Ever wonder?

Something different

2012-12-14T07:07:00.001-08:00

I'm hoping to post some new findings in the next 3 days. I have some immediate deadlines that need to be addressed before I can go back to having fun :)
I know I have been silent these days, but trying to find a new career (if you have any available let me know :) )

In the mean time please check out these links:
Something different: http://posts.fanbox.com/6l765
Some perfect gifts to give for Christmas!
http://yardsellr.com/yardsale/Zeus-Hens-778835?pap=778835

Sangamo Biosciences .. Treatment for HIV?

2012-09-20T08:08:00.000-07:00

Sangamo Biosciences (SGMO)

This is an interesting biopharmaceutical company involved in the development of drugs against HIV at the clinical stage. They have been developing and commercializing the use of zinc finger DNA binding proteins (ZFPs) and modifying them to become nucleases (cut nucleic acids).

Their pipeline revolves around ZFP therapeutics. The lead ZFP therapeutic is called SB-728-T, a ZFN-modified autologous T-cell product for the treatment of HIV/AIDS. They have both Phase 1 and Phase I/II trials ongoing.

Today they announced data from their Phase I clinical trial relating to SB-728-T. They describe a significant increase in the pool of immune cells that persist in your body. These immune cells are called memory T cells and they remember the first time you were exposed to an antigen, so that the next time you are exposed to the same antigen your body will respond faster. Sangamo BioSciences also modified CCR5 (one of the receptors that HIV uses to enter your cells), it also protects these cells from HIV entry and hence destruction of the cells. This was a 1 year study, and seems promising. It provides your immune cells a way to become resistant to HIV infection and react faster to the viral infection.

The stock has had a good run, but it is on the down swing now. The resistance appears to be around $5.00. Reuters downgraded it a few days ago, Second opinion downgraded it to neutral from “long”. (see my graph below that

My own 2 Cents: I think this is a stock to watch. I think it will probably bounce between 5-6 dollars for a while, so for those that want to make a few bucks, keep your eye out for the bounce. For those long term holders- I think I would wait for it to drop closer to 5 and then buy it. It looks like an interesting treatment for those people who have HIV, it is definitely personalized medicine, since the company takes your own cells and treats them with the SB-728-T, and then puts it back into your system. The possibility is that the treatment can be effect not just for HIV but also for other viral infections and illnesses where you memory cells have been reduced and your immune system is compromised.

Sources:

http://www.mysmartrend.com/news-briefs/technical-analysis/sangamo-biosciences-has-returned-163-smartrend-recommendation-sgmo?utm_source=Early_Report&utm_medium=email&utm_term=news%20story&utm_campaign=09202012&mtcCampaign=11578&mtcEmail=16369987

Data also from COMTEX/DATAMONITOR, courtesy of Scottrade.

Arena Pharmaceuticals and G protein coupled receptors

2012-08-06T12:28:00.001-07:00

Arena (ARNA)

This is an interesting biopharmaceutical company. It is focused on developing and commercializing oral drugs that target G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) in the areas of inflammatory, metabolic, cardiovascular, and central nervous system.

Presently, they have studies that involve lorcaserin (BELVIQ) which they have granted Eisai Inc rights to commercialize in the US and has been approved by the FDA.

Recently (12/2011), they have an early stage program for APD811 as an agonist of the prostacyclin receptor for treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension.

This company is interesting because it is using genomic technology and molecular cloning to identify more novel GPCR genes (also called orphans because the ligands are not known). Additionally they are using /creating activated receptors of these receptors to examine what is downstream of the receptor. This way ARENA can study the receptors without knowning the ligand. Although you would think that eventually they will determine the ligands, to enhance the relevance of the receptors function in the body.

ARENA has several other drugs in the pipeline, but many still a bit in their infancy. Some of these will be used for multiple sclerosis, arterial thrombosis and type II diabetes.

Program (Indication)		Development Status
APD811 (pulmonary arterial hypertension)		Phase 1
APD334 (autoimmune diseases)		Preclinical
APD371 (pain)		Preclinical
GPR119 agonists (type 2 diabetes)		Research

What about the stock? The stock has a recent increase from May at around 2 dollars to 7.28 dollars. In the last few days it has had some negative pressure, but I think this is a company to hold for the long run. It has a lot of potential, and it has a proven technology. Please check out the stock below.

The stock looks like it has bounced off of the Bollinger bands, so it should start increasing in price if the Technicals are correct.

(Information compliments of Scottrade and http://www.arenapharm.com/

Gilead is going for the Gold (in honor of the Olympics :) )

2012-07-30T18:55:00.001-07:00

For Fun: Please check out www.wondersofkindle.com Thanks!

