Catco Reinsurance Opport... Share Discussion Threads

[mikeatwork22] 05/3/2004 12:54

has anyone noticed there have been local highs at the beginning of each of the last 4 months ? coincidence ?

Except May...

[mikeatwork22] 04/3/2004 17:21

well, you have to speculate to accumulate... no. I read the article at the weekend and thought CAT might be a good buy and I need to diversify a little. But left it cos I thought the price went up too much too quickly... but now I'm in at 513.75.

resistance at 520 you say ?

[calleva] 03/3/2004 13:45

Welcome aboard MAW22 - you also expecting a US takeover?

[calleva] 03/3/2004 09:45

Many thanks tvrtrust. The aim is to invest in companies with earnings per share growth of 15-20% per year. CAT is their first-listed new biotech investment. Well worth a visit to the website.

[tvrtrust] 02/3/2004 17:17

Orbimed are also advisors to the Close Finsbury Worldwide Pharma Trust, which has taken a stake in CAT over the last 6 months: p3

[calleva] 02/3/2004 11:42

About OrbiMed Advisors LLC

OrbiMed is one of the largest and most successful asset management firms focused on the global healthcare industry. OrbiMed's investment advisory activities were founded in 1989 by Samuel D. Isaly with a vision to invest across the spectrum of life sciences companies: from early stage private biotechnology companies up to large, publicly-traded pharmaceutical companies. Total assets under management exceed $3 billion.

[calleva] 02/3/2004 11:27

Could CAT be a takeover target if unsuccessful in the Abbott case?

[calleva] 01/3/2004 11:38

Charts suggest next stop 600... I notice there is much activity in pharms today, with GSK trading heavily. So too CAT.

[matthu] 01/3/2004 11:18

Up 6.0% so far today - all on the back of the Times article, or is there something else happening?

[matthu] 01/3/2004 08:35

CAT from
STRANGE as it may seem in the information age, news - or at least swings in sentiment - can still take months to cross the Atlantic. In America, biotech companies have been enjoying a strong revival in interest, helped by a number of product approvals - the latest being Avastin, a cancer treatment from Genentech.

The British recovery has been much more muted - not least because we have no companies of the size and quality of Genentech. Still, this disparity has opened up some substantial valuation gaps, and some, at least, have noticed.

American investors now own about 50% of Cambridge Antibody Technology, up from around 20% last year. Experienced specialists such as Orbimed Advisors are betting that CAT's rating will eventually catch that of American rivals such as Abgenix.

CAT is already earning single-digit royalties from Humira, the most important drug yet to emerge from the UK industry, with sales forecast to reach $2 billion (£1.07 billion). With £115m in cash, CAT's current value would be justified even if Abbott Laboratories, which markets Humira, prevails in a dispute over the level of royalties. Other promising programmes are included for free.

[calleva] 01/3/2004 08:33

Okay, here goes:

CAT


STRANGE as it may seem in the information age, news - or at least swings in sentiment - can still take months to cross the Atlantic. In America, biotech companies have been enjoying a strong revival in interest, helped by a number of product approvals - the latest being Avastin, a cancer treatment from Genentech.

The British recovery has been much more muted - not least because we have no companies of the size and quality of Genentech. Still, this disparity has opened up some substantial valuation gaps, and some, at least, have noticed.

American investors now own about 50% of Cambridge Antibody Technology, up from around 20% last year. Experienced specialists such as Orbimed Advisors are betting that CAT's rating will eventually catch that of American rivals such as Abgenix.

CAT is already earning single-digit royalties from Humira, the most important drug yet to emerge from the UK industry, with sales forecast to reach $2 billion (£1.07 billion). With £115m in cash, CAT's current value would be justified even if Abbott Laboratories, which markets Humira, prevails in a dispute over the level of royalties. Other promising programmes are included for free.

