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Rigel Pharmaceuticals shares soar

NEW YORK (AP) — Rigel Pharmaceuticals Inc. shares surged Thursday to their highest point in two years after the company stunned Wall Street with positive study results for its rheumatoid arthritis drug candidate.

The stock more than tripled in value, gaining $17.95 to reach $25.95 Thursday while volume skyrocketed. Shares reached $22.87 earlier in the trading session, its peak since November 2005.

The movement marks a sharp turnaround from nearly a month ago, when shares plunged to a new year-low after Lehman Brothers forecast that the study data on R788 would be negative.

We think the results we saw today were a very low probability, said Lehman Brothers analyst Ajim Tamboli in an interview with the Associated Press. Clearly, the results were much better than most people expected.

Rigel probably now has the lead position in terms of developing an oral drug for rheumatoid arthritis, he said.

R788, or tamatinib fosdium, will likely enter another midstage study before moving onto a larger late-stage clinical trial. If it is eventually approved, it will enter an already competitive market, but its oral dosing regimen may help win a sizable share of the more than 2 million Americans suffering with the debilitating chronic inflammatory disease.

Rituxan, which is made by Biogen Idec Inc. and Genentech Inc., had sales of $572 million during the third quarter. That drug, delivered by infusion, is also approved to treat non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Abbott Laboratories’ injectible drug Humira, which is approved for rheumatoid arthritis and several other conditions, had sales of $803 million.

Meanwhile, several companies including Roche, Sanofi-Aventis and Johnson Johnson either are developing new rheumatoid arthritis drugs or are planning to put one in their pipelines.

Rigel is also working on an oral drug to treat autoimmune diseases, called R348, which could provide long-term value along with several other early-stage drug candidates, Tamboli has said. He reaffirmed a Equal Weight rating with a $7.25 price target, in a note to investors.

Thomas Weisel Partners analyst M. Ian Somaiya raised his price target to $32, citing R788’s potential in the market.

We expect R788 to be multibillion dollar franchise and expect a partner for Europe to be the next major driver for stock, in addition to Phase II data in lymphoma patients in 2008, he wrote in a note to investors.

The drug could be on the market by 2011, he said.

CIBC World Markets Corp. analyst Dr. Brian Abrahams reaffirmed an Overweight rating on the stock, saying the results establish clear proof of concept for the technology behind the drug candidate.

We would be buyers of Rigel given R788’s potential to become a novel oral treatment for rheumatoid arthritis and other large-market autoimmune conditions, he said, in a note to investors.

Meanwhile, Jefferies Co. analyst Dr. Adam Walsh reaffirmed a Buy rating earlier Thursday, saying the results were significantly better than Wall Street expected. E-mail to a friend

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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Winter storm roars into Northeast

COLUMBIA, Connecticut (AP) — A winter storm responsible for deaths in the Midwest blasted the Northeast on Thursday, dumping snow and sleet and clogging some of the nation’s most heavily traveled highways.

Some parts of the Northeast could receive up to a foot of snow. Schools, businesses and government agencies in Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Rhode Island and Connecticut closed early.

The resulting exodus choked highways and streets. Authorities reported hundreds of mostly minor accidents throughout the region. Some vehicles were stranded along roadways, preventing plows from getting through.

Connecticut Gov. M. Jodi Rell found herself stuck, crawling along the highway at 5-10 mph for two hours from Suffield to Hartford in what should have been a 30-minute drive.

Stay home, she advised. Go home, prop your feet up, watch the news. Watch how downed poles blocked road

While the traffic crawled along Interstates 95, 84 and 91, it also slowed at Northeast airports.

There were delays up to three hours for arriving flights at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey, where more than 200 flights had been canceled by late afternoon, officials said.

Elsewhere, Boston’s Logan International reported more than 100 flights canceled. No major problems were reported at New York’s airports; some airlines allowed passengers to reschedule their flights for free.

The storm was blamed for 35 deaths, mostly in traffic accidents, since it developed last weekend.

