Connetics looks toward profits

In August 1997, investors fled Connetics Corp. stock after the company's Phase III trial of gamma interferon failed to show efficacy in atopic dermatitis, sending the stock down 47 percent to $5.062.

The company said at the time that the compound was not a prerequisite to its success and has continued building its portfolio of dermatology and rheumatology products - which investors can buy for modestly more, as the stock closed Friday at $6.625. And if all goes as planned, CNCT could join the ranks of profitable biotech companies by 2000...