The Abgenix arbitrage proved very profitable in 1999-2000. At 497½ p, CAT may soon be leaping again

The Sunday Times
29 February 2004

[calleva] 01/3/2004 08:24

Looks like the line will be broken this morning [edit: 8.25]!. Marwalker, do you have the full text?

[marwalker] 29/2/2004 09:52

A positive mention in the Sunday Times today .... 50 % now owned by U.S. investors .... has not caught up with it's peers there ( I paraphrase )

[calleva] 27/2/2004 16:42

The apparent downgrade was just the kiss of life needed, interest has renewed and the stock is moving upward towards resistence at 520.

[matthu] 17/2/2004 18:53

from
Cambridge Antibody Technology downgraded to "hold"
Tuesday, February 17, 2004 12:26:37 PM ET
A.G. Edwards & Sons

NEW YORK, February 17 (New Ratings) - Analysts at AG Edwards downgrade Cambridge Antibody Technology (CATG) from "buy" to "hold."

Shares of Cambridge Antibody Technology, a UK-based biotechnology company, are currently trading at $9.05.

According to AG Edwards' research note published this morning, Cambridge Antibody Technology is unlikely to experience any potential near-term share price rally. The analysts expect the company's unimpressive internal products pipeline to adversely impact its share price performance in the near term. AG Edwards expresses its concern regarding Cambridge Antibody Technology's royalty-dependent business model.

Cambridge Antibody Technology is well positioned to benefit from the robust long-term growth prospects of the antibodies segment of the pharmaceuticals industry, the analysts say. However, AG Edwards expects the substantial patent litigation risks associated with the antibodies sector to considerably offset the company's earnings and revenue growth potential in the forthcoming years. The analysts express their concern regarding Cambridge Antibody Technology's recently announced litigation against Abbott Labs for royalty gains from the anti-TNF antibody product, Humira.

The EPS estimates for 2004 and 2005 are -$1.90 and -$1.70, respectively.
AG Edwards downgrades Cambridge Antibody Technology from "buy" to "hold."

[matthu] 13/2/2004 18:55

CAT to rethink trial
By Business Weekly, 09 February 2004, viewed 84 times, emailed 21 times

Cambridge Antibody Technology and US partner, Genzyme will have to re-design clinical trials for their treatment for the rare and life threatening condition, diffuse systemic sclerosis.

Cambridge Antibody Technology and US partner, Genzyme will have to re-design clinical trials for their treatment for the rare and life threatening condition, diffuse systemic sclerosis.

Phase I/II trials for CAT-192 showed that while the treatment was safe and well-tolerated, no definitive conclusions could be drawn as to its effectiveness or efficacy.

45 sufferers of the disease were enrolled on the trial, a proportion of whom were given a placebo. The fact that there was no disease progression in the placebo group meant that test was unsuccessful in demonstrating a positive effect for CAT-192.

The onus during clinical trials is for companies to prove, in experimental conditions, that taking their drug has more of an effect on a disease than not taking it. With the placebo group not exhibiting the "expected deterioration," this was not demonstrated in this instance.

One of the main aims of the trial, which is still at a relatively early stage in the regulatory process was to determine the best design for the trial going forward.

CAT's chief medical officer, Dr David Glover therefore views the disappointing results as an important tool in ensuring the success of the treatment over the longer term.

He said: "The clinical development teams from both companies are encouraged by the safety and pharmacokinetic results seen in this trial.

"We have gained useful insights that will help determine the next steps in our clinical development programme. We will continue to evaluate the data, and to work with scleroderma experts to determine how to progress in the future."

CAT and Genzyme are also collaborating, under the same general agreement, on GC-1008, a treatment for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. The partners have filed an application with the US food and drug administration to start phase I trials for the treatment and discussions are ongoing.

CAT provided an update on all of its products in its Q1 results for the period ended 31 December 2003. The most notable development was the company's decision to terminate its co-development programme with Irish pharmaceuticals group, Elan. This frees up CAT to establish new collaborations with other companies in the field of pain relief.

