A.
Building one of the strongest pharmaceutical companies in the world, based on innovation, based on global presence, based on the image, based on the feeling, based on the culture, the new company can create.

[ariane] 21/7/2008 07:05

Roche makes $89 per share cash offer for rest Genentech, or $43.7 bln UPDATE




(Updates with unchanged Roche guidance, details of reorganisation)
BASEL (Thomson Financial) - Roche Holdings AG said has proposed to acquire
the outstanding publicly held interest in Genentech Inc. at $89.00 per share in
cash, or a total payment of approximately $43.7 billion to equity holders of
Genentech other than Roche. Roche acquired a majority in Genentech in 1990 and
currently owns 55.9 percent of all outstanding shares.
Roche expects the combination to generate annual pretax cost synergies of
approximately $750 million to $850 million, it said.
The transaction is expected to be accretive to Roche's earnings per share in
the first year after closing.
The combined company will generate substantial free cash flow that will
enable it to reduce acquisition-related debt rapidly, invest in further product
launches and retain strategic flexibility.
The transaction will have no impact on Roche's sales and Core EPS targets
for 2008, as communicated earlier in the year. Roche also remains committed to
increasing its dividend pay-out ratio for the next three years as previously
announced.
The offer represents a premium of 8.8 percent to Genentech's closing price
of $81.82 on July 18, 2008 and a one month premium of 19.0 percent to
Genentech's closing price of $74.76 on June 20, 2008, Roche said.
Genentech will operate as an independent research and early development
center within Roche from its existing campus in South San Francisco, retaining
its talent and approach to discovering and progressing new molecules.
Roche's Palo Alto Virology research and development activities will relocate
to South San Francisco, while its Palo Alto Inflammation group will become part
of Roche's Nutley, NJresearch and development organization.
Roche's Pharma commercial operations in the U.S. will be moved from Nutleyto
Genentech's site in South San Francisco. The combined company's U.S. commercial
operations in pharmaceuticals will reflect the Genentech name, leveraging the
strong brand value of Genentech in the U.S. market.
The existing U.S. sales organizations of both companies will be maintained,
resulting in a very strong presence in several specialty areas.
Genentech's Late Stage Development and Manufacturing operations will be
combined with the global operations of Roche.
Roche's manufacturing in Nutleywill be closed and support functions, such as
informatics and finance, will be consolidated.
The combined entity will be the seventh largest U.S. pharmaceuticals company
in terms of market share. It will generate more than $15 billion in annual
revenues and will employ around 17,500 pharma employees in the U.S. alone,
including a combined sales force of approximately 3,000 people.
Including diagnostics, the Roche Group will employ around 25,000 people in
the U.S, it added.
[e-mail]
lam/lam/lam

[waldron] 15/7/2008 19:52

Associated Press
Genentech rises on 2Q results and higher outlook
By MARLEY SEAMAN 07.15.08, 12:40 PM ET

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NEW YORK - Shares of Genentech Inc. climbed Tuesday after the biotechnology company reported solid second-quarter sales of most of its key drugs and raised its annual profit forecast.

Genentech (nyse: DNA - news - people )'s profit fell short of Wall Street expectations for the quarter, but sales of its cancer drug Avastin met Wall Street estimates, and sales of another drug, Rituxan, showed strong improvement. The company raised its outlook to a range of $3.40 to $3.50 per share, from $3.35 to $3.40.

The stock picked up $4.15, or 5.5 percent, to $79.54 in heavy afternoon trading. Jefferies analyst Adam Walsh attributed the higher forecast to the company's stock buyback and greater expense controls. Analysts focused on sales of Avastin as a treatment for breast cancer, where the drug received surprise regulatory approval in April, and on ongoing trials of the drug.

Avastin's market share for treatment of one type of breast cancer grew to 35 percent, said RBC analyst Jason Kantor. That's compared with 25 percent in the first quarter, and Kantor said he expects sales to keep improving.

