Brinson Patrick's Christopher S. James: All Catalysts Are Not Created Equal
Source: George S. Mack of The Life Sciences Report  (12/4/14)
Why do some good-news milestones cause stocks to languish, or even fall? Neurosurgeon Christopher James, managing director and senior biotechnology analyst at Brinson Patrick Securities, performs due diligence on stocks, in part, by connecting his clinical experience to the readiness of physicians and patients to adopt new therapies. In this interview with The Life Sciences Report, James gives real-life examples of catalysts and their effects, and highlights three strong biotech plays that could return multiples of invested capital. More >

Cowboy Up for a Biotech Stock Winner Has Wall Street Fooled
Source: Michael Robinson, Money Morning  (12/2/14)
"Sovaldi sales are slowing down for a simple but lucrative reason. Gilead Sciences is set to release a new drug that will soon replace this blockbuster—and that may do even better." More >

Taking Multiple Shots on the Cancer Treatment Goal: Rexahn's Peter Suzdak
Source: George S. Mack of The Life Sciences Report  (11/28/14)
Rexahn Pharmaceuticals Inc.'s cancer-fighting drug development platform is built on a theme that focuses on targets exclusive to tumor cells—the ultimate strategy in the silver-bullet theory of dealing with disease because it can increase efficacy while reducing off-target effects, including heart and liver toxicity. Moreover, lower toxicity enables higher drug doses, which could enhance the desired therapeutic effects. In this interview with The Life Sciences Report, Rexahn CEO Peter D. Suzdak, Ph.D. talks about his company's clinical-stage drug candidates, and links their mechanisms of action to the ultimate value proposition for owning company shares. More >

Rolling with Biotech's Regulatory Punches: Chen Lin
Source: Peter Byrne of The Life Sciences Report  (11/25/14)
Being temporarily burned by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration can be a mixed blessing for a biotech with a good product in the pipeline. In an interview with The Life Sciences Report, Chen Lin, publisher of the investor newsletter What is Chen Buying? What is Chen Selling?, explains how to make money on biotech trades in sync with both the good regulatory news and the bad. More >

Investment Banker Dick Huebner on How to Uncover Micro-Cap Biotechs that Deliver on Promises
Source: George S. Mack of The Life Sciences Report  (11/20/14)
Micro-cap stocks suffer from all sorts of ills. They are often illiquid, and companies can be unable to raise new funds under reasonable terms, if at all. Investing in these equities requires extraordinary expertise and experience, and that is where micro-cap investment banker Richard "Dick" Huebner excels. In this interview with The Life Sciences Report, Huebner, a senior managing partner with Denver-based GVC Capital, discusses the downside and the upside of micro-cap biotech investment, and the desirable characteristics risk takers should be looking for in very small companies. More >

Pharma Must Navigate New Payer Landscape
Source: Patrick Flochel, EY  (11/19/14)
"Navigating the complex and fragmented payer landscape at a time when health care is dramatically changing—both in how it is delivered and in how it is paid for—has been challenging for pharma and raised many questions about what payers want, their attitudes and how best to engage with them." More >

Another Huge Stride in the Fight Against Cancer
Source: Stephen Petranek, The Daily Reckoning  (11/17/14)
"The age-old pessimism that has pervaded the diseases we call cancer may, just a few years after Jobs died, finally be turning. The National Institutes of Health lists 45,571 clinical trials underway for cancer therapies right now." More >

Ebola's Silver Lining: MLV & Co.'s George Zavoico
Source: George S. Mack of The Life Sciences Report  (11/12/14)
A working knowledge of molecular biology is essential for a biotech investor, but it helps when someone with deep knowledge of science and medicine can bring understanding to the people who commit capital to growth ideas. George Zavoico of MLV & Co. has that advantage, having been a senior investigator at a large pharma before moving on to research at smaller, pure biotech firms. In this interview with The Life Sciences Report, Zavoico brings a wealth of experience to bear on the valuations of smaller companies with phenomenal growth prospects, and discusses how the quest for a cure for Ebola could disrupt—and improve—our approach to medical crises. More >