In Oklahoma, about 342,000 homes and businesses still were without power Thursday, officials said. In Missouri, about 31,900 customers remained in the dark, said Al Butkus, spokesman for utility Aquila Inc.

As the Midwest continued to emerge from the darkness, hundreds of snow plow operators in the Northeast were having a tough time getting out of traffic jams.

How can you plow and put material down, when the trucks are stuck in traffic? said Doug Harris at Connecticut’s transportation department storm center.

Rell asked tractor-trailer drivers to get off highways for at least two hours to give plows room to work.

State police said portions of several highways had to be closed for a time in part because motorists abandoned their vehicles in the travel lanes.

Susan Randolph of Bolton, Connecticut, said it took her an hour to make her normal 20-minute commute from her job at the University of Connecticut in Storrs.

A lot of drivers seem to have forgotten their snow driving skills, she said.

Along the shoreline in Milford, Connecticut, sleet and hail turned the roads to sheets of ice.

Ken Johnson, who was stopped at a Milford gas station, was hoping for even more snow. The 50-year-old arborist said he relies on snow plowing for his income in the winter.

I’m waiting for the people to start calling, he said. I like the summertime; money grows on trees for me. God, let it snow more.

In Rhode Island, two dozen school districts closed early, as did companies and state agencies in Providence. The workers’ exodus and the snow choked streets in the capital city.

Traffic is at a standstill, Providence Police Sgt. Paul Zienowicz said. It’s one big traffic jam.

In Albany, New York, snowy roads slowed traffic to a crawl. People are crazy. … They’re still shopping, said Kay McIntyre, shoveling a sidewalk in suburban Colonie as cars inched into a nearby mall parking lot.

Meanwhile Thursday, crews in the Plains and Midwest worked to restore power to hundreds of thousands of people left in the dark in the storm’s ice-coated wake.

Sunshine and milder temperatures Thursday should help cleanup efforts in much of the Plains, but another winter storm approaching from the west could dump heavy snow on parts of Oklahoma on Friday. See how winter storms form

In St. Joseph in northwest Missouri, Martha Shockey and her husband, Rick, have been without electricity at their house since Tuesday morning. Utility spokesman Butkus said at least 19,500 were without electricity.

They have been using the burners on their gas stove to keep warn, except when they go out for food and propane, Shockey said on Thursday.

The only thing you can do is grin and bear it, and cope with it, and figure that it’s got to get better, she said. E-mail to a friend

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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Trade, economic issues dominate last Democrat debate before Iowa

JOHNSTON, Iowa (CNN) — Decorum dominated the final Democratic presidential debate in Iowa before the January 3 caucuses there, but contenders sought to distinguish themselves on questions of trade and economic growth.

Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York harkened back to an era of fiscal responsibility and economic growth in the 1990s, during President Clinton’s presidency. Yet she distanced herself from another of her husband’s accomplishments, the North American Free Trade Agreement of 1993.

Clinton said she would seek to review and reform NAFTA if elected and focus on smart pro-American growth.

The senator also sought to distinguish herself from Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois and former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina.

Everybody on this stage has an idea about how to get change, she said. Some believe you get change by demanding it. Some believe you get it by hoping for it. I believe you get it by working hard for change. That’s what I’ve done my entire life.

Obama also said he would review NAFTA, if elected, to address labor and environmental concerns.

Edwards said the United States should make concern about human rights a factor in trade agreements with other nations.

In addition to Clinton, Obama and Edwards, the debate included Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware, Sen. Chris Dodd of Connecticut and Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico.

The debate organizers, the Des Moines Register and Iowa Public Television, did not invite Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio or former Sen. Mike Gravel of Alaska to participate, partly because their campaigns lack offices in Iowa.

One light moment in the debate came after the moderator asked Obama how he could talk of making a break from the past while seeking advice from advisers to former President Clinton. The question prompted laughter from Hillary Clinton.

I want to hear that, she said.

The audience laughed. Obama paused.

Hillary, he said. I look forward to you advising me, as well.

The campaign trail this week tested the relationship between Clinton and Obama.

