Tap into Low-Risk Biotech and Specialty Pharma for Growth: Steven Palmer
Source: George S. Mack of The Life Sciences Report  (4/26/12)
The somewhat obscure specialty biotechs and pharmas seek to add value by giving new life to older technologies and molecules. President and Chief Investment Officer Steven Palmer of AlphaNorth Asset Management embraces this strategy to generate exceptional returns while mitigating some of the risks inherent in drug development. In this exclusive interview with The Life Sciences Report, Palmer shares favorite life sciences names that could offer huge returns. More >

Pharma & Biotech Stock Outlook
Source: Zacks Investment Research  (4/26/12)
"With most of the big pharma companies already facing or likely to face patent challenges for their blockbuster products, the companies have been looking toward M&A and in-licensing activities to make up for the loss of revenues that will arise with key products losing patent exclusivity." More >

Amgen Kicks Off Week of Big Biotech Earnings
Source: Minyanville, Brett Chase  (4/24/12)
"It's imperative that each company meets sales and profit targets for the past quarter, but investors are particularly interested in updates on drugs being developed as they represent future growth." More >

AstraZeneca's Big Drug Deal
Source: Diallah Haidar, Wall St. Cheat Sheet  (4/23/12)
"The acquisition will give the company access to a number of promising drugs, including a developing treatment for gout, a condition that causes joint inflammation." More >

Select Biotech Winners in Advance of ASCO Conference
Source: Ian Cooper, Wealth Daily  (4/20/12)
"Any time a company is expected to present healthy data at ASCO, the speculation over FDA approval, buyout, and game-changing findings can jet stock prices going into the conference." More >

Electrifying Biotechnology: A Shot at Shocking Profits
Source: Patrick Cox, Penny Sleuth  (4/20/12)
"The discovery of reversible electroporation revolutionized biotechnology research. Cracking open a cell's pores allows researchers to get stuff into cells they weren't able to before." More >

Gilead Sciences' Hepatitis Drug in Spotlight
Source: Minyanville, Brett Chase  (4/20/12)
"Both medical and investor communities will scrutinize results from an experimental, next-generation treatment for the liver-destroying virus hepatitis C." More >

Will Illumina Reject Roche's Raised Takeover Bid?
Source: Aabha Rathee, Wall St. Cheat Sheet  (4/17/12)
"Shareholders of the San-Diego based Illumina seem to be collectively siding with their board, which has already rejected two bids from Roche." More >

Superior Biotechnology Leads to Superior Drugs
Source: Ray Blanco, Penny Sleuth  (4/17/12)
"Revolutions in our understanding of the genome and proteome are opening up new pathways toward vanquishing the cancer foe." More >

Junior Resource and Biotech Investing Share Profit Potential
Source: Alex Daley and Doug Hornig, Casey Research  (4/12/12)
Several Casey Research publications focus on the junior resource sector because this is a prime speculative market—one where individual investors can still turn a small amount of money into a fortune, provided they bring the proper tools to the table. Yet resource juniors by no means stand alone. Biotechnology is another good market for speculation. In fact, despite the very different science and economics at work, the biotech and junior resource sectors share some interesting traits. Investors will find a lot to like in both. More >

Vaccine Therapies Hold Promise for Investors: Stephen Dunn
Source: George S. Mack of The Life Sciences Report  (4/12/12)
Developing vaccines to treat and/or prevent disease promises life-changing benefits for patients and unique opportunities for investors. In this interview with The Life Sciences Report, LifeTech Capital Senior Managing Director and President Stephen Dunn discusses the roadblocks encountered by some developers of immune therapies and how other companies are working around those obstacles, producing investment opportunities in the process. More >

Playing the Immune System for Profit
Source: George S. Mack, The Life Sciences Report  (4/12/12)
I had an opportunity to pose some questions once again to Stephen Dunn who is president and senior managing director of research at LifeTech Capital, a division of Aurora Capital, which has a presence in growth hotbeds India and China. LifeTech is one of those boutique investment banks that researches small-cap stocks that need capital and attention. The firm specializes in biotech and medtech, and it really does get an opportunity to get inside little companies to know the people and to understand the science. Dunn gets to do things that he wouldn't get to do in a bulge-bracket banking environment, and after 25 years in his industry he has done nearly everything, including negotiations for intellectual property agreements to product deals, venture capital and mergers and acquisitions. . . More >

