VION

[stock-kitty]

Nice technical break-out today 

Cheers

[comovaivoce]

Last Trade AH: $2.15

VION WAS AMONG THE TOP 5 NASDAQ LARGEST PERCENT GAINERS TODAY ON 5 TIMES THE AVERAGE TRADING VOLUME.

http://stockcharts.com/charts/gallery.html?vion

TARGET: $$6+ BY YEAR END


VION's RECENT SIGNIFICANT DEVELOPMENTS (AND SOME OF THE CLUES FOR TODAY'S GAINS):

- APRIL 11, 2007. ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE HIRING OF AN INDUSTRY VETERAN TO LEAD VION's COMMERCIALIZATION EFFORTS (HINT: I beleve they anticipate FDA approval).

http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/070411/nyw017.html?.v=93

- APRIL 23, 2007. ANNOUNEMENT THAT VION WILL PRESENT AT FORTIS BIOTECHNOLOGY CONFERENCE ON APRIL 25, 2007.

http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/070423/nym011.html?.v=83

- 4 ANALYSTS COVERING THE STOCK CURRENTLY HAVE AN AVERAGE PRICE TARGET OF $4.5

http://finance.yahoo.com/q/ao?s=VION

- VION's MARKET CAP IS ONLY $145M

- VION HAS $31 IN CASH AND NO LONG-TERM DEBT

http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bs?s=VION&annual

- HEAVY INSIDER BUYING

http://finance.yahoo.com/q/it?s=VION


The April 11, 2007 announcement of the hiring of Dr. James Tanguay, Ph.D. as the Company's senior management team as Vice President, Chemistry, Manufacturing & Control, and heavy recent insider buying suggest that VION is anticipating that the FDA will approve its  Cloretazine® (VNP40101M) drug candidate which is in late-stage clinical trials for the treatment of acute myelogenous leukemia.

The key paragraphs of that announcement follow:

Dr. Tanguay was formerly Vice President, Technical Operations at Kos Pharmaceuticals, acquired by Abbott Laboratories in 2006 for $3.7 billion. From 2003 until recently, he was responsible for strategic planning and administration of all domestic and international commercial manufacturing, testing and distribution. In 2005, Kos Pharmaceuticals reported net sales of over $725 million from multiple products.

Alan Kessman, Chief Executive Officer said, "We are extremely pleased to have Jim Tanguay joining Vion to lead our manufacturing operations. His experience helping build Kos Pharmaceuticals through the initial commercialization of its products, and until its eventual sale to Abbott Laboratories, will be directly applicable to what we are trying to accomplish at Vion."

Dr. Tanguay commented, "I am excited to be joining a company which has a novel cytotoxic agent like Cloretazine® (VNP40101M) in late-stage clinical trials for the treatment of acute myelogenous leukemia. Furthermore, Vion has a number of other interesting anticancer products in various stages of development." He concluded, "I look forward to working with the whole team at Vion to bring new anticancer products to market with the goal of improving the treatment of cancer patients worldwide."


About VION:

Vion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is committed to extending the lives and improving the quality of life of cancer patients worldwide by developing and commercializing innovative cancer therapeutics. Vion has two agents in clinical trials. Cloretazine® (VNP40101M), a unique alkylating agent, is being evaluated in: (i) a Phase III trial in combination with cytarabine in relapsed acute myelogenous leukemia and (ii) a Phase II pivotal trial as a single agent in elderly patients with previously untreated de novo poor-risk acute myelogenous leukemia. An additional trial of Cloretazine® (VNP40101M) as a single agent in small cell lung cancer is also underway. Triapine®, a potent inhibitor of a key step in DNA synthesis, is being evaluated in clinical trials sponsored by the National Cancer Institute. In preclinical studies, Vion is also evaluating VNP40541, a hypoxia-selective compound, and hydrazone compounds. The Company also is seeking development partners for TAPET®, its modified Salmonella vector used to deliver anticancer agents directly to tumors. For additional information on Vion and its product development programs, visit the Company's Internet web site at http://www.vionpharm.com.[/QUOTE]

[stock-kitty]

In case you haven't seen it, there is an existing VION topic right underneath yours. 

[stock-kitty]

Sweet PM activity 


Cheers

[setravis]

"VION" Threads have been Merged.
Please use the search before starting new threads on a Stock Pick.
Chances are a thread already exist.
So why not post whatever you have to comment about on that pick to that thread.
"Simplicity" My fellow traders.                                                 
All history on a stock pick in 1 thread is awesome.                                              
Just trying to get threads together,so we don't have a numerous amount floating around on the same stock.                                   
Thank You....and good luck with all your trades....make some $$$            

[stock-kitty]

Indeed it is much easier when doing research. 

Thank you, set


Cheers

[stock-kitty]

VION is a buy and hold, but you want to trade the stock I'd suggest you keep a core position in it.

Cheers

[m2machine]

Stock-kitty

I agree with you 100%. I am not selling one share until VION gets FDA approval for Clorezantine to cure Leukemia. Response rates at high as 50% are unheard of. THe FDA hass approved many drugs for leukemia with that response rate. Furthermore, Clorezantine has an excellent safety profile. VION in a few months will be a double-digit stock IMO.

[m2machine]

Lots of talk about VION's volume and price action today. Some believe that some results of VION's Phase 2 small-cell lung cancer trials be presented in June1 at the ASCO annual meeting might have leaked. Apparently this has been happening lately and it is affecting the stocks involved positively and negatively.

http://www.thestreet.com/_yahoo/newsanalysis/biotech/10357592.html?cm_ven=YAHOO&cm_cat=FREE&cm_ite=NA


It is very possible that the results of Cloretazine are indeed positive and consistent with Phase I results in terms of safety and effectiveness.

