Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2002. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2002. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Reuters NewMedia - Tuesday, December 03, 2002
"There is no new guidance. There is nothing to correct here. There is no new information. It is just speculation," a Roche spokesman said when asked about the rumours that had weighed on Roche equity.
"We are waiting for batches (of Fuzeon) to be evaluated so we can give clearer guidance for 2003, but this is still to come.
We expect this either somewhat later this month or early January and this will allow us to calulate how many patients can be provided with the drug," he said.
Roche certificates fell 2.6 percent to 104.50 Swiss francs by 1425 GMT, underperforming Swiss blue chips .SSMI and the DJ Stoxx healthcare index .SXDP .
Large-scale manufacturing of the drug, formerly known as T20, is under way to try to meet high demand for the product when it is approved, probably in the first quarter of next year.
Patient groups and AIDS activists have been clamouring for access to the injectable drug which offers hope when people become resistant to existing antiretroviral therapies.
Fuzeon is the first of a new class of antiretroviral drugs called "fusion inhibitors". Unlike existing anti-HIV drugs that work inside the cell, it is designed to block HIV from entering healthy human immune cells.
The drug is difficult to make and earlier this year Roche said it would have to ration supplies initially.
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