Takeover Is Rx For tPA Blues At Genentech

Analysts say the Roche deal blunts the impact of a report in which the firm's top product fares poorly against its competition Genentech took it on the chin last month when a massive study by Italian scientists found that tPA, tissue plasminogen activator, was no more effective in treating heart attacks than streptokinase, a bacterial enzyme that costs one tenth as much. But the stock price of the South San Francisco, Calif., company, which manufactures the drug, hardly budged. Although tPA i

Lisa Bain

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Analysts say the Roche deal blunts the impact of a report in which the firm's top product fares poorly against its competition

Genentech took it on the chin last month when a massive study by Italian scientists found that tPA, tissue plasminogen activator, was no more effective in treating heart attacks than streptokinase, a bacterial enzyme that costs one tenth as much.

But the stock price of the South San Francisco, Calif., company, which manufactures the drug, hardly budged. Although tPA is Genen-tech's leading product, accounting for $196 million of the company's $319 million total sales in 1989, Wall Street responded to the announcement with a mere $1.125 per share drop in stock price, closing that day at $26.125. Over the next few days, the stock held fairly steady, registering a total loss of about 2 1/2 points.

Wall Street's relatively weak reaction to the tPA announcement is viewed by ...

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