Her is one of the commentaries on today's surprising rally:

http://biohealthinvestor.com/2007/05/biowatch-alert-vion-jumps-on-strong.html

[njshiva]

Vion Crushed After Study Halted

Vion Pharmaceuticals (VION - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr - Rating) plummeted 56% Wednesday morning after it announced that a late-stage trial for the leukemia drug Cloretazine has been suspended.
The company halted enrollment and further treatment in the Phase III trial of Cloretazine, which is used for patients with relapsed adult myelogenous leukemia, on the recommendation of the study's Data Safety Monitoring Board.

After an interim analysis, the board felt the advantage of the treatment could be compromised by the mortality rate observed in the study.

"There will be a thorough analysis of all the data to date from this trial, and we will base any decision on the continuation, possible modification or termination of the study on the available data," said Chief Executive Alan Kessman.

Vion's shares plunged $1.10, to 91 cents, in premarket trading.

[stock-kitty]

OUCH!!!!!

This came very unexpectedly but that is the risk with biotech companies...

[m2machine]

Yes indeed. But like i said before. I am a long-term VION investor. This is a temporary setback as the CEO said yesterday. Furthermore, VION made the decision to Halt Phase 3 upon further review of the data. ...it was not mandated by the FDA. And it was not stopped either.

I expect a bounce going into ASCO.

[stock-kitty]

That's how I view it too, as a temporary setback. There is still the phase II (also for AML) and of course the day VION announces the restart of the phase III trial with renewed data, the PPS should move back up to where it was before the crash.
The fact that they have double checked should give investors even more confidance that the company has made the right decision at this point in time and that they have acted with the best interest.


Cheers

[m2machine]

VION management did the right thing by announcing the Phase III halt before ASCO. Otherwise,  VION would steam roll heading into the conference (because there are already indications that the data they will present will be excellent) and it would lilely explode clear into the $3+ area. Had the company dropped the bomb after ASCO, they would be hit with many lawsuits and be considered as pumper/dumpers etc.

Since VION is now so oversold, has $1/share cash, a significant cancer drug pipeline (not including the halted program), and is about to present great data on 2 clinical studies at ASCO, I expect a 50 - 70% bounce within 2 weeks.

I also believe that VION, upon careful review, will be given the green light to resume the Phase II programs...maybe with some changes here and there. VION management believes  Cloretazine by itself has an excellent long-term safety profile, and that's what I've herd through friends that work at M. D. Anderson hospital in Houston.

Right now trading is being controlled by hedge funds and skillful MMs.  After they accomplished their objectives (steal shares from impatient and fearful retail investors) they will be the catalyst for the inevitable bounce.

BTW, there was a trade of 1.6M shares AH yesterday.

Cheeers!

[m2machine]

HEADS UP...THIS COULD BE SIGNIFICANT FOR VION....

NOTE: THESE CLINICAL RESULTS WILL BE PUBLISHED IN JUNE, 2007...THIS IS UNRELATED TO VION's 2 ASCO PRESENTATIONS NEXT WEEK.

Cancer Chemotherapy and Pharmacology-. 2007 Jun;60(1):45-51.

Anti-tumor efficacy of Cloretazine (VNP40101M) alone and in combination with fludarabine in murine tumor and human xenograft tumor models.

* Zheng LM,
* Li Z,
* Liu L,
* Song BL,
* King I.

Vion Pharmaceutical, Inc., 4 Science Park, New Haven, CT, 06511, USA, [email protected].

Cloretazine (VNP40101M), a new sulfonylhydrazine alkylating agent, has demonstrated broad-spectrum anti-tumor activity in preclinical studies.

In this study, Cloretazine was evaluated both as a monotherapy and in combination with fludarabine in murine tumor and human tumor xenograft models. Cloretazine significantly inhibited the growth of subcutaneously implanted tumors, including B16F10 murine melanoma in C57BL/6 mice, and H460 human lung carcinoma and WiDr human colon carcinoma in athymic nude CD1 mice.

The inhibition of tumor growth by Cloretazine was dose dependent, increasing from 42.2 to 87% as the dose escalated from 100 to 150 mg/kg. Cloretazine showed equivalent efficacy but lower toxicity compared to cyclophosphamide (Cytoxan) in these models.

The combination therapy, consisting of a single dose of 10 mg/kg Cloretazine plus five doses of 70 mg/kg fludarabine, given every other day intraperitoneally, significantly increased the long-term survival of BDF1 mice bearing the L1210 murine leukemia.

On Day 65 post-tumor implantation, the combination therapy yielded a 90% survival rate compared to 40% for Cloretazine alone and 0% for fludarabine alone.

Read again..."90% survival rate"....and ..."equivalent efficacy but lower toxicity compared to cyclophosphamide (Cytoxan) in these models."

Here is the link:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=pubmed&cmd=Retrieve&dopt=AbstractPlus&list_uids=17256135&query_hl=5&itool=pubmed_docsum

I believe that these developments are even more significant than the ASCO results that will be published next week.

This study says that VION's Cloretazine is very effective in inhibiting the growth of several types of tumors ...with an excellent safety profile....if fact the study concludes that Cloretazine is more effective and less toxic than Citoxan which sells in the $$billions/year!!!