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Trubion shares fall after rheumatoid athritis drug data

Tue Sep 11, 2007 2:15pm EDT

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Sept 11 (Reuters) - Shares of Trubion Pharmaceutical Inc (TRBN.O) plunged more than 30 percent Tuesday, a day after the company said it may need another mid-stage trial of its rheumatoid athritis (RA) drug despite positive results in the current one.

Morgan Stanley analyst Steven Harr said the need for an additional mid-stage study will likely pressure near-term drug and stock outlooks.

Trubion said a second mid-stage trial of the drug, TRU-015, showed significant improvement on the Disease Activity Score, a measure of activity of rhuematoid arthritis. But the company added that additional clinical studies will be needed before starting late-stage trials.

"Trubion is not disclosing the reasons for additional studies, but we expect the companies will explore additional dosing frequencies to optimize efficacy," Harr wrote in a note to clients. He has an "overweight" rating on the stock.

Trubion is co-developing TRU-015 with a unit of Wyeth WYE.N.

Lazard Capital Markets analyst Joel Sendek said some of the data related to the secondary goal of the trial were not as impressive as earlier results. He downgraded the stock to "hold" from "buy".

Morgan Stanley's Harr delayed his estimate on the U.S. launch of TRU-015 to 2011 from 2010, while Lazard's Sendek pushed his forecast for a U.S. launch to mid-2012 from between early 2011 and mid 2012.

Shares of Seattle-based Trubion were trading down $5.87 at $13.20 in afternoon trade on the Nasdaq.

(Reporting by Aradhana Aravindan in Bangalore)

((Editing by Pratish Narayanan; Reuters Messaging: aradhana.aravindan.reuters.com@reuters.net; within U.S. +1 646 223 8780; outside U.S. +91 80 4135 5800)) Keywords: TRUBION SHARES/

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