Weight Loss Stocks Race to End the Obesity Epidemic
Source: Diane Alter, Money Morning  (4/10/12)
"The economic burden of obesity is estimated to be 10% of total health care costs, with projections continuing to grow as the obesity epidemic spreads. For investors, that means weight loss stocks are poised to gain." More >

Breaking the Mold of Oncology Drug Development
Source: Seeking Alpha, Brian Nichols  (4/10/12)
"Looking at all oncology products on the market, it is striking to note how each targets a single factor in the complex processes that control tumor growth and invasion. It is almost like attempting to stop traffic in a city by blocking a single avenue: It only slows down traffic but doesn't stop it completely." More >

Fatty Acids Fight Cancer Spread
Source: News Medical  (4/9/12)
"Tiny agents found in omega-3 could potentially be used to block the path of primary cancer tumors, preventing the advance to secondary-stage cancers." More >

Biotech Stocks: How to Invest in the Buyout Binge
Source: William Patalon, Money Morning  (4/9/12)
"The very same problem that has big pharma execs wringing their hands is also creating one of the biggest profit opportunities we've seen in years." More >

Studies Suggest that When It Comes to Drug Development Success, Size Matters
Source: Alex Philippidis, Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News  (4/9/12)
"Studies have come to the conclusion that biologics hold better prospects than traditional small molecules of advancing all the way from the lab to the clinic to the market." More >

The Generic Drug Boom
Source: Patrick Cox, The Daily Reckoning  (4/9/12)
"Many popular and profitable medicines are nearing the end of their patent-protection periods. As blockbusters begin to face competition from generics, big pharma stands to lose." More >

Beautiful Music from Small Medtech
Source: George S. Mack of The Life Sciences Report  (4/5/12)
I was already aware that the Manhattan School of Music (MSM) produced the world's greatest musicians, but I didn't know that great sellside analysts were also minted there. Managing Director Frederick "Rick" Wise of New York City-based Leerink Swann is a proud MSM graduate, and he likes to say that he took the "classical route" to Wall Street. "I believe music was great preparation for being an analyst," he says. "I've been deciphering symbols and interpreting them and conveying the bottom line to people on a stage." More >

With or Without "Obamacare," Healthcare Stocks Are Headed Higher
Source: Don Miller, Money Morning  (4/2/12)
"With the bill's fate up in the air, major players will have to devise new strategies for either outcome." More >

Chasing Cheaper Cancer Drugs
Source: Reuters, Ben Hirschler  (4/2/12)
"A new model that takes advantage of the highly specific nature of modern targeted therapies could slash drug development timelines and costs." More >

Orphan Drugs: Small Is the New Big
Source: Medical Marketing & Media Deborah Weinstein  (4/1/12)
"Big Pharma is used to thinking big, but more and more companies are turning to the rare diseases category and to conditions that affect patient groups with populations less than than some small towns." More >

Great Values Among Battered Medical Technology Stocks
Source: George S. Mack, The Life Sciences Report  (3/29/12)
No industry in the healthcare sector has been shrouded with more pessimism than medical technology. It would be easy to check off all the boxes on your list of gloomy headwinds, dust off your hands and find another story for your investible dollars. Starting in 2013 the medical device tax is slated to empty $20 billion (B) from the pockets of medtechs over 10 years, and there seems to be no respite from FDA's prolonged approval times and ever-increasing demands for additional data. Combine these annoyances with a recession hangover, and you've got a classic case of malaise. Senior Medical Technology Analyst Junaid Husain of Minneapolis-based investment bank Dougherty & Company told me all the news isn't bad, however. In fact, if you know what you're looking for, there are real actionable ideas on the table.. . More >

The Supreme Court, the Affordable Care Act, and the Economy
Source: Tara Clarke, Money Morning  (3/26/12)
"The biggest issue is whether or not Congress has the constitutional power to require nearly every American to obtain health insurance or risk paying a penalty." More >

Looking for Innovative Small-Cap Biotech Companies: George Zavoico
Source: George S. Mack of The Life Sciences Report  (3/22/12)
High-quality science underlies successful drug development companies, even those that turn one company's discarded junk into biotech treasure. That's an example of one compelling investment strategy being employed by Senior Analyst and Managing Director George Zavoico of MLV & Co. In this exclusive interview with The Life Sciences Report, Zavoico lays out a number of solid ideas predicated on good science that growth seekers can leverage for real gains. More >