Array Seen as Top Biotech Pick for 2007

In his weekly round-up of picks and pans for the biotech sector, Banc of America analyst David Witzke on Tuesday told clients to push money into one attractive drug-maker and to ditch shares of another that he said will not outperform in the year ahead.

Boulder, Colo.-based Array BioPharma remains Witzke’s top pick for 2007 because of the company’s strong partnership potential. Array is a biopharmaceutical company concentrating on the treatment of cancer and inflammatory disease.

Witzke wrote in a client note that he recently met with management and he continues to think that the company’s drug, ARRY-543, represents a promising compound for a potential partnership or acquisition.

“We believe ARRY-543…could be an attractive target for large pharma or major biotech to partner in 2007 based on its potential to become a best-in-class compound,” Witzke wrote.

The analyst said that preclinical data recently suggested that the drug appears superior to GlaxoSmithKline’s Tykerb, allowing greater drug absorption and potentially greater potency, while decreasing the negative gastrointestinal side-effects.



.....The huge market of breast cancer drugs continues to make headway with ARRY-543. It specifically targets the family of epidermal growth factor receptors Her2/ErbB2 and EGFR. Unlike monoclonal antibody therapy, like herceptin, ARRY is a small molecule kinase inhibitor:

ErbB-2 is a receptor kinase target that has been found to be over-expressed in human breast and other cancers. Herceptin is an IV-dosed protein therapeutic currently on the market that modulates ErbB-2. EGFR is also a receptor kinase target that has been found to be over-expressed in numerous human cancers. ARRY's mechanism of action is as a reversible ATP-competitive inhibitor with nanomolar potency both in vitro and in cell-based proliferation assays. In preclinical models, ARRY-543 demonstrated significant dose related tumor growth inhibition when administered orally. ARRY-543 has demonstrated enhanced efficacy in certain preclinical models when compared to Herceptin, Tarceva or Iressa.


NASDAQ: ARRY closed today's trading down 5 cents per share at 12.89.