Clipmarks | Biotech Clips

Biotech Buzz Kills

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 18:14:59 GMT

clipped by: Matthew Herper
clipper's remarks: Adam Feuerstein over at TheStreet.com always has smart things to say about biotech stocks. In his column today, he makes both Onyxx, which has a big-selling cancer drug, and Exelixis, which is testing cancer drugs, sound very risky.

With the markets a mess, it's hard to see how the extremely risky world of cash-hungry biotechs is going to appeal to investors.

Clip Source: www.thestreet.com

Onyx started the year at $55, so the performance of the stock is even worse than Kent describes.

Here's what's happening: Nexavar is a very good cancer drug, but most of the sales growth in liver cancer (and to a much lesser extent, kidney cancer) is coming from Europe and Asia. That's a problem because Onyx doesn't seem to have very good visibility into those markets, especially Asia.

Clip Source: www.thestreet.com

Exelixis closed trading Thursday at $3.62. That $1 billion market cap has been whittled down to under $400 million.

Clip Source: www.thestreet.com

Exelixis turned out to be an expensive stock with an early-stage pipeline. The company has a voracious and never-ending appetite for cash. And that pile of promising cancer drugs in the portfolio, far from being a "cushion from failure," has actually been a hindrance to intelligent clinical development.

Exelixis has too many drugs in the hopper, to the point that nothing is getting done quickly enough.

Senecavirus Structure Revealed

Thu, 09 Oct 2008 17:31:33 GMT

clipped by: hitchhiker08

Clip Source: www.scientificblogging.com

Senecavirus Structure Revealed (Oh, And It Still Kills Cancer Cells 10,000 Times Better Than Traditional Chemotherapeutics)

The Senecavirus is a "new" virus, discovered several years ago by Neotropix Inc., a biotech company in Malvern, Pennsylvania. It was at first thought to be a laboratory contaminant, but researchers found it was a pathogen, now believed to originate from cows or pigs. Further investigation found that the virus was harmless to normal human cells, but could infect certain solid tumors, such as small cell lung cancer, the most common form of lung cancer.

Scientists at Neotrophix say that, in laboratory and animal studies, the virus demonstrates cancer-killing specificity that is 10,000 times higher than that seen in traditional chemotherapeutics, with no overt toxicity. The company has developed the "oncolytic" virus as an anti-cancer agent and is already conducting early phase clinical trials in patients with lung cancer.

Tags: senecavirus, virus, science, medicine, cancer, us, research

Virus that kills cancer cells

Thu, 09 Oct 2008 15:51:43 GMT

clipped by: mona

Clip Source: www.scientificblogging.com

the virus demonstrates cancer-killing specificity that is 10,000 times higher than that seen in traditional chemotherapeutics, with no overt toxicity

"It will be critically important to find out what region of its structure the virus is using to bind to tumor cells, and what those cancer cell receptors are," Reddy says. "Then we can, hopefully, improve Senecavirus enough to become a potent agent that can be used with many different cancers."

GFP Researchers Win Nobel Prize

Wed, 08 Oct 2008 12:55:32 GMT

clipped by: Matthew Herper
clipper's remarks: Osamu Shimomura (pictured), Martin Chalfie, and Roger Tsien won the Nobel Prize in chemistry for their work on green flourescent protein, a tool that has become ubiquitous in modern biology as a tag and molecular highlighter, vastly improving our ability to understand what goes on inside cells.

I wrote about the discovery of GFP back in 2001. Click on the link to see my story, Biotech's Glowing Breakthrough.

Clip Source: www.forbes.com

Osamu Shimomura first noticed green fluorescent protein (GFP) in 1962. At first, it was a mere footnote in a scientific paper about a small, bioluminescent jellyfish called Aequoria Victoria. The study of that jellyfish's glow became Shimomura's life's work.

Scientists Freeze, Thaw, and Transplant a Pig's Liver

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 19:20:21 GMT

clipped by: cakebelly

Clip Source: www.grahamhancock.com

An Israeli biotech company says it has developed a way of freezing and then thawing a pig liver that doesn’t destroy the organ, and says that the thawed out liver appeared to function normally when transplanted into a new pig. The company, Core Dynamics, says the work could lead to advances in human organ transplants, and could eventually allow for “banks” of frozen organs. Organ donation schemes have to work fast to match organs with patients who need them, as, even if kept chilled, they can become unusable within 24 hours. Researchers have been looking for ways to preserve them by freezing, to cope with delays between donation and transplant operation.

Ouch.

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 15:19:48 GMT

clipped by: Matthew Herper
clipper's remarks: From $7 to 70 cents in a year. That's biotech. If Synavive does really have pain-killing properties, CombinatoRx execs might want to take some themselves.

Clip Source: biz.yahoo.com

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) -- The drug candidate Synavive missed its main goal in a clinical trial, developer CombinatoRx Inc. said Monday, as the drug did not significantly improve symptoms of osteoarthritis of the knee compared with a placebo.

Synavive is CombinatoRx's lead drug candidate, and the company's shares plunged to an all-time low on the news. In morning trading, they dropped $2.28, or 76 percent, to 72 cents, and reached a trough of 56 cents earlier in the session. The stock had traded between $6.99 and $2.86 over the last year.

Cyber Attack Data-Sharing is Lacking

Fri, 19 Sep 2008 20:35:47 GMT

clipped by: spirithiker
clipper's remarks: In the past, telecoms were asked by the federal government to share communications of private American citizens with the National Security Agency, and, despite a clear violation of our constitutional rights to privacy, the spineless bastards cowered and gave in.

Now, telecoms are asking for cooperation with a government that will not share its cyber protection information.