It's a Record Year for Biotech IPOs and Still More to Come
Source: Peter Winter, BioWorld  (11/11/14)
"The total of IPOs completed by biotech companies, whose primary focus is on developing therapeutics, this year now stands at 67, a milestone that no one in the industry could ever have predicted at the beginning of this year." More >

Biotech Watchlist Update: Small-Cap Biotechs Struggle to Rebound
Source: Tracy Salcedo-Chourré of The Life Sciences Report  (11/6/14)
When the biotechnology market hit a speed bump in early 2014, every stock in the sector was jolted. Large-cap biotech and big pharma have largely recovered, but small- and micro-cap companies haven't yet entirely recouped the losses. The performance of Streetwise Reports' Biotechnology Watchlist to date reflects this trend: The portfolio lingered in negative territory after the late-winter punch, and hovers near breakeven as of Nov. 3. To get a handle on the drivers of small-cap stock price volatility, The Life Sciences Report turned to a pair of the analysts who selected companies for the 2014 Watchlist, John McCamant of the Medical Technology Stock Letter and George Zavoico of MLV & Co. In this recap, the two experts offer updates on the companies they selected for the portfolio. More >

R. Lee Buckler: How RepliCel Is Harnessing the Awesome Power of Cell Therapy
Source: George S. Mack of The Life Sciences Report  (11/6/14)
Regenerative medicine and cell therapies hold possibilities for achieving near miracles in a multitude of indications, from life-saving treatments to aesthetic applications. RepliCel Life Sciences Inc. (RP:TSX.V; REPCF:OTCQB) is tackling a mix of medical and cosmetic issues that include hair regeneration, repair of painful and debilitating tendon injuries and rejuvenation of damaged skin. In this interview with The Life Sciences Report, R. Lee Buckler, the company's new vice president of business and corporate development, discusses his firm's innovative technology platform and the upcoming milestones that could affect its shares. More >

Orphan Drug Price Rises Indicate Sector Trends
Source: EP Vantage   (11/5/14)
"The report indicates that orphan drugs have been successful in sustaining their eye-watering prices. But with so many non-orphan drugs coming in at tens of thousands of dollars, payers may grow intolerant of steep price rises across the spectrum." More >

Huge Growth Delivered in Very Small Packages: SeeThruEquity's Ajay Tandon and Brandon Primack
Source: George S. Mack of The Life Sciences Report  (10/30/14)
Institutional investors are, by and large, unable to own shares in companies with market valuations of less than $100 million, which means most sellside analysts don't write research on very small companies. The paradox: The micro-cap space is where investors can find the tenbaggers. That disconnect and its attendant irony are not lost on SeeThruEquity's Ajay Tandon and Brandon Primack. In this interview with The Life Sciences Report, Tandon and Primack discuss four companies nurturing seeds of dramatic growth that could materialize in the wake of upcoming catalysts. More >

The Game-Changing Potential of DNA Vaccines: Inovio's Dr. Joseph Kim
Source: George S. Mack of The Life Sciences Report  (10/29/14)
Since Edward Jenner's development of the smallpox vaccine in the late 1790s, humankind has enjoyed the benefit of immunization, which has saved many millions of lives. Today, Inovio Pharmaceuticals Inc. (INO:NASDAQ) is in the forefront of developing DNA vaccines, inserting engineered genes into cellular machinery to synthesize proteins that, in turn, generate antibodies that fight disease. An additional benefit is a powerful T-cell response, which harnesses the patient's own capacity to fight infections and cancers. If pivotal studies read out favorably, DNA immunization could prove a true game changer in healthcare. In this interview with The Life Sciences Report, Inovio President and CEO J. Joseph Kim discusses his company's platform technology, which addresses both therapeutic and preventive methods of fighting disease. More >

Is Biotech M&A Mojo Here to Stay? Bright Prospects and Rising Firepower Drive Deals
Source: Andrew Forman, EY  (10/23/14)
"Despite modest revenue growth, the industry has provided a total return to shareholders in excess of the performance of most major stock indices in 2014." More >