The stakes have risen in CAT's high court battle with Abbott over royalties for Humira, a rheumatoid arthritis treatment developed using CAT's technology. CAT announced that Abbott had increased its worldwide sales forecasts for the drug to over $700m for 2004.

Losses for the quarter decreased from £10.5m last time to £9.1m, while as a result of Genzyme's subscription of £22.9m worth of shares at the end of last year, CAT's cash position improved from £107.8m at Q3 to £115.1m.

[matthu] 12/2/2004 14:21

from The Independent:
Cambridge Antibody Technology ... Closing unchanged at 465p, its shares were held back by a "sell" note from the new broker on the block, Code Securities. Code criticised the licensing agreements CAT has signed for its Humira arthritis treatment and warned that the company might have to raise new capital if it continued to eat into its cash pile at the current rate. "With a lack of substantial news flow before the end of the year, we feel there is little reason to hold the stock at current levels," the broker said.

[matthu] 10/2/2004 03:30

from Business Scotsman :
CAT shares suffer on mixed results of drug trial
JAMES ASHTON

MIXED results from a human trial of one of its experimental drugs sent shares in biotech firm Cambridge Antibody Technology off 3 per cent yesterday.

The group, which specialises in developing medicines from antibodies, said preliminary results from a Phase I/II trial showed its treatment for scleroderma, a rare disease caused by excess skin production, was safe and well tolerated. However, patients taking a placebo did not deteriorate as anticipated during the trial, and so no definitive conclusions about how well the treatment worked could be drawn.

The report took the edge off slightly narrower loss for the first-quarter of its fiscal year. CAT shares dipped 14.75p to 470p.

Peter Chambre, the chief executive, said CAT and its partner, Genzyme, planned to continue developing a treatment for scleroderma, though they had not yet decided whether they would specifically take forward the CAT-192 treatment to the next stage of trials.

The group made a pre-tax loss of £9.1 million in the last three months of 2003, compared with a £10.5m loss a year earlier. Cash burn was cut to £6.6m from £7.2m, leaving £115.1m in the bank.

Sam Fazeli, an industry analyst at Nomura, said the trial showed the treatment had made little progress and expected CAT and Genzyme to focus on an earlier stage medicine codenamed GC1008. He retained a "reduce" rating on the shares.

[matthu] 10/2/2004 03:28

From Times Online:
CAT

FOR all its commercial setbacks, the one thing Cambridge Antibody Technology has always been able to rely on is its science. The company may have lost out to Celltech in a takeover battle for Oxford GlycoSciences and become embroiled in a David-and-Goliath style legal battle with America's Abbott Laboratories over hundreds of millions of dollars in royalty payments, but it is also the first British biotech firm to create a blockbuster drug.Yesterday, however, CAT's science let it down when CAT-192, an antibody that is being developed to treat scleroderma, a chronic skin disease, was found to be safe but not necessarily effective. Although the results, from a phase I/II clinical trial of just 45 patients, do not mean the key development project is doomed to failure, they do mean that CAT's scientists will have to head back to the drawing board. Analysts are already suggesting that the company may now choose to focus instead on GC-1008, CAT-192's follow-on product candidate. CAT, however, insists the speculation is "premature".

CAT also faces uncertainty over Humira, a potential blockbuster treatment for rheumatoid arthritis. While Abbott, CAT's US marketing partner, recently raised its 2004 sales expectations for the drug from $500 million-plus to $700 million-plus, the legal wrangle between the two companies means CAT could receive anywhere between 2 per cent and 5.5 per cent of these sales. A court trial that will determine the dispute is still 12-18 months away.

