ARIAD UPDATE

This is a brief update to the post from last night.

Barclays has reduced its price target from $11 to $7 based on a report released this morning, but maintained an overweight rating. Merriman has cut Ariad to a sell. Yah I read the Barclays report but I do not have access to the one from Merriman. The Barclay's analyst says the SUCCEED data is still on track for the 1st quarter of 2010 and that partnership funding is possible for the early stage bcr:abl inhibitor. This is the one discussed in Monday's news release from Ariad that caused the pop in price that day. ARIAD Bcr-Abl Inhibitor - AP24534 Ariad was upbeat in its written earnings release about finding a partner for that drug. The Barclay's analyst views that now as a priority since Ariad has only 6 to 9 months of cash left, and a 27 million dollar milestone payment from Merck has been pushed from the 1st quarter of 2010 to some future date based on revised plans about the development of Aria's key drug ridaforolimus. The analyst did not mention specifically Merck's decision about the Phase 3 combo trial with ridaforolimus and herceptin.

Ariad is a meaningless position to me. If a transcript is made available later today of the earnings call I will read it and pass along my thoughts. Otherwise, I will just hold onto my small number of shares, wait for further information about the SUCCEED trial possibly in September, and then decide what to do. I have bigger fish to fry today.

Added 9:39 A.M. It now appears that sellers earlier this week included several funds related to or affiliated with "Biotechnology Value Fund"sc13da107422ari_07282009.htm (pages 9-10 lists the sales)