Gilead Sciences is a research-based biopharmaceutical company that discovers, develops and commercializes medicines. Their primary focus areas include HIV/AIDS, hepatitis B and C, cardiovascular and respiratory conditions. They are a global company with operations in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific. They have many products as shown below in this table.

Cayston	Lexiscan/Rapiscan	Complera/Eviplera	Emtriva
Tamiflu	AmBisome	Viread	Hepsera
	Vistide	Truvada	Letairis
	Macugen	Atripla	Ranexa

In addition to their amazing number of products, they also acquired this past January the company Pharmasset, Inc. Pharmasset is a clinical-stage pharmaceutical company that focuses on developing and commercializing novel drugs to treat viral infections. This will complements Gilead’s pipeline drugs that relates to hepatitis and HIV/AIDs.

A very positive and up and coming company. It has many different drugs in phase I, II, and III trials. For the treatment of liver alone, it has 9 different drugs. Many of them are NS5B nucleoside and/or nucleotide inhibitors. In addition to a 1 monoclonal antibody for treatment of liver fibrosis, several protease inhibitors for treatment of hepatitis C

The stock is very close to its 52 week’s high. The S& P 500 has upgraded Gilead to 5 stars! Thomson Reuters has it dab in the middle at 5, and Second Opinion Weekly Report upgraded its rating of Gilead 91 days ago to Long and Improving. When you look at the 3 month chart of Gilead, you can see that the technicals (MACD) are going positive. I agree with these rating systems. Gilead is a strong company with many cards in the air, so that it is going to do good in the long run. I would not be surprised if it continued to increase in value.

(Information is from Scottrade and Gilead.com)

Onyx Pharmaceuticals it is all in the black….:)

2012-07-26T07:45:00.000-07:00

Onyx Pharmaceuticals has a lot of clinical trials going on and development of drugs in the hopper.

Onyx Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: ONXX) announced today in Blood, the medical journal of the American Society of Hematology, has published their results from the 003-A1 Phase 2b trial, a single-arm, multicenter clinical trial evaluating Kyprolis(TM) (carfilzomib) for Injection for the treatment of patients with advanced multiple myeloma, who had received a median of five prior anti-myeloma regimens.
The lead author was Dr. David Siegel, Chief of the Division of Multiple Myeloma at John Theurer Cancer Center at Hackensack University Medical Center (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/onyx-pharmaceuticals-announces-kyprolistm-study-published-in-the-medical-journal-blood-2012-07-25)

Several Phase III clinical trials will begin soon for treatment of myeloma. One of the trial is called FOCUS trial which is evaluating Kyprolis, and the other is called ENDEAVOR, which is evaluating the combination of Kyprolis and low-dose dexamethasone versus bortezomib and low dose dexamethasone.

So many of you may not have a clue on what these drugs are, so let me try to enlighten you a bit.

Kyprolis is also called carfilzomib. It is an epoxyketone-based proteasome inhibitor and may reduced tumor burden and inhibits bone destruction. It turns out that kyprolis inhibits the formation of osteoclasts. Osteoclasts are cells in your bone that break down bone and remodel bone; all of which are normal functions occurring in bone. In fact, it is suggested that kyprolis is actually shifting the microenvironment from catabolic to anabolic (bone formation). This will inhibit a tumors ability to survive in a bone environment. It also makes me wonder whether this may be useful for people with osteoporosis. We will have to see if Onyx goes in that direction too.

Bortezomib is also called Velcade and PS-341 and is a boronic acid dipeptide derivative that is a potent inhibitor of the proteosome. Inhibition of proteosome function leads to accumulation of misfolded proteins in the cell and results in endoplasmic reticulum stress. All of these things can lead to cell death, which is bad news for the tumor cells good news for the patients.

According to Scottrade, Onyx is developing therapies that target the molecular mechanisms that cause cancer. They have two franchise platforms: one in kinase inhibition and one in proteasome inhibition. In its kinase inhibitor franchise, its product, Nexavar (sorafenib) tablets is approved for unresectable liver cancer, advanced kidney cancer, unresectable liver cancer and advanced kidney cancer. With its development and marketing partner Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals Inc., or Bayer, the Company shares equally in the profits and losses of Nexavar worldwide except Japan. A kinase inhibitor, regorafenib, is an investigational agent that has already demonstrated positive Phase 3 survival data in metastatic colorectal cancer, and is being evaluated in a Phase 3 study in gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST) (compliments of Scottrade). It does seem to me that Scottrade needs to update what is going on…

What about the stock?

