Ariad Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (ARIA)

Outstanding cancer drug pipeline, with two drugs in multiple cancer indications, one in phase III, which treats advanced sarcomas, where no new treatment has become available in 25 years, and with interm results due at the end of 2008. Up to $1 billion in financial obligations has been provided (based on milestone achievements) to ARIAD by Merck, so essentially Merck is funding Ariad's pipline development for one of their drugs (Defro). The foundation of their drug pipeline is the mTOR inhibitor, which other drug companies have approved products in use presently, which implies the chance of approval by the FDA is great do to the existing mTOR drugs already approved. A new small molecule compound will be revealed at the end of the year, bringing the total number of compounds to three, in many different cancer indications. And, most importantly, Ariad has kept the rights to sell their drugs in the USA, so they plan to be a stand alone oncology company, booking sales and profits. Merck will sell and book one of the drugs (Deformulis- sp) outside of the USA. Ariad still has the opportunity to partner with the other two compounds in development.