BEARS
1. Ergo Science Corp.

By Gregg Krupa, Globe Staff, 05/18/99

hese days at Ergo Science there is a lot of discussion about ''evaluating options.''

Investors seem to know that. In November, when the Food and Drug Administration rejected the company's diabetes drug Ergoset, 1.7 million shares of the stock were traded - 23 times the daily average in the previous three months.

The stock fell from 15 1/16 to 1 21/32.

For the year ending March 31, Ergo Science's stock fell 91.7 percent to 11/4. The company leads the list of bears in this year's Globe 100.

The rejection of Ergoset has weighed heavily on the minds of both investors and executives at the Charlestown company.

In November, Ergo president and chief executive Ronald Abrahams said: ''We will be evaluating our options.'' Twenty-two days later, on Dec. 16, one of those options was exercised: Ergo cut its 60-person work force in half.

By January, Abrahams was out the door, announcing his retirement. David R. Burt, a vice president at the firm, replaced him.

Another blow: Johnson & Johnson eventually terminated its collaborative agreement with Ergo Science to develop Ergoset. The 7-year-old company had worked with Johnson & Johnson since February 1998 on the drug, which was intended for use in the treatment of adult onset diabetes and obesity.

Ergo Science has decided to exercise another of its options. It is currently pursuing an appeal of the FDA's rejection.

This story ran on page D22 of the Boston Globe on 05/18/99.
© Copyright 1999 Globe Newspaper Company.