Its year to date performance is up 74% among its peer. However Thomson Reuter has a negative rating on Onyx, while the second Opinion Weekly reported an upgrade to 0 (improving) 94 days ago.

Below is the stock’s chart, suspiciously (?) the stock has almost doubled since just before July. I wonder who go the news early. Too bad we didn’t get in then. Do I think the stock is going to keep increasing? Yes, perhaps into the 80’s. I recommend keeping this stock for the long run, but don’t expect it to double in the near future.

For some fun e-reads, please check out: http://adf.ly/AltA4

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Both sides of the coin for Sanofi

2012-07-25T21:45:00.000-07:00

Both sides of the coin for Sanofi

Some interesting recent news in France about Sanofi, which use to be called Sanofi-Aventis, came out today. As we have seen in the past, the people in France like to protest. “Workers at Sanofi (SAN) had a message for politicians at protests in Paris this month: Job cuts by the nation’s biggest drugmaker are crushing morale among researchers and hurting the company’s ability to develop new products (http://www.biospace.com/News/genzyme-corporations-rd-culture-pushes-sanofi/267846) .”

I wonder if it is going to have an effect on what happens to the company? The chief Executive Officer Chris Viehbacher was not persuaded by those arguments. After purchasing Genzyme Corp. for $20.1 billion last year, the CEO was inspired to refashion Sanofi in the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based company’s image, a project he is pursuing at full bore. Scientists are now organized as hubs, in the hopes that scientists will be more open and share their ideas with one another. In the new headquarters in Paris, he has had coffee bars installed for workers to mingle. He chose Genzyme executives to run the Boston R&D hub and Sanofi’s U.S. business development. His daughter is even interning at Genzyme. Sounds like he is keeping it all in the family, huh….

Besides the disgruntled employees in France, the FDA has also brought some charges against Sanofi too that they posted on July 12^th on their website. There appears to be mold problems in several of Sanofi’s plants located both in Canada and France. The drug TheraCys BCG Live is produced in the Canadian plant and because of these issues has created a shortage of the drug. The FDA has requested renovations at the Canadian plant. (http://www.biospace.com/News/fda-to-meet-sanofi-france-execs-over-violations-at/267717)

What does this mean for the stock, SNYNF:OTCQB?

Overall its performance has been up a little over 7% for the year. It doesn’t appear that any analyst is following the stock? OR at least none that is evident on the Scottrade website. The stock has ranged from 62.30 in September of 2011 to 78.45 in July of 2011. Presently the stock is at 74.05, which is just bobbing below the high for the stock.

If I was going to take a guess, I would say that the stock is going to go down on the news that I have provided above. However, if some new drugs or advancement comes out of Sanofi, then I think the stock will go up a bit. However, from what I see it doesn’t seem like it is going to go up much higher for now.

Check out the chart and the news, and let me know what you think!?

Peregrine Pharmaceuticals is Flying High

2012-07-24T10:55:00.001-07:00

For Fun after enjoying my blog, please go to:

http://adf.ly/AltA4 and enjoy a few e-books.

So what is Peregrine Pharmaceutical Inc business?

This company is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company that develops and manufactures monoclonal antibodies for the treatment of cancer and viral infections. As of April 30, 2011, the Company had three Phase II clinical programs, including two oncology programs, as well as a hepatitis C virus (HCV) program. Peregrine's pipeline of investigational monoclonal antibodies is based on two technology platforms, including phosphatidylserine (PS)-targeting antibodies and deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA)/histone-targeting antibodies. Bavituximab is its PS-targeting antibody. Cotara is the Company's DNA/histone-targeting antibody-based on its Tumor Necrosis Therapy (TNT) technology platform. Peregrine's wholly owned biomanufacturing subsidiary is Avid Bioservices, Inc., which provides integrated cGMP commercial and clinical manufacturing services for Peregrine and third-party clients (Compliments of Scottrade).

As you can see, this company’s main focus is using antibodies to targeting difficult cancers by either targeting a phospholipid called phosphatidylserine at the cell membrane or by targeting a DNA-histone complex . These are both effective mechanisms for targeting a cancer, especially if it is hard to reach by conventional manners.
More recently, Peregrine provided promising evidence that bavituximab improves tumor response and survival trends in a randomized Phase II trial for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).
Additionally, Peregrine announced the start of investigator initiated Phase 1 trial with for up to 18 patients with stage II or III rectal adenocarcinoma with the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) at Texas Southwestern Medical Center (http://ir.peregrineinc.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=692072)

So why did I pick this company to blog about? Well, I did a stock screen for companies in healthcare>> Biotechnology and Drugs that were over 20% increase in stock price in the last 5 days and checked out the charts of the stock. This stock has had a terrific run for the last few days. The news on PPHM suggests that it will continue to increase; how much more is not known.