That said, CAT's cash position remains among the healthiest of any biotech in Europe. With a market capitalisation of £192 million, CAT shares seem to be pricing in only the company's £115 million in cash and guaranteed royalties from Humira. Other products in CAT's pipeline are being ignored. Until investors get a clearer picture on CAT's prospects, especially in terms of the Abbot dispute and potential partners for Trabio, an experimental treatment for post-operative scarring in glaucoma, the shares may tread water. But they are worth holding

[matthu] 09/2/2004 18:07

Comment from the FT

CAT shares down after mixed trial results
By David Firn, Pharmaceuticals and Chemicals Correspondent
Published: February 9 2004 14:45 | Last Updated: February 9 2004 14:45

Cambridge Antibody Technology revealed mixed results from a trial of its new scleroderma treatment on Monday, but said losses were narrowing as it reported the first revenues from Humira, the arthritis treatment it developed with Abbott, the US healthcare giant.

CAT shares fell 4.7 per cent to 462p after the UK biotechnology company said the scleroderma treatment was safe and well tolerated, but proved no better at controlling the chronic, life-threatening scarring disorder than an inactive placebo treatment.

The drug, known as CAT-192, is one of the most important products in the UK biotechnology company's pipeline, and is being developed in a collaboration with Genzyme, one of the biggest biotechnology companies in the US.

Peter Chambré, CAT chief executive, said the trial had given the company enough data to design a larger proof of concept study with which to seek marketing approval of the drug. He said: "We never expected that we were going to see statistically significant evidence of efficacy. What we really wanted to see was safety, tolerability and pharmacokinetics [drug metabolism data] and we got big ticks there."

CAT also revealed it had terminated an agreement to collaborate exclusively with with Elan, the Irish biotechnology company, on pain and central nervous system treatments. Mr Chambré said the break was part of an effort to focus spending on CAT's core projects, but it also freed the company to license its technology more widely in the areas that had been covered by the Elan agreement.

Pre-tax losses for the three months to December 31 fell from £10.5m ($19m) to £9.1m as turnover rose 171 per cent to £3.8m.

Revenues from Humira were £700,000 on sales of $83m during the three months to June 30 last year - the period covered by the royalty payment. Mr Chambré said Humira royalties would rise significantly during 2004, despite the fact that the two companies remain locked in a legal dispute over the level of payments Abbott, which markets the drug, should make to CAT. "We are starting to see the benefit of Humira flowing to the bottom line, albeit not at the level we expected," he said.

Sales of Humira are forecast to rise from $200m in the second half of 2003 to $700m for the whole of 2004.

Comment

CAT is not going to turn a profit any time soon, but Mr Chambré has been doing a good job of rebalancing the risk/reward profile since he took over as chief executive two years ago. The cash balance is up at £115.1m - or 282p a share - following the sale of a stake to Genzyme. That should give CAT enough cash for three years more research and development.

Spending is being more tightly focused on key projects: Trabio, a glaucoma treatment which is doing well in clinical trials; CAT-192, which is doing fairly well; and an asthma treatment due to begin human testing later this year. Cannacord, the Canadian bank, says the minimum level of Humira royalties is worth 169p a share, so investors are buying the upside potential of a portfolio of experimental drugs for about 10p-a-share.

[waldron] 09/2/2004 07:53

LONDON (AFX) - Cambridge Antibody Technology Group PLC announced a narrowing
in pretax losses for the first quarter to Dec 31 2003, as it revealed promising
results from Phase I/II trials of CAT-192, in patients suffering from diffuse
systemic sclerosis.
At the same time, the UK biotech group said that it has restructured its
co-development agreement with Amgen and terminated one with Elan Corp Plc, in
the fields of neurology and pain.
CAT said that legal proceedings started against Abbot Biotechnology Ltd and
Abbott GmbH in November 2003 in the High Court in London are continuing.
These concern royalty payments for its rheumatoid arthritis treatment
Humira, which has been approved in the EU and US.
Abbott hasraised its sales expectations for 2004 to more than 700 mln usd.
Q1 pretax losses narrowed to 9.0 mln stg from 10.5 mln stg in the same
period of last year, as sales rose to 3.8 mln stg from 1.4 mln.
Net cash and liquid resources increased to 115.1 mln stg at 31 Dec 2003
from 107.8 mln at 30 Sept 2003.
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