Subject: Vestar Stock Falls 26% Following FDA Panel's Ruling on Drug
Date: Published: 6/18/93 (29 lines)
Source: Wall Street Journal. Copyright Dow Jones & Co. Inc.

    Technology Brief --  Vestar Inc.:
    Stock Falls 26% Following
    FDA Panel's Ruling on Drug

    Vestar Inc. shares plunged 26% after a Food and Drug
 Administration committee failed to recommend the company's DaunoXome
 drug as a treatment for Kaposi's sarcoma, a form of cancer that
 afflicts AIDS patients.
    In national over-the-counter trading, Vestar closed at $8.125,
 down $2.875.  Nearly 416,000 shares changed hands, more than nine
 times the average daily volume.
    The Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee voted to recommend against
 approval of DaunoXome, saying that data were insufficient to show
 benefit to patients.  Such recommendations aren't binding but are
 almost always followed by the FDA.  
    The vote "doesn't mean that DaunoXome is dead and buried," said
 Michael E. Hart, Vestar chief financial officer.  "We believe it is
 an effective and safe therapy for patients with advanced K. S. and we
 intend to pursue approval in the future."
    Vestar's request for approval of the drug was filed in February.

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