He also expects good late-stage trial data for Avastin in colorectal cancer, where it is being tested as an adjuvant treatment, or a treatment to prevent cancer from recurring after surgery.

"We remain confident in the adjuvant Avastin data, which could have positive results by year-end 2008," he said. "Positive results would open a significant new blockbuster market."

Avastin is in midstage clinical testing as an adjuvant treatment for colon cancer, two types of breast cancer, and non-small-cell long cancer. Cowen analyst Eric Schmidt said those trials are key to the long-term growth of Avastin sales.

Genentech spokeswoman Kristina Becker said that of those adjuvant studies, the closest to completion are two colon cancer trials. The company will provide an update on those studies late this year, with final results due in 2009.

One study is being conducted in the U.S., while the other is based overseas and is being conducted by Swiss pharmaceutical company Roche (other-otc: RHHBY.PK - news - people ) AG, the majority owner of Genentech.

Becker said the Genentech has not provided target dates for the breast and lung cancer studies because they are just getting started.

[grupo guitarlumber] 15/5/2008 07:31

Global market expected to drive cancer drug growth




WASHINGTON (AP) - The global market for cancer drugs will grow twice as fast
as that for all other pharmaceuticals as the developing world spends more on
health care, a new report says.
China, Brazil, Russia and other emerging countries are becoming bigger
customers for pharmaceuticals as they invest more in treating and diagnosing
cancer, according to a report issued Thursday by IMS Health.
The health care research firm expects pharmaceutical spending in countries
such as India, Mexico and Turkey to grow by 12 to 13 percent over the next 15
years, compared with single-digit growth for more developed nations.
Cancer drug spending is expected to grow between 12 and 15 percent annually
through 2012 to $75 to 80 billion, according the report. The overall drug market
is expected to grow at 6.4 percent.
Feeding that demand are the multibillion-dollar research and development
budgets of firms like Genentech Inc., Amgen Inc. and Novartis AG.
"Oncology is the top of the bill when it comes to new products in
development," said Titus Pattel, a vice president with IMS. "Oncology R&D dwarfs
all other research efforts within these organizations."
Cancer drug sales are expected to reach $48 billion this year, led by
Genentech's breast cancer drug Herceptin, Novartis' leukemia drug Gleevec and
other blockbusters.
But the market is not immune to a slowdown. Expiring patents on older cancer
drugs and efforts to tighten health care spending could limit future growth,
according to IMS.
Some European countries have begun paying drug companies based on how
successfully their drugs treat patients. The Italian government, for example,
only began reimbursing Johnson & Johnson for the cancer treatment Velcade after
the drug demonstrated positive results in patients. IMS said that the adoption
of similar policies in the U.S. it could slow spending on cancer medications.
Pharmaceutical firms also face a tougher regulatory environment in the U.S.,
where the Food and Drug Administration has delayed several highly anticipated
cancer therapies.
Last year, the agency denied approval of Dendreon's prostate cancer vaccine
Provenge, despite an overwhelmingly positive review by the agency's outside
advisers.
"There's a tendency from the FDA to be more conservative than they have over
the last 10 years," Pattel said.
An aggressive review environment could dampen the market for between 25 and
30 new anticancer drugs currently in development, the IMS report says. At the
same time, some of the biggest blockbuster cancer drugs of the last decade will
lose their patent protection, including Sanofi-Aventis' Taxotere and AstraZeneca
PLC's Arimidex.
Expiring drug patents and an increasingly crowded market for cancer
therapies will lower spending in the U.S. and Europe. These markets are expected
to account for 65 percent of the global cancer drugs market by 2012, down from
71 percent last year, according to IMS.
The company's forecast comes ahead of the American Society of Clinical
Oncology's annual meeting, which begins May 30. Abstracts for company studies
will be released online Thursday night, giving researchers and investors a
preview of clinical results for experimental drugs.