Both S&P and Reuters have improved their rating from the negatives to neutral (Rank 4) four days ago. This year is looking good for the Biotechnology stocks.

My 2 cents, as a stock, I would buy it (haha if I had money) at 1.80 is a bargain and watch it to continue its ride up. I would keep an eye on the technicals, because there is sure to be a dip that would be a buying point. Tell me what you think….

Check out the chart below:

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Alnylam Pharmaecuticals and Ascletis form an agreement

2012-07-15T09:36:00.000-07:00

For some amusement, please check out this website link: http://adf.ly/AltA4

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals (ALNY) and RNAi technology

As I have said in a previous posting, most large biopharmaceutical companies have been focusing on humanizing antibodies. It is good to find that there are some companies that are looking at RNAi. Alnylam Pharmaceuticals (ALNY) is focusing more on RNAi and lipid nanoparticles. Their technology recently been licensed to Ascletis Pharmaceuticals, a Chinese/American company where the two companies have formed a strategic collaboration to develop ALN-VSP, an RNAi therapeutic for treatment of liver cancer.

On July 12^th, Ascletis announced the formation of an agreement between Alnylam and a Ascletis to develop ALN-VSP, an RNAi Therapeutic for the Treatment of Liver Cancers (http://www.ascletis.com/N07122012.html )

So what do I think of Alnylam, this is an exciting company that has the potential to treat a lot of different diseases and syndromes. It is based in Cambridge MA, which is one of the nuclei of pharmaceutical companies in the US. Using nanoparticles made of lipids provides a way to transfer the interfering RNAs (RNAi) into the cell without triggering the immune system response is the way to go. Avoiding the use of viruses will help it be accepted by the public.

The use of RNAi’s clearly demonstrates that this company is following the most recent literature and an understanding that epigenetic regulation of the cell is an important aspect to understand for treatment of cancers and disease. Their focus on the liver for their drug is understandable, since the liver has a high capacity for taking in lipid based particles into the cell, and the liver has a higher degree of cellular division than most tissues.

The one aspect of this company that makes me cautious to recommend it fully, is that it is not hiring scientists in the US. I agree that collaboration is good, and China has a plethora of people and scientists to collaborate with, but that Alnylam is not hiring and supporting scientists in the US makes me hesitate about fully endorsing this company.

What about the stock itself? S and P gave it 4 stars. Reuter’s gives it 7/10 in neutral toward the positive and Second Opinion upgraded it about 34 days ago closer to “Improving”. It has had a positive run in the last month; it seems to have a resistance at 13.00. If you wait for a pull back, I think it’s a good bargain. Or if you are going to hold it for long, I recommend this stock. (my 2cents, no I don’t own the stock)

Some extra information below:

From scottrade:

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Alnylam) is a biopharmaceutical company developing therapeutics based on ribonucleic acid interface (RNAi). Its Alnylam 5x15, is focused on the development and commercialization of novel RNAi therapeutics for the treatment of genetically defined diseases. Its core programs in clinical or pre-clinical development are: ALN-TTR for the treatment of transthyretin-mediated amyloidosis (ATTR); ALN-APC for the treatment of hemophilia; ALN-PCS for the treatment of severe hypercholesterolemia; ALN-HPN for the treatment of refractory anemia, and ALN-TMP for the treatment of hemoglobinopathies, including beta-thalassemia and sickle cell anemia. The Company has three partner-based programs in clinical or pre-clinical development, including ALN-RSV01 for the treatment of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), infection, ALN-VSP for the treatment of liver cancers and ALN-HTT for the treatment of Huntington's disease (HD).

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals in the last 3 months, courtesy of Scottrade

Acadia Pharmaceuticals stock and pipeline

2012-07-09T21:53:00.000-07:00

ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Inc (ACAD)

This quiet little stock has been slowly increasing since June. The stock has outperformed the Dow and S&P 500 during trading in June.

So what does Acadia do for a business? Acadia has several preclinical and clinical trials going to treat Alzheimer’s disease psychosis. The drug pimavanserin is an inverse agonist on the serotonin receptor subtype 5-HT_2a. An inverse agonist binds to the receptor as an agonist, but induces the opposite response. The level of activity of the receptor needs to decrease basal levels of the receptor when it binds. Recently preclinical studies of pimavanserin are being developed for Parkinson’s disease psychosis and is said to be already in Phase III trial for Parkinson’s disease psychosis (Dow Jones News) and may also have therapeutic benefits in treatment of Alzheimer’s disease psychosis (ADP) as seen in a rodent model of Alzheimer’s disease (Businesswire). Interesting Wikipedia takes a more negative view on the efficacy of pimavanserin on ADP.