Japan Gives a Hug to the Cell Therapy Industry: R. Lee Buckler
Source: George S. Mack of The Life Sciences Report  (10/22/14)
Last year, Japan rolled out the red carpet for cell therapy developers with new legislation designed to expedite development of regenerative medicine solutions for all manner of disease. In this interview with The Life Sciences Report, former regenerative medicine consultant R. Lee Buckler, now a vice president with RepliCel Life Sciences Inc., puts his consultant's hat back on to talk about Japan's hospitable stance on proposed cell therapies. He provides an update on the meaning of the new law and discusses a small cohort of companies poised to reap the advantages. More >

The Evolution of the Cancer Cure
Source: Ray Blanco, The Daily Reckoning  (10/20/14)
"Provided new therapies keep becoming available, a cancer patient can sometimes "hitchhike" from one to the next for a long time." More >

How to Bargain Hunt for Hot Biotechs: Edison's Pooya Hemami
Source: Peter Byrne of The Life Sciences Report  (10/15/14)
Every business day, Edison Investment Research Analyst Pooya Hemami scours the global markets for life science companies with upside flowing through their product pipelines. In this interview with The Life Sciences Report, Dr. Hemami tells us where to look for biotech bargains, including a few top-fliers and a handful of companies that have experienced temporary setbacks but are poised for blue sky. More >

Shabbvie Marks Difference Between Great and Exceptional Deal Quarter
Source: EP Vantage  (10/15/14)
"The summer slowdown was officially cancelled this year as $100B of third-quarter mergers and takeovers blasted the previous period into oblivion—or at least this is how things stood before news emerged that AbbVie was having second thoughts about buying Shire." More >

Griffin Securities' Keith Markey on the Promise of RNAi and Synthetic Biology
Source: Michael Goodman of The Life Sciences Report  (10/9/14)
Griffin Securities has assembled a biotech portfolio weighted toward companies pursuing high-science therapeutic approaches. However, as analyst Keith Markey explains, through a combination of pipeline diversification, positive clinical data, and low-cost research and development strategies, many companies are able to mitigate the risk inherent in their technologies. In this interview with The Life Sciences Report, Markey discusses near-term catalysts for some of the names he follows. More >

Traders' Infatuation with Ebola Drugs Causing 'Rollercoaster' Market, Says Tekmira CEO
Source: Riley McDermid, BioSpace  (10/8/14)
"Stocks of MAP Pharmaceuticals, which produced the first successful Ebola treatment, ZMapp, and those of Chimerix, which has had its antiviral, brincidofovir, approved for experimental treatment, have all climbed by double digits as the virus has spread globally." More >

A Tour of Australian Biotechs with Morgans’ Scott Power
Source: Peter Byrne of The Life Sciences Report  (10/2/14)
Australia is a powerhouse for medical science innovations, and nobody understands that better than Scott Power of Morgans Financial Ltd. Power watched the weaker Australian firms go the way of the dodo bird during the downturn in the biotech sector earlier this year, leaving only the fittest for investors to choose from. In this interview with The Life Sciences Report, he identifies a promising selection of survivors—biotechs with the power to rejuvenate an evolving portfolio. More >

Avoid These Biotech Stocks to Minimize Risk
Source: Kyle Anderson, Money Morning  (9/30/14)
With just a couple of tips, investors can drastically reduce the risk and go on to benefit from massive windfalls generated by a company's breakthrough drug development. More >

Three Biotech Investment Ideas that Disrupt and Diversify: Anita Dushyanth
Source: Peter Byrne of The Life Sciences Report  (9/25/14)
Good management. Promising therapies in the pipeline. Marketed products that bolster the bottom line. Investors crave these bread-and-butter qualities in small-cap biotech and medtech companies. Anita Dushyanth of Zacks Investment Research relies on the staples, but also looks for something special, something that disrupts. In this interview with The Life Sciences Report, Dushyanth describes several small companies that have spiced up their offerings. More >

Looking for Love: Unpartnered Pipeline Drugs Gain Value
Source: Jacob Plieth and Amy Brown, EP Vantage   (9/22/14)
"It is deals like Afrezza's that continue to fuel interest in unpartnered assets, however improbable and overblown the forecasts might seem." More >