Durect Having Great Week with Painkiller News
Durect Corporation (DRRX) is having a great week so far.
The company inked a deal with Danish pharmaceutical company Nycomed to commercialize Posidur, a local anesthetic for post-op pain, in Europe. This deal could be worth over $200 million in royalties and upfront payments to Durect if Posidur reaches certain milestones. The drug is currently in various phase II trials, and is expected to enter phase III studies next year.
Durect also recieved some great news as its abuse-free opioid painkiller technology licensed to Pain Therapeutics showed positive results in a phase I trial. Pain Therapeutics is a BioHealth Investor Stock Pick.
Durect insiders were expecting great things to come as company officers were buying shares back in August and September.
Shares of Durect jumped more than 20% on Thursday with over 8 million shares trading hands. The 3-month daily average volume is just over 400 thousand shares.
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Thursday’s Top Biotech and Medical Stocks
Biotechnology
SHEFFIELD PHARM NEW [SFPH.OB] +47.93%
ZIOPHARM ONCOLOGY IN [ZIOP] +12.30%
BIOSANTE PHARMA INC [BPA] +11.84%
CADENCE PHARM. INC. [CADX] +10.42%
OXIGENE INC [OXGN] +10.42%
Diagnostic Substances
ORCHID CELLMARK INC [ORCH] +4.87%
AVALON PHARMACEUTIC [AVRX] +4.79%
ASPENBIO PHARMA INC [APNB.OB] +3.78%
ADEZA BIOMEDICAL COR [ADZA] +3.66%
SYNOVICS PHARMACEUTL [SYVC.OB] +2.78%
Drug Delivery
SYMBOLLON PHARM CL A [SYMBA.OB] +6.80%
BIOPROGRESS PLC [BPRG] +5.73%
SKYEPHARMA PLC [SKYE] +5.42%
IOMED INC [IOX] +4.74%
NEKTAR THERAPEUTIC [NKTR] +4.10%
Drug Manufacturers
DURECT CORP [DRRX] +23.16%
INTERPHARM HLDGS INC [IPA] +21.69%
PROTALEX INC [PRTX.OB] +8.51%
AMERICAN ORIENTL BIO [AOB] +5.88%
JAVELIN PHARMACEUTIC [JAV] +5.48%
Medical Appliances & Equipment
MEDICAL SOLUTION MGT [MSMT.OB] +33.11%
SPECTRASCIENCE NEW [SCIE.OB] +11.54%
ARRHYTHMIA RES TECH [HRT] +9.45%
SIGNALIFE INC [SGN] +4.90%
MICRUS ENDOVASCULAR [MEND] +4.74%
Medical Instruments & Supplies
TUTOGEN MEDICAL INC [TTG] +11.60%
ELECTRO-OPTICAL SCIE [MELA] +8.00%
MEMRY CORPORATION [MRY] +6.85%
ANGEION CORP [ANGN] +6.43%
OPHTHALMIC IMAGING SYS INC [OISI.OB] +5.35%
Medical Laboratories & Research
BIO-IMAGING TECH [BITI] +4.83%
PACIFIC BIOMETRICS N [PBME.OB] +4.67%
MEDASORB TECHNOLOGS [MSBT.OB] +3.70%
QUEST DIAGNOSTC [DGX] +3.46%
MEDTOX SCIENTFIC INC [MTOX] +3.11%
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Carrington Hopes Dental Market Improves Earnings
Carrington Laboratories (CARN) has signed a 3 year representative agreement with Executive Sales Associates (ESA) to provide their SaliCept line of oral patches and rinses to dental practitioners.
SaliCept products provide relief of pain associated with various dental and oral conditions, including dry sockets following extractions, mucositis and stomatitis associated with chemotherapy, and other oral irritations.
Under the agreement ESA will be responsible for the marketing and sale of the SaliCept line through its 23 person sales network across the U.S.
Carrington hopes to increase its sales and bottom line after a disappointing third quarter earnings report released back on November 2. The company lossed $1.8 million compared to the $1.6 lossed the previous year.
Revenues increased by 18% over the previous year spearheaded by a 40% increase in its consumer products, while its services segment continued to disappoint. However, the company’s total revenues actually decreased over the last nine months as compared to the previous year’s nine month period.
With only a $43 million market cap, and a debt level equaling five times its cash position Carrington must improve its bottom line and sales numbers quick or the company’s stock will be head down to penny land.
Shares of Carrington closed at $4 on Wednesday, with a 52-week price range of $2.76-$7.53
Carrington’s all-time chart leaves much to be desired.
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Biotech Penny Stocks Novadel and Insmed
by Andrew Vaino
A couple of biotech penny stocks I’ve mentioned recently have had pretty good runs. I touted Novadel (NVD) in the Newsletter for the week of November 11. NVD opened the following Monday at $1.34, and has been as high as $1.95 since.
I mentioned Insmed (INSM) in the Daily Blog on November 17th, when it was trading at $1.40. INSM has climbed as high as $1.98 recently.
I still very much like these two stocks, but feel some caution is in order. Prices for both have “softened” in the past two days. In the case of INSM I think this is just jitters over the outcome of their patent trial: I did note this was highly speculative.
In the case of NVD I am wondering if a follow-on offering of stock is going to happen soon. NVD filed a proxy statement for their January Shareholders Meeting that would increase the number of authorized shares from 100M to 200M. Note, NVD currently has only 49M shares outstanding, less than half what they are currently authorized. Net Assets for NVD are around $10M, so, with the stock trading near 3-year highs a stock offering would not be a huge surprise. When this will be is impossible to gauge.
I think protective stops for both INSM and NVD might be a good idea. Even set as low as $1.60 profits of 15% and 20%, repsectively, would still be had—not bad for less than a month. To be clear, I still very much like NVD long term, but think maybe there’s a chance to make some money with some deft timing. I also like INSM, but see it as just a trade based on the current trial.
Dynavax Hepatitis B Phase III Study Positive
Shares of Dynavax Technologies Corp