Clinton apologized to Obama Thursday after an adviser suggested that Obama’s admission of past drug use could hurt him in a general election contest against the Republican nominee. The adviser who made that remark, Bill Shaheen, resigned Thursday as co-chairman of Clinton’s New Hampshire campaign.

During the debate Thursday, Clinton, Edwards and Obama generally agreed they would seek an end to the war in Iraq, scrutinize executive orders issued by President Bush and reform the health-care system. They also pledged to wean the United States from a dependence on foreign oil.

This is a moral imperative, Obama said.

Clinton envisioned a national effort toward a new energy policy similar in scale to the Apollo program of the 1960s, which sent manned missions to the moon.

This has to call for a new form of American patriotism, she said.

Edwards continued his assault on corporate power and corporate greed, saying he would end tax cuts on the wealthiest Americans and take this country and democracy back.

Biden said he would do away with tax cuts on the wealthy, increase vehicle fuel efficiency and improve education.

Dodd referred to China as an adversary, as opposed to an economic competitor, and he called for taxing companies that pollute.

Richardson said the United States should consider economic sanctions on China, called for fuel-efficiency standards of 50 miles a gallon and said he worries that people are losing sight of Iraq as the most important issue facing the country.

With just three weeks before the crucial Iowa caucus, the Democratic race is considered wide open.

Many political observers saw Clinton as the inevitable Democratic presidential nominee a few months ago, but Obama has steadily chipped away at her lead in recent months.

In a CNN/WMUR poll conducted by the University of New Hampshire and released Wednesday, Clinton and Obama are in a statistical dead heat in New Hampshire, which will hold the nation’s first primary January 8. Clinton’s 1-point lead over Obama, 31 percent to 30 percent, is within the poll’s margin of error of 5 percentage points. Edwards came in third at 16 percent.

Recent polls also show the race tightening nationally. When the Democrats last debated in Las Vegas in November, Clinton led Obama 44 percent to 25, according to a CNN/Opinion Research poll. Now, the CNN/Opinion Research poll shows Clinton with a narrower lead nationally over Obama, 40 percent to 30 percent.
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1 acquitted, 6 to be retried, in alleged terror plot

MIAMI, Florida (CNN) — One of seven men accused of conspiring to blow up Chicago’s Sears Tower was acquitted Thursday, and a federal jury in Miami failed to reach a verdict on six others arrested in the alleged terror plot.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office announced that the six whose cases ended in mistrials would be retried starting on January 7.

Lyglenson Lemorin, who also goes by the name Brother Levi, was acquitted in the Liberty City 7 trial, U.S. District Judge Joan Leonard’s office told CNN.

The men were arrested in June 2006 and charged with a homegrown terror plot that officials said may have targeted not only the 110-story Chicago tower — the tallest building in North America — but also the FBI’s Miami offices and other sites.

At the time, sources told CNN that the suspects were dealing with a man they believed was an al Qaeda operative but who was actually a government informant. Senior federal sources told CNN that the men were not related to al Qaeda but possibly were al Qaeda wannabes.

Five of the seven men were Americans, one was an illegal alien from Haiti whose visa had expired, and the seventh was a resident alien, federal sources said.

The group’s supporters and the news media adopted the Liberty City 7 name because authorities said the men operated out of a warehouse in Miami’s Liberty City area.

A man who identified himself as Brother Corey told CNN at the time that five of the men arrested in Miami were his brothers, members of a group he identified as Seas of David.

Brother Corey said the group had soldiers in Chicago, but was peaceful and not associated with any terrorist organizations.

The warehouse where the raids took place, he said, is a place where we worship and also have businesses, as a work site, as a construction company we are trying to build up.

He said Seas of David is a religious group that blends the teachings of Christianity and Islam.
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‘Atonement’ leads Golden Globe nominations

(CNN) — Atonement, the drama based on the Ian McEwan novel about a shattered love affair, led all films with seven nominations at Thursday’s announcement for the 65th annual Golden Globes.

The Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which oversees the awards, nominated seven films in the best drama category. Aside from Atonement, the other nominees are American Gangster, Eastern Promises, The Great Debaters, Michael Clayton, No Country for Old Men and There Will Be Blood.

