Response Biomedical - a featured webcast from Rodman & Renshaw's Conference
2008-11-20 22:06:26
Here is just one of the webcast's from last week's Rodman & Renshaw Conference, an enormous - and enormously successful - investor event with over 500 companies. Click here to listen.
Rodman has historically specialized in Life Sciences, and this is really interesting presentation from Reponse Biomedical, a small Canadian firm focusing on Cardiac disease and Infectious diseases.
This is a company we interviewed back in March in TWST too - you can read the interview here.
Testosterone Tests Effective
2008-11-20 18:23:45
As part of our biotechnology special focus this week, TWST did an interview with the Stephen Simes, president and CEO of BioSante Pharmaceuticals (BPAX) - a speciality pharmaceutical company focusing specifically on female sexual health. The company received good news last week, when a study was published on the effectiveness of testosterone in treating female sexual health in postmenopausal women. The study claimed that testosterone had modest but meaningful results of patients. BioSante is currently on Phase III trials of LibiGel- a testosterone based gel for the treatment of HSDD (hypoactive sexual desire disorder) in menopausal and postmenopausal women. The study is a positive step for them towards gaining FDA approval. For our full interview with CEO Stephen Simes- including a complete overview of the company and its outlook for the future, click here. To learn more about LipiGel and the above mentioned study click here.
Off the Record: Biotechnology
2008-11-18 16:28:48
Continuing with our special focus this week on Biotechnology, we spoke to analysts and CEOs from across the sector to tell us their favorite biotech picks in this turbulent economic time:- Array BioPharma Inc. (ARRY)- "I really like the guys at Array. I've known them from the get go, from the start of the company, and it is one of the best management teams, in my view, on the Street."
- Genentech, Inc. (DNA)- "I'll say it's Genentech, because they've maintained a balance of innovation in an innovative environment they've balanced innovation with the business of pharmaceuticals. And if they're smart, they'll maintain that atmosphere, otherwise it will then roll over into a full pharma environment and strategy, which has not been as productive for new drugs in the biotech industry."
- Halozyme (HALO)- "When you get to the smaller ones, of which there are thousands, I don't know that there are that many impressive management teams. I have been impressed, however, with a group in San Diego the management team at Halozyme. I think they've done a very nice job of taking a company and leveraging its assets and doing all the right things."
Featured Interview- Richard Hollis of Hollis-Eden
2008-11-17 12:02:23
This week at TWST, our special focus is on biotechnology.
As part of this, we've done an in-depth interview with Richard Hollis,
Chairman, President and CEO of Hollis-Eden Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (HEPH:NASDAQ) which gives special insight into this unique company.
Hollis-Eden Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is a world leader in the development of a proprietary class of adrenal steroid hormones as novel pharmaceuticals for human health. The companys clinical drug development candidates include TRIOLEX (HE3286), a next-generation compound currently in clinical trials for the treatment of type 2 diabetes, ulcerative colitis and rheumatoid arthritis, and APOPTONE (HE3235), a next-generation compound in a clinical trial for late-stage prostate cancer. In addition to these clinical development candidates, Hollis-Eden has an active research program that is generating additional new clinical leads that are being further evaluated in preclinical models of a number of different diseases.
The full interview can be read at http://www.twst.com/pdf/aky614.pdf
Medical Devices Pick: CombiMatrix
2008-09-29 17:24:40
Our special focus this week at TWST is on Medical Devices. We spoke with analyst John Putnam of Dawson James Securities a little bit about what he sees as the strongest players in this space right now. Putnam's pick is a company called CombiMatrix (CBMX), what he describes as a "leading company in doing genetic testing." Here's what he had to say the main appeal of CombiMatrix was:"CombiMatrix has a prenatal test that can replace the old test, an amniocentesis to test primarily for Down Syndrome. There are more than 100 abnormalities that a fetus can have and CombiMatrix has a single test that identifies all of them as compared to just four or five that a normal amniocentesis would do, with the cost being the same. So the information gained from that kind of a test is so much greater than what we used to have that you really have a good idea of whether the child is going to be normal or not."Putnam sees CombiMatrix as a good company to play in this space. The reason is that the way they makes these tests, they are allowed to put products on the market without needing to go to the FDA, whereas its competitors are forced to. They have been able to put a new test out every quarter for the last six quarters- far exceeding their competitors. For the complete interview with Mr. Putnam- including an overview of the state of this space in general, where its heading and more stock picks, click here.