Aside from the fact that new technology is being constantly stolen from American industry and government at the rate of billions of dollars every year, our entire energy grid remains vulnerable to a cyber attack because corporations and government are afraid of divulging trade secrets to each other.

Are we not all Americans? Isn't the safety of weapons design systems, biotech systems, communications systems, etc worth more collectively than secrets to how security systems are operating or proprietary rights?

Clip Source: www.washingtonpost.com

U.S. intelligence agencies are unable to share information about foreign cyber attacks against companies for fear of jeopardizing intelligence-gathering sources and methods, cyber security expert Paul B. Kurtz told lawmakers yesterday.

There is no coordinated strategy or mechanism for sharing intelligence about intrusions with companies, nor is there a systematic way for companies to share information with the government

Industry representatives pushed for cooperation. "We would certainly want to participate in any government effort that gives us a view of what's happening in the broader cyber network, using the government as a hub for sharing, if there's a benefit to us

Tags: cyber attacks, data sharing, government, corporations, proprietary rights, privacy

Eye Implants to Fight Progressive Blindness

Wed, 10 Sep 2008 15:09:16 GMT

clipped by: wildcat
clipper's remarks: So far, Neurotech's approach appears to be safe for patients with degenerative diseases of the retina. That was the finding of a phase I trial with 10 patients, the results of which were published in 2006. "The real challenge is whether we'll be able to translate the positive observations in animals in humans," says Tao

Clip Source: www.technologyreview.com

A novel medical device could treat eye diseases like age-related macular degeneration.

Last week, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration fast-tracked a novel treatment for two eye diseases: age-related macular degeneration and retinitis pigmentosa. The treatment, developed by the Lincoln, RI, biotech company Neurotech, is a capsule that's surgically implanted in the eye. Inside the capsule are genetically engineered cells that produce a protein that may prevent light-sensitive cells in the retina from dying--thereby protecting vision. The device is currently in phase II clinical trials.

Neurotech's platform is "unique" and "fills a significant void in treatment options for retinal degenerative diseases," says Stephen Rose, chief research officer at the nonprofit Foundation Fighting Blindness, which has given grant money to Neurotech but does not have a financial stake in it. "To my knowledge, no other company is testing a similar device," Rose says.

Tags: eye implants, progressive blindness

ImClone's Mystery Suitor

Wed, 10 Sep 2008 14:23:01 GMT

clipped by: Matthew Herper
clipper's remarks: The biotech not only rejects the bid from Bristol-Myers Squibb, but claims another company is interested in paying more.

Clip Source: biz.yahoo.com

ImClone Systems Incorporated (NASDAQ: IMCL - News) Chairman of the Board, Carl Icahn, stated that the Special Committee of ImClone’s Board of Directors has informed Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (NYSE: BMY - News) that following the Special Committee’s review and discussion, and based upon the advice it received from its advisors, the Special Committee has determined that the unsolicited offer that ImClone received from Bristol-Myers to acquire ImClone for $60 per share in cash is inadequate.

Mr. Icahn also announced he has had several conversations with the Chief Executive Officer of a large pharmaceutical company. As a result of such conversations, the pharmaceutical company has submitted a proposal, subject to due diligence, but not subject to financing, to acquire ImClone for $70 per share in cash.

Physician Incentives Company - Honoraria for Doctors

Sat, 06 Sep 2008 18:53:57 GMT

clipped by: njalex123
clipper's remarks: This company provides PhRMA-compliant physician incentives and honoraria in the form of gift certificates redeemable for medially-relevant items including products and textbooks.

Clip Source: www.essrx.com

Total Health Rewards (THR) is the largest provider of medically-related fulfillment services to the pharmaceutical industry. We work with pharmaceutical companies and Medical Education companies all across the country and we help our clients to find the appropriate medically-relevant incentive program for all of their different promotional program types. In the last 12-14 months alone, THR has worked on programs for more than 50 different pharmaceutical, biotech and device companies encompassing 210+ Brands.

Tags: physician incentives, pharma, honoraria, gifts, gifet certificates, doctors, pharmaceutical, companies, meetings, market research

Investing plan after the election

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 21:07:30 GMT

clipped by: deb2012

Clip Source: caps.fool.com

If Obama wins, buy infrastructure, tech, biotech, alt-energy, healthcare (non insurance) plays. You may want to sell oil, but I wouldn't do it, I would also sell defense contractors and possibly health insurers (although they may be beaten up enough with the prospect of a democratic administration).

If McCain wins, buy oil, gold, oil, more oil, some more oil after that, cigarettes, oil, other PM's (silver, copper, platinum), oil, what the heck, how about some oil, defense contractors, nat gas, oil, foreign stocks, oh yeah you definitely need some oil too. Did I forget to mention oil? You want to sell tech, biotech, possibly infrastructure.

Tags: investing, politics, stock market

amgen ceo

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 14:26:56 GMT

clipped by: jbrown01

Clip Source: www.amazon.com

Science Lessons: What the Business of Biotech Taught Me About Management (Hardcover)

biotech business development

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 14:25:56 GMT

clipped by: jbrown01

Clip Source: www.amazon.com

Best Practices in Biotechnology Business Development: Valuation, Licensing, Cash Flow, Pharmacoeconomics, Market Selection, Communication, and Intellectual Property (Paperback)

building biotech

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 14:17:26 GMT

clipped by: jbrown01

Clip Source: www.buildingbiotechnology.com

science business

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 14:06:56 GMT

clipped by: jbrown01

Clip Source: www.amazon.com

Science Business: The Promise, the Reality, and the Future of Biotech (Hardcover)