Atonement stars Keira Knightley and James McAvoy received nominations in lead acting categories, and co-star Saoirse Ronan earned a nomination for supporting actress. Director Joe Wright, screenwriter Christopher Hampton and composer Dario Marianelli also received nods.

Second to Atonement with five nominations was Charlie Wilson’s War, the Mike Nichols film about an American congressman who becomes immersed in the Cold War. The legal drama Michael Clayton and the Coen brothers’ coldhearted Western No Country for Old Men earned four nominations each, including a supporting actor nod for Javier Bardem, who plays a brutal killer. Watch the announcement

Ethan and Joel Cohen earned nominations for both their direction and screenplay of No Country for Old Men, based on the Cormac McCarthy novel.

Julian Schnabel (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly), Tim Burton (Sweeney Todd) and Ridley Scott (American Gangster) round out the directing category. Check out all the nominees

Working with the Coens has always been a dream of mine, and to be recognized for my work in one of their films is truly an honor. Muchas gracias to the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, Bardem said in a statement.

Along with McAvoy, George Clooney (Michael Clayton), Daniel Day-Lewis (There Will Be Blood), Viggo Mortensen (Eastern Promises) and Denzel Washington (American Gangster) received nominations for best actor in a drama.

Besides Knightley, best actress in a drama nominees included Cate Blanchett (Elizabeth: The Golden Age), Julie Christie (Away From Her), Jodie Foster (The Brave One) and Angelina Jolie (A Mighty Heart). Watch how star power is driving the Globes

Blanchett also was nominated for best supporting actress for her turn as a version of Bob Dylan in I’m Not There.

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, based on the Tony Award-winning musical by Stephen Sondheim, earned nominations for best comedy or musical, for director Burton and its two leads, Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter.

Other nominees for best comedy or musical are Across the Universe, Charlie Wilson’s War, Hairspray and Juno.

Ryan Gosling (Lars and the Real Girl), Tom Hanks (Charlie Wilson’s War), Philip Seymour Hoffman (The Savages) and John C. Reilly (Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story) also earned lead acting nominations for a comedy or musical.

The other nominees for best actress in a comedy/musical are Amy Adams (Enchanted), Nikki Blonsky (Hairspray), Marion Cotillard (La Vie en Rose) and Ellen Page (Juno).

Hoffman received a best supporting actor nomination as well, for Charlie Wilson’s War.

Many nominees were, of course, thrilled.

I’m going to work at 8 a.m. with Mr. Clint Eastwood and Angelina Jolie, so maybe Angelina and I will have a holler and a hoot together, Amy Ryan, nominated for supporting actress for Gone Baby Gone, told The Associated Press.

The Globes are often considered a forecaster for the Academy Awards. In this light, Atonement, which was released nationally last week, has received a boost.

However, the Globes also ignored a number of films and performers considered strong Oscar possibilities, including Tommy Lee Jones (for both No Country and In the Valley of Elah), Sean Penn and Emile Hirsch (director and star of Into the Wild) and The Kite Runner. The latter, which is getting a big awards push, opens Friday.

The Oscar nominations will be announced January 22; the awards are scheduled for February 24.

The Globes also honor television programs. Among the leading nominees: Damages, with four nominations; 30 Rock, with three nominations; and the new show Pushing Daisies, also with three nods.

One award is certain: Steven Spielberg will receive the Cecil B. DeMille Award for his outstanding contribution to the entertainment field from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, the Globes organization.

The press association, which votes for the awards, is a group of about 85 people who cover film for international and overseas organizations.

The strike by the Writers Guild of America, whose members walked off the job in November over a variety of issues, including Internet revenues, may complicate the awards broadcast. Many awards shows are written under guild contract, and the Globes may need dispensation to use writers for the show. Watch how the strike could complicate matters

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the HFPA is considering telling stars, who might be reluctant to cross the writers’ picket line, to support the strike by coming to the Globes and perhaps speak out in favor of the writers on the show.

The Globes are scheduled to be awarded January 13 at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, California.
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