So all that being said, what does this mean for the stock? Well it has been upgraded 10 days ago by Reuters to neutral and Second opinion upgraded it 7 days ago to improving. The below graph provides you some insight into the last 3 months.

My 2 cents? Well, this is a tricky stock, since it seems that it’s stock performance is based on only one drug. My question is what other drugs are in the pipeline and how far are they along? Well if you go to their website, http://www.acadia-pharm.com/pipeline/ you can see that by far pimavanserin has the lead over other companies such as Allergan. Acadia is also working on some preclinical studies for ERb and Nurr-1.

Unfortunately they do not define ERb and Nurr-1 on their website, but presumably ERb is estrogen receptor beta and Nurr-1 is actually NURR1, which is a nuclear receptor involved in intracellular signaling with complex of proteins called CoREST which assembles chromatin- modifying enzymes. It is also modified by sumoylation and works with glycogen synthase kinase 3 (GSK3) to function. GSK3 is also involved in canonical Wnt signaling which has been moved to the forefront in neurobiology these days.

I think it is too soon to know whether they are on to something or not, but NURR1 has been associated with dopaminergic dysfunction in Parkingson’s disease, schizophrenia, manic depression, and mis-regulation of NURR1 is associated with rheumatoid arthritis. There are a lot of question to be answered on how all this happens, but it will be interesting to see if the scientists at ACADIA can figure it out!

I think if you want to speculate, it might be worth the purchase and the ride. What do you think?

-JR

(PS.. I don’t own the stock, but I’m thinking about it

PSS… all statements are my own opinions based on the research I did on the stock. You can take or leave my opinions for what they are worth…)

PSSS (last one, for the night) Please check out http://www.wondersofkindle.com

and/or go through http://amazingwonders-of-kindle.blogspot.com/ for daily free e-books for kindle

Images from Scottrade (thanks Scottrade!)

Array Pharmaceuticals and NSLC

2012-07-06T06:14:00.000-07:00

Non small lung cancer (NSLC) is a devastating disease, and usually by the time it is diagnosed its almost too late to treat. My mom died of NSLC. She went very quickly , and the cancer cells took over her body. If we could find an effective treatment for this terrible disease, many people would not suffer as my mom did.

Array BioPharma (ARRY) provided some new data on treatment of KRAS Mutant advanced NSCLC patients. Many people in the US with NSCLC have the KRAS mutant In a double blind, randomized phase 2 study conducted by AstraZeneca examined the efficacy of selumetinib (AZD6244/ARRY886) with docetaxel in patients with the KRAS mutant had progressive free at least 6 months and improved overall survival.

From http://www.datamonitor.com/ compliments of scottrade. So what about the stock? It is not doing any remarkable climbing, but it is increasing slowly. I would recommend this as a long term investment. Just my 2 cents!

Please check out : http://amazingwonders-of-kindle.blogspot.com/ too!

Amgen Pharmaceuticals acquisitions

2012-07-04T08:47:00.000-07:00

Amgen Pharmaceuticals (AMGN)

Amgen is a biotechnology medicines company. It has acquired a Turkish company Mustafa Nevzat (MN) Pharmaceuticals through a purchase of 95.4% of the stock in the company. MN is a leading supplier of pharmaceuticals to the hospital sector and a majorsupplier of injectable medicines in Turkey. MN is a fast growing company in the double digits in the last 5 years. This will allow Amgen to spread its influence around the world, but not necessarily add new medicines to the market. (From http://www.amgen.com/media/media_pr_detail.jsp?releaseID=1686962)

Stock of Amgen has been slowly climbing, but it bouncing off the Bollinger bands, which may indicate that Amgen has hit a resistance; only time will tell if it keeps going up or whether it flat lines.

Based on what I have read, it seems to be that Amgen is more focused on acquisition for growth and not developing new medicines and drugs. I hope I am wrong, because I think that a company that stops producing new medicines will become stagnant. What do you think?

JR-
Please check out http://www.wondersofkindle.com too... Thanks!

Other sources:

From the NY Times website, “ Amgen Inc. (Amgen) is a biotechnology medicines company. The Company discovers, develops, manufactures and markets medicines for illnesses. It focuses solely on human therapeutics and concentrates on medicines based on cellular and molecular biology. Its products are Neulasta (pegfilgrastim), a pegylated protein, based on the Filgrastim molecule, and NEUPOGEN (Filgrastim), a recombinant-methionyl human granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF), both of which stimulate the production of neutrophils (a type of white blood cell that helps the body fight infection); Enbrel (etanercept), an inhibitor of tumor necrosis factor (TNF), a substance, which plays a role in the body's response to inflammatory diseases, and Aranesp (darbepoetin alfa) and EPOGEN (epoetin alfa), erythropoiesis-stimulating agents (ESAs). On April 7, 2011, it acquired Laboratorio Quimico Farmaceutico Bergamo Ltda (Bergamo). In June 2012, the Company acquired more than 99% of Mustafa Nevzat Pharmaceuticals.”

