Immune Response Stock Price Drops after Publication of AIDS Vaccine Study

Shares of the Immune Response Corporation dropped 24% yesterday, after a study was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association indicating that the company's lead drug Remune was ineffective in preventing the onset of AIDS, Bloomberg News/Los Angeles Times reports. Traded on the Nasdaq, share prices fell as low as $3.88 before climbing back to close at $4.63, a drop of $1.44 for the day. The company had filed for binding arbitration to prevent the study results from being published, and is now seeking $7 million to $10 million in damages from lead author Dr. James Kahn of the University of California-San Francisco. Regarding the recent study, Darren Mac, an analyst with Gruntal and Co. said, "Obviously, there is a controversy brewing. The main finding of this study differs from what Immune Response and other investigators have found concerning the virological efficacy of Remune." Remune is the drug "furthest along" in development at the company, which currently has no drugs on the market (Bloomberg News/Los Angeles Times, 11/2).