[grupo guitarlumber] 14/5/2008 12:09

Warning over drug trial's effects on testing
By Andrew Jack in London

Published: May 13 2008 22:07 | Last updated: May 13 2008 22:07

A pioneering clinical trial launched this year by a US-backed research institute may fundamentally reshape relations between payers and the pharmaceutical industry, IMS Health, the healthcare consultancy, warned on Tuesday.

The National Eye Institute-sponsored $16m "head to head" trial will compare the effectiveness of two drugs produced by Genentech, the biotech company controlled by Roche of Switzerland, and could lead to a much cheaper way to treat Age-Related Macular Degeneration (AMD), which causes blindness.

EDITOR'S CHOICE
Southern Cross Healthcare searches for acquisitions - May-12Sanofi hit by talk of Plavix generic - May-09Optos wins award as it catches Brussels' eye - May-09A painful prognosis for big drugmakers - May-08Groups question their British roots - May-08GSK issues bonds to fund share buy-back - May-07IMS says the study, called CATT, opens "a Pandora's box" for the drug industry by taking testing out of the hands of the companies, changing the rules of development and potentially undermining a blockbuster long before it comes off patent.

It describes CATT as one of the top seven "harbingers of change" for 2008 highlighted in its yearly analysis of significant events likely to affect the evolution of the pharmaceutical sector.

The trial, unveiled last month and set to conclude in 2010 without any involvement from Genentech, may result in prescribers widely switching from Lucentis, developed for AMD, to Avastin, developed for cancer but which can be split into small doses for injection into the eye at a fraction of the cost.

Lucentis was specifically tested for safety and efficacy in treating AMD and approved by the US Food and Drug Administration in 2006, but it is closely related to Avastin, which was approved for cancer in 2004 and since then widely prescribed by discretion by doctors "off label" beyond the officially authorised uses.

With a single dose of Lucentis for AMD costing $2,000, many doctors have already switched to the use of the much larger concentration available in a single bottle of Avastin, which can then be split to cost only $40-75 for each injection, reducing total average treatment costs from $24,000 to $900.

IMS argues that if CATT, the Institute's study, shows Avastin to be as safe and effective for AMD as Lucentis, it may pave the way for an increasing number of payers to take comparative drug studies out of the hands of the pharmaceutical companies, especially as databases of patients make it much easier to conduct such tests.

But it warns that the move may create a disincentive for companies to study such areas, and creates untested areas of who would approve Avastin for AMD following a late-stage Phase 3 clinical trial which was conducted without any of the usual early-stage testing regulators usually require.

[waldron] 18/11/2007 07:34

Sun 18 Nov 2007

Vaccine breakthrough spin-out wins funding
DOUGLAS FRIEDLI
A COMPANY working on vaccine technology which could halt the spread of diseases such as Sars and prevent bird flu from affecting people has been spun out of Edinburgh's Moredun Research Institute.

Big DNA has won funding from a London-based venture capital firm and Scottish Enterprise to develop its cheap and fast technique for creating vaccines. The company is the first spin-out from Moredun, which focuses on animal health.

The team, led by chief executive John March, is working on a prototype vaccine for hepatitis B which could be on the market within two or three years. If that works, vaccines for fast-spreading viruses such as Sars will be developed next. A vaccine could also be developed to prevent bird flu from spreading to humans.

Big DNA has had interest from pharmaceutical groups which are keen to license the technology for their own products. March said he was keen to recruit a full board of directors before signing the company's first major deal: "We have several deals on the table, and we have to decide whether they are any good or not. Once the management is in place we will start looking at commercial deals."

The spin-out board includes Rhys Roberts, a scientist who worked at the Roslin Institute when it created Dolly the Sheep, and Willie Donachie, deputy director of the Moredun Research Institute.

Traditional vaccination involves giving a patient a small dose of a disease organism, which the body then reacts against. Big DNA's technique involves using bacterial viruses called bacteriophages which contain the DNA, or genetic instructions, for the disease organisms. These are cheaper and quicker to produce but should result in the same level of immunity.

This article:

Last updated: 18-Nov-07 00:52 GMT