Humanized antibodies and Queen's patents

2012-07-03T07:53:00.001-07:00

PDL BioPharma, Inc (PDLI) and Humanized Antibodies

In industry (Pharma and biotech), humanized antibodies seems to be the direction many companies are taken. What is a humanized antibody? Well, it is usually a monoclonal antibody made in a non-human. The peptide sequence of the antibody has been modified to be more “human-like”, so that when you use it for treatment in cancer for example, it will not trigger your own immune system to attack. This is big, because this means you can create a lot of this antibody in a mouse or a larger animal for that matter, at a lower cost and it is more likely to work in humans. This little company PDL Biopharma was a head of the group in that it has already licensed and is receiving royalties of their product.
I don’t know what they are going to do in the long run, but right now they are sitting pretty collecting royalties! The most recent one I saw in the news is from Reuters “PDL Biopharma Inc to receive royalties on sales of Genetech’s Pertzumab (http://www.reuters.com/finance/stocks/PDLI.O/key-developments/article/2559431 ).

Second Opinion Weekly reported it upgraded as of 8 days ago to “Long” and “Improving”. Thomson Reuters Stockreport gives it a positive rating of 9 out of a scale of 1-10. Interesting it even has a dividend associated with it J

PDL BioPharma, Inc. (PDL) is a biotech company. PDL is engaged in the management of antibody humanization patents and royalty assets, which consist of its Queen et al. patents and license agreements with various biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies. The Company receives royalties based on sales of humanized antibody products marketed and may also receive royalty payments on additional humanized antibody products launched before final expiry in December 2014. It has entered into licensing agreements with numerous entities that are independently developing or have developed humanized antibodies under which it has licensed certain rights under its Queen et al. patents to make, use, sell, offer for sale and import humanized antibodies. (Compliments of Scottrade)

-JR

(If you like e-books, check out http://www.wondersofkindle.com )

BioMarin Pharmaceuticals volume is increasing?

2012-07-01T19:39:00.000-07:00

BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc (BMRN)

Biomarin has a 4 star rating in the S&P, and there are conflicting reports by the analysis on whether they want to upgrade or downgrade it. The Thomson Reuter’s report downgraded Biomarin Pharmaceuticals 9 days ago, while Second Opinion Weekly Report upgrade it from “Avoid” to “Neutral”. Interesting, the stock trade volume has increased in the last few days, just a few weeks before the new earnings report. So, unless the people buying the stock have insight into BioMartin, which we know does happen, many people may be “guessing” on the outcome to this coming Earnings. Based on what I have read, they have alot of interesting drugs in their pipeline, and have been hiring several new scientists (albeit not me though :( ) I think there is a good chance that the earnings will improve over last quarter. Does anyone want to discuss this?

So what is Biomartin Pharmaceutical company about? BioMarin develops and commercializes pharmaceuticals for serious diseases and medical conditions. (Scottrade being vague, actually the company focuses alot on the regulation and synthesis of sugars that attached to proteins, aka glycosylation). As of December 31, 2011, its product portfolio includes four approved products and multiple investigational product candidates. Approved products include Naglazyme (galsulfase), Kuvan (sapropterin dihydrochloride), Aldurazyme (laronidase) and Firdapse (amifampridine phosphate). As of December 31, 2011, BioMarin conducted clinical trials on a number of investigational product candidates for the treatment of various diseases, including GALNS, an enzyme replacement therapy for the treatment of Mucopolysaccharidosis Type IV or Morquio Syndrome Type A (MPS IV A); PEG-PAL, an enzyme substitution therapy for the treatment of phenylketonuria (PKU); BMN-701, an enzyme replacement therapy for Pompe disease; BMN-673, an orally available poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase, or PARP inhibitor for the treatment of patients with certain cancers, and BMN-111 CNP for Achondroplasia (Information complements of Scottrade and Biomartin’s website http://www.bmrn.com/pipeline/index.php ).

