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UPDATE: Poniard Shares Boosted By Excitement Over Cancer Drug

NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--Poniard Pharmaceuticals Inc. (PARD) shares
jumped as much as 14% Friday before paring back to more modest gains,
as analysts said there has been increasing excitement about the
biotechnology company's lead drug, picoplatin.

The stock has made gains this week after the company, which focuses
on oncology, on Sunday presented positive Phase II data on picoplatin
for the treatment of colorectal and prostate cancer. The presentation,
which was made at an American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting,
showed the drug's efficacy and superior safety profile, analysts said.

Investors are also excited about the upcoming results of Phase III
trials for the drug in the treatment of small-cell lung cancer,
analysts said.

Chairman and Chief Executive Jerry McMahon told Dow Jones Newswires
Friday that those results are expected to be released in the third
quarter. Poniard hopes to commercialize this indication of picoplatin
next year, he said.

Shares of Poniard, which have nearly tripled since the beginning of
the year, gained 2.6% to $4.81 in recent trading, after earlier rising
as high as $5.35. Investors have been particularly interested in the
stock this week, sending shares up to a 52-week high of $5.50 on
Tuesday.

Also boosting the shares Friday was a large price-target increase
by Wedbush Morgan's Gregory Wade, who raised his target on the stock to
$15 from $6. Wade cited the positive Phase II data from Sunday and the
progression of the Phase III studies on picoplatin.

Canaccord Adams analyst George Farmer pinned Poniard's recent share
gains on Sunday's data. He also said his firm has been bringing
Poniard's management team to meetings with institutional investors in
recent days, adding that the company had a high-profile meeting in
Boston on Thursday. Farmer said these meetings could be positively
affecting the stock, but he declined to name the institutional
investors involved.

Rodman & Renshaw analyst Simos Simeonidis said Sunday's
presentation was very well attended by big investors and has raised the
profile of picoplatin. He raised his price target on the stock to $15
from $10 on Monday.

Simeonidis said he likes that the drug has the potential to be used
in multiple solid tumors. He also said he likes that the company is led
by "a sophisticated and experienced management team."

Analysts have mixed outlooks on whether the company will secure a
worldwide partner for picoplatin before or after it releases the Phase
III small-cell lung cancer data.

Poniard's McMahon said Sunday's conference demonstrated the
potential for picoplatin to treat multiple forms of cancer, and if that
value is recognized by a potential partner, Poniard will consummate a
deal as quickly as possible.

However, he noted that it is more likely that the full value of
picoplatin will be recognized after the small-cell lung cancer data is
released. Poniard wants the deal to happen quickly so that it can have
the capital to continue trials on the drug for the treatment of a
variety of cancers, McMahon said.

"We think this product is really too big for a company as small as we are," McMahon said.

Picoplatin is a platinum-based cancer therapy. Platinum therapies
are a class of chemotherapy drugs oncologists use to treat an array of
cancers. Picoplatin is designed to be safer than existing therapies in
this class of drugs and to overcome the resistance some patients have
developed to platinums.

-By Jennifer Hoyt Cummings, Dow Jones Newswires; 201-938-2474; j******@dowjones.com

LINK: http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20090605-710807.html