By Frances Bishopp

Staff Writer

The Liposome Co., whose stock plummeted 61 percent Wednesday, joined a disappointed group of biotech companies this week with the report of its Phase III clinical trial failure of Ventus, for the treatment of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS).

Cambridge NeuroScience Inc., of Cambridge, Mass., and partner Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH, of Ingelheim, Germany, suspended enrollment in a Phase III stroke trial of lead product Cerestat when an interim analysis raised safety questions. (See BioWorld Today, June 25, 1997, p. 1.)

On the same day, IDEC Pharmaceuticals Corp., of San Diego, and SmithKline Beecham plc, of London, suspended the rheumatoid arthritis clinical trial of IDEC-CE9.1/SB-210396, one of IDEC's primatized monoclonal antibodies, due to CD4 cell depletion occurring in approximately one-third of the patients. (See BioWorld Today, June 25, 1997, p. 1.)

Liposome's stock (NASDAQ:LIPO) closed Wednesday at $9.56, down $15.25.

Ventus, a liposomal prostaglandin E, in a two-armed, placebo-controlled trial, showed no significant difference between patients receiving the product and those receiving placebo either in reducing the time on mechanical ventilation, its primary endpoint, or in 28-day mortality, a secondary endpoint.

No safety issues were identified in the trial, which had enrolled approximately 350 patients.

Brooks Boveroux, vice president of Liposome, told BioWorld Today the Princeton, N.J.-based company will continue to evaluate the results of the study to see where Ventus could play a role in the future in ARDS.

Also ongoing, Boveroux said, are three other studies of Ventus: a European study in ARDS with a different dosing regimen, a U.S. Phase II study for acute myocardial infarction and a pilot Phase II for cystic fibrosis in the U.K.

Liposome markets Abelcet (Amphotericin B Lipid Complex Injection) in the U.S. and other countries for the treatment of severe systemic fungal infections. The product brought the company approximately $53 million in sales last year.

"We are different, if not unique," Boveroux said, "in that we are one of the very few biotechnology companies with a product on the market. This is not a one-product company."

Peter Drake, an analyst with Vector Securities International Inc., of Deerfield, Ill., said he anticipates Abelcet to be under intense pressure upon the approval of Ambisome in the near term. Ambisome (liposome amphotericin B), for treatment of systemic, or blood-borne, fungal infections, is made by NeXstar Inc., of Boulder, Colo.

"We believe that Ambisome will be approved with a broader label than Abelcet, which will be attractive to providers and pharmacy benefit managers, and that Ambisome will more likely be the product of choice in sole source contracts," Drake said.

"In markets where both Ambisome and Abelcet compete, Ambisome appears to be winning the sales and marketing battle," Drake added.

Alex Zisson, an analyst with Hambrecht & Quist Inc., of New York, said while it looks like a "long shot" that Ventus will ever hit the market, Abelcet in the U.S. will have a substantial head start over Ambisome, which, in Zisson's opinion, will allow Liposome to keep its dominant market share.

Liposome also has TLC D-99, in Phase III clinical trials for metastatic breast cancer, and TLC ELL-12, a cancer therapeutic that is in preclinical testing, for which Liposome expects to file an investigational new drug application in 1998.

In April, Ross Financial Corp., a Cayman Island investment company, purchased 1 million shares of Liposome stock at $20.875, bringing the company approximately $21 million. Liposome, as of March 31, 1997, had approximately $60 million in cash, Boveroux said, with adjustments made for the Ross Financial financing.