'Arise and Walk!'—A Miracle Cure in the Works
Source: Severine Kirchner, Daily Reckoning  (5/28/12)
"Stem cell therapies are on the threshold of making truly miraculous cures an everyday event." More >

ASCO Abstracts 2012
Source: Market Technology Stock Newsletter  (5/25/12)
"The ASCO abstracts came out last week and a review of the massive data dump has revealed a few nuggets." More >

Make Friends with Companion Diagnostics to Bolster Your Biotech Portfolio: Stephen Brozak
Source: George S. Mack of The Life Sciences Report  (5/24/12)
Hitting just the right target and engineering cells to perform certain tasks will unlock the deep secrets of biology and change the entire paradigm of medicine, says WBB Securities President and Managing Partner Stephen Brozak. He is not picking the ultimate winners just yet, but he is playing stem cell and personalized medicine developers as a diversified portfolio, knowing that successes will overpower the also-rans. In this exclusive interview with The Life Sciences Report, Brozak shares names from his list of finalists. More >

It's Like Having a 'Fountain of Youth' in a Bottle
Source: Michael A. Robinson, Money Morning  (5/23/12)
"Scientists have tweaked a benign virus so that it can extend the lifespan of mammals by up to 24%. And if taken at the right time, this modified virus could extend the average life expectancy for an American to roughly 98 years from the current 78.5." More >

Superior Biotechnology Leads to Superior Drugs
Source: Ray Blanco, The Daily Reckoning  (5/23/12)
"Revolutions in our understanding of the genome and proteome are opening up new pathways toward vanquishing the cancer foe." More >

Collectively, 'Rare' Disease Variants Are Pretty Common
Source: Anette Breindl, BioWorld  (5/22/12)
"The fact that variants are rare does not mean they are not useful for drug discovery. Cholesterol-lowering statins, for example, were identified because of rare variants that lead to extremely low cholesterol levels in their carriers." More >

World's First Stem-Cell Drug Approved
Source: Medical News Today  (5/21/12)
"The decision is historic as it's both the first stem-cell drug going into formal use, as well as the first treatment for graft-versus-host disease, a devastating breakdown occurring after a bone marrow transplant that kills around 80% of children affected." More >

Five Companies in the Casey Portfolio Worth Watching: Alex Daley
Source: George S. Mack, The Life Sciences Report  (5/17/12)
Biotech and medtech expose investors to rapid growth in healthcare innovation. In this exclusive interview with The Life Sciences Report, Chief Investment Strategist Alex Daley of Casey's Extraordinary Technology matches science to unmet needs to bring big ideas and big returns to investors. More >

Buyout Options Gaining a Foothold
Source: Alex Philippidis, Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology News  (5/17/12)
"Deals involving buyout rights have two features that make them attractive to smaller partners: up-front payments and a longer-term path to liquidity for their investors." More >

Biotech Stock ETFs: How to Ride the Surge in Mergers & Acquisitions
Source: Don Miller, Money Morning  (5/16/12)
"Investing in biotech stocks requires not only an understanding of the company's finances, but also knowledge of the company's potential based on its products and technologies. You can reduce some of the guesswork by using exchange-traded funds, which give you exposure without betting the farm on a single company." More >

Stakeholders Share Data to Design Better Trials for Neurodegenerative Diseases
Source: Patricia F. Dimond, Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News   (5/15/12)
"The Coalition Against Major Diseases is an industrial consortia of companies willing to share precompetitive knowledge and work in support of projects identified as high priority by the FDA and in the interest of public health." More >

FDA Panel Recommends Approval of Quad Regimen
Source: Catherine Shaffer, BioWorld  (5/14/12)
"The FDA's Antiviral Drugs Advisory Committee agreed with the efficacy outcome, and there was little discussion or debate on the efficacy of Quad." More >

Venture Capital Is Not Dead. . .Just Resting!
Source: MD+DI, Brian Buntz  (5/14/12)
"Summarizing her thoughts on the venture capital model, venture capitalist Lisa Suennen jokingly quoted Monty Python's Dead Parrot sketch: 'It is not dead. . .it is just resting!'" More >

