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- <text id=90TT2137>
- <title>
- Aug. 13, 1990: Business Notes:Pharmaceuticals
- </title>
- <history>
- TIME--The Weekly Newsmagazine--1990
- Aug. 13, 1990 Iraq On The March
- </history>
- <article>
- <source>Time Magazine</source>
- <hdr>
- BUSINESS, Page 57
- Business Notes
- PHARMACEUTICALS
- The Miracle Is Missing
- </hdr>
- <body>
- <p> Just three years ago, Interleukin-2 was hailed as a
- breakthrough treatment for kidney cancer. Cetus, the California
- biotechnology company that developed the drug, hoped it would
- become the firm's first real moneymaker. That hope was dashed
- last week when the Food and Drug Administration declined to
- give the drug approval for widespread use until more thorough
- research is conducted. While IL-2 shrinks tumors in some
- patients, researchers contend that the drug can also trigger
- cardiac arrest and other serious complications. Cetus last
- month suspended clinical trials of IL-2 as a treatment for high
- blood pressure when findings proved inconclusive. After
- investing more than $100 million to develop the drug, Cetus now
- faces a battle to prove its value. In the past three weeks, the
- firm's stock has plunged from 20 1/2 to 10 5/8.
- </p>
-
- </body>
- </article>
- </text>
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