Feuerstein's Biotech Mailbag

Welcome to the "biotech mailbag." I get a lot of great reader email and feedback -- keep the email coming -- which I try hard to answer directly. But often, there are questions asked or issues raised that could benefit a wider audience.

So consider this weekly column a chance to ask me questions about biotech or take me to task for something I wrote. I'll pick the best of the mail and address it here. Now, off to the mailbag.

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This week's topics include Exelixis(EXEL), new hepatitis C drugs, Introgen Therapeutics(INGN) and Alzheimer's. Let's get to it.

Reader F.M. raps me on the knuckles for writing about Lexicon Genetics(LEXG) in last week's mailbag. He thinks I should focus instead on Exelixis. "Its platform technology in small molecules is powerful, multiple pharma collaborations, and Genentech(DNA) just paid $40 million for ... one molecule," he says.

I like Exelixis for all the reasons F.M. states. The company's pipeline of targeted cancer drugs is deep -- 11 compounds in or near clinical development, including four drugs in phase II trials. Another three drugs should be entering clinical development in 2007. All the drugs are designed to interrupt multiple signaling pathways that cause tumors to grow. Many of these drug targets have been validated by drugs currently on the market.