UMass to Break Ground on Biotech Testing Facility
Source: Herald News, Grant Welker  (5/13/12)
"The facility allows start-up companies to conduct research, test and scale up their products, or partner with other startups. The University of Massachusetts Dartmouth says it will eliminate a common barrier for entering the life science industry." More >

Will Mayo v. Prometheus Fire Up Pharma?: Kevin DeGeeter
Source: George S. Mack of The Life Sciences Report  (5/10/12)
Newly discovered biomarkers could provide physicians with information that will aid in the diagnosis and treatment of disease. The big question for investors is whether, in light of the recent Supreme Court ruling Mayo Collaborative Services Inc. v. Prometheus Laboratories, companies will be able to profit from that innovation. In this exclusive interview with
The Life Sciences Report, Kevin DeGeeter, senior analyst with Ladenburg Thalmann & Co. Inc., shares the names of a select group of companies with good prospects, focusing on those targeting "sweet spots" in personalized medicine. More >

Investment Banker Kevin DeGeeter's Best Idea Yet
Source: George S. Mack, The Life Sciences Report  (5/10/12)
Personalized medicine and targeted therapeutics are about narrowing down disease to achieve more definitive diagnostics and then finding more precise therapies. One could argue that every person's cancer is a different disease because the tumor cells contain the patient's own genome and are therefore different from the next individual's tumor cells. Newer genetic-based technologies are useful in detecting disease that was previously undetectable. Analyst and Director Kevin DeGeeter of New York City-based investment bank Ladenburg Thalmann & Co. Inc. follows personalized medicine and medical device companies ranging from small- to mid-cap, where investors can still reap multiples on original investment. I recently interviewed him for The Life Sciences Report and learned to look at cancer treatment in a new way. More >

Investing in Biotech Stocks: The Latest Buyout Candidate
Source: Diane Alter, Money Morning  (5/10/12)
"The M&A possibilities—as well as deep pipelines—have triggered surging investor interest in the biotech sector." More >

US May Speed Approval of 'Breakthrough' Drugs
Source: Reuters, Anna Yukhananov  (5/9/12)
"Experimental drugs that show a big effect early in development for treating serious or life-threatening diseases would get a faster and cheaper path to U.S. approval under a proposal likely to become law this year." More >

Scientists Discover New Inflammatory Target
Source: ScienceDaily  (5/9/12)
"Scientists from Queen Mary, University of London have found a new therapeutic target to combat inflammation. The findings could lead to potential therapies for millions of people who suffer from arthritis." More >

Researchers Tap into the Final Frontier: The Sea
Source: Patricia F. Dimond, Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News  (5/7/12)
"Currently, 13 therapeutic agents with marine origins are in clinical development." More >

Catalysts Move Drug and Medtech Stocks: Michael Hay and Jocelyn August
Source: George S. Mack, The Life Sciences Report   (5/3/12)
When studying stock charts it is not hard to see sharp spikes up and deep nosedives related to development milestones and setbacks in the life cycle of a drug or medtech company. The analysts at San Diego-based Sagient Research Systems have made a science out of following the regulatory and media events that can move stocks. In this exclusive interview with The Life Sciences Report, Sagient Vice President Michael Hay and Senior Analyst Jocelyn August demonstrate their expertise with actionable ideas and provide names of companies through which investors might reap profits. More >

What is the 'ASCO Effect'?
Source: Deborah Baratz, Money Morning  (5/3/12)
"The ASCO Effect move often starts in April. But there's almost always an additional stretch in May during which oncology stocks experience near-vertical spikes in very short periods." More >

Catastrophically Successful Life Extension
Source: Patrick Cox, The Daily Reckoning  (4/30/12)
"Our lives will be profoundly affected by emerging biotechnologies that will push maximum healthy life spans up much faster and further than ever before." More >

ER Doctors Face Quandary on Painkillers
Source: New York Times, Catherine Saint Louis  (4/30/12)
"The frequent prescription of narcotics in emergency departments for dental pain has been quantified for the first time by research financed by the National Institutes of Health, bringing to light another way opioids get into circulation and contribute to the rampant abuse of painkillers in the United States." More >

Investing in Biotech Stocks: The Buyout Binge Continues
Source: Money Morning  (4/27/12)
"The biotechnology buyout deals just keep coming, meaning those investing in biotech stocks have scored some juicy profits, with more on the way." More >