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Aging and red wine

2012-07-01T16:46:00.000-07:00

Aging

A new molecule enters the field and it is called sirtuins. These proteins are involved in different types of cellular processes including aging. One of the intriguing aspects is that if you activate the protein with a drug called resveratrol, you can extend life and improve health. Of course this is all done in animal studies, but it does make you wonder whether if the secret to long healthy life is in the near future? Now for those of you who are wondering about the drug resveratrol, this is the compound that is in grape skins… Yes…. Wine J. Resveratrol is also anti- biotic, meaning it fights fungal and bacterial infections. You can actually purchase resveratrol online. Just for the heck of it, I provide you with some links below if you were interested. I’m not sure of the best way to ingest it is, but if you do some research of your own you can find out more.

Source: http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/341245/title/Antiaging_protein_helps_set_daily_rhythms

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Proctor and Gamble Goof

2012-07-01T12:55:00.001-07:00

Here is a scary thought for you...

Apparently during the creation (aka processing) of Tide detergent, a carcinogen, 1,4 dioxane, is produced. A Women’s Voices for the Earth group sent the detergent out to be tested and one of the chemicals they found is 1,4 dioxane. This is not intentionally added to the ingredients, but rather it’s a byproduct of the product when it is made.

Now although P&G is responding to “A Women’s Voices for the Earth”, they have responded to individual people.

Besides the fact that it is there, I am guessing that almost any detergent you get in your local store has this contaminant. So the real question is what should we, as a consumer, do about it? Should the industry add an additional step in the processing to make sure this potential carcinogen is removed from the detergent before selling?

On the stock side of things, this has the potential for causing a sell-off of P&G’s stock as consumers worry about the carcinogen AND the lack of communication and action by P&G’s…. Let’s watch and see what happens next!

http://www.forbes.com/sites/amywestervelt/2012/04/30/procter-gamble-defends-against-claims-that-tide-detergents-contain-carcinogens/

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Cancer

2012-07-01T09:32:00.000-07:00

Caffeine

Interesting story about how caffeine can stimulate the muscles of the elderly. Now the real question is what is it’s mode of action? In muscles of the young there is very little effect, so what do you think is happening?

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/06/120629120445.htm

Caffeine in general, stimulates the central nervous system and is used as a stimulant, and to treat headaches in combination with aspirin, for example. It has also been suggested that caffeine alleviates the pain of a headache by altering the flow of blood through the blood vessels. Perhaps by doing this in the muscle, will have a similar response?

Caffeine is also suppose to keep you alert and reduce dementia and delay Alzheimer’s. SO keep on having your morning Joe!

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/06/120604142615.htm

http://www.bioportfolio.com/news/article/1066584/High-Blood-Caffeine-Levels-In-Older-Adults-Linked-To-Avoidance-Of-Alzheimer.html

Genetech and personalized medicine

2012-06-25T06:04:00.001-07:00

Genetech developed a drug against a specific subset of metastatic breast cancer, called HER2-positive mBC. This drug targets the HER2 receptor and blocks it from activating downstream signals by receptor dimerization. This is an awesome accomplishment, but what is made to sound so exciting, is really just Genetech combining the drugs they already have created, and see if they improve patient outcome even more so. It’s a pretty standard process, if you target the cancer in different ways, you are more likely to destroy the cancerous tissue. This concept has already been used to combat AIDS by giving people a cocktail of drugs.

The drug they are calling Perjeta (which you have to love these names!) is a combination of Herceptin (which interferes with HER2, part of the EGF-superfamily) and docetaxel (which interferes with the microtubule cytoskeleton). The name Perjecta is derived from the concept of “personalized” medicine, where they examine the cancer and see what genes and hence proteins are mutated, and target them specifically to a person. This way if a person does not have a problem with the HER2 protein and pathway, they would not be treated with this drug combination.

Their data will be submitted for presentation at an upcoming medical meeting. And Dr. Barron, chief medical officer and head of Global Product Development is excited that there is an improvement in survival in the CLEOPATRA (Clinical Evaluation Of Pertuzumab And TRAstuzumab) study. There are a whole bunch of side effects which include diarrhea, hair loss, low white blood cell count with or without fever, upset stomach, fatigue, rash and peripheral neuropathy (numbness, tingling or damage to the nerves). The most common Grade 3-4 adverse reactions (rate greater than 2 percent) were low white blood cell count with or without fever, decrease in a certain type of white blood cell, diarrhea, damage to the nerves, and decrease in red blood cell count, weakness and fatigue. But if you survive cancer, I expect people are willing to accept the side effects during treatment. Although, I’m not sure I’d be too excited about damaging my nerves.

Sources: http://www.biospace.com/News/genentech-says-perjeta-combination-increased/264814

What avenues of research are going on in Big Pharma?

2012-06-22T18:52:00.000-07:00

Recently I have been looking at pharmaceutical companies and the jobs they are posting. I have a strong background in research, and was thinking of changing career paths.

Interesting what I have discovered is that many of the large companies, such as Abbott Laboratories, Pfeizer, and Eli Lily are all focused to a large extent on research where antibodies are used as treatments for disorders and illnesses. Now coming from an academic research angle, this surprised me. It seems to me that these larger companies are behind the scientific research that is being done these days. In academia, non-coding RNAs (miRNA siRNA, etc), are the focus. In addition to genomic and proteomic global approaches for individualizing treatments.

So, who do you think are the most innovative companies out there?

helicos biosciences continues

2012-05-20T15:57:00.001-07:00

I've copied this information from the Businesswire, it is very exciting! With another patent litigation settled, its only a little bit of time before Helicos Biosciences stock goes up even more!

Helicos BioSciences Corporation Settles its Patent Litigation Against Pacific Biosciences, Inc.

6 days 8 hours 35 minutes ago - Businesswire

Helicos BioSciences Corporation (OTCQB: HLCS.PK) announced today that it has settled its patent infringement litigation against Pacific Biosciences, Inc. The settlement gives Pacific Biosciences freedom-to-operate from Helicos's patents within a limited field of use covering Pacific Biosciences' current products only. In addition to paying an undisclosed financial settlement, Pacific Biosciences agreed to refrain from challenging the validity, enforceability, or patentability of any of Helicos's patents, which includes halting its efforts in the inter partes reexamination of the patents in suit with the USPTO.

Stay tune for more as I continue to follow helicos biosciences!

Helicos Biosciences Corp a company to watch

2012-05-05T08:42:00.000-07:00

Helicos Biosciences Corp

An interesting company.
Here is a summary of the company:

Helicos BioSciences Corporation (Helicos) is a life sciences company focused on genetic analysis technologies. Helicos has developed a technology to enable the analysis of genetic material by directly sequencing single molecules of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) or ribonucleic acid (RNA). The platform consists of an instrument, called the HeliScope Single Molecule Sequencer, an image analysis computer tower called the HeliScope Analysis Engine, associated reagents, which are chemicals used in the sequencing process, and disposable supplies. The Company's True Single Molecule Sequencing (tSMS) technology enables the simultaneous sequencing of large numbers of strands of single DNA or RNA molecules. Helicos has developed a technology to perform targeted sequencing using its newly developed DirectGene Sequencing capability. (compliments of Scottrade).

I think this company has some awesome potential, and the way it is fluxuating, I think it has a lot of potential for making you money. On Friday, when the market went down 140+ points, Helicos went up 30%!! From the grape vine-- its about settling some patent conflicts, 1 down, 2 to go!

8-25-09

2012-05-05T08:34:00.000-07:00

Today- 8-25-09... was a good day..

Have you bought some stock that relates to the housing business?

Fannie-Mae?!j Wow, think how much you would have made if you had purchased it at the beginning of Aug?!

What about PMI group? Insurance and property.. A side group off of fannie-mae.... its creeping up about 5% per day!

2009-12-28T22:02:00.001-08:00

OK.. something to think about Fanny Mae. Its definitely possible to make money on Fanny Mae, if you watch the news and the stock itself.

It may be time to buy again and ride it up again. what do you think?

2009-08-18T22:11:00.000-07:00

Biotechnology Stocks...

With these troubling times, we need to think outside the box. Anyone can make $ in the stockmarket, its not rocket science, BUT you do need an iron stomach.

A few stocks that are worth watching:
ACTC (Advanced Cell Technology)

- they are all about commercializing adult and embryonic stem cells for creating treatments for

in the field of regenerative medicine. They are working on developing and bringing to market treatments for chronic degenerative diseases and in regenerative repair of acute disease, such as trauma, myocardial infarction and burns.

-recently had an increase in price, but has fallen back. Now seems to be the time to buy more...

Another stock that has great possibilities is INO, Inovio Biomedical Corporation. Its a San Diego-based biomedical company focused on the development of vaccines to prevent or treat cancers and chronic infectious diseases. IIt uses electroporation (using electricity) to deliver DNA to the cells. They have focused on vaccines and also have created new technologies for electroporation.

They have several subsidaries: Genetronics, Inc., Inovio AS and Inovio Asia Pte. Ltd and this past June they completed a erger with VGX Pharmaceuticals.

-they too had an increase in price because of their success in vaccines... This one seems to be a company to hold for the long term.

2006-04-02T11:40:00.000-07:00

Ever wonder about the stock market? Do you get those infamous e-mails that tell you a certain stock is getting ready to take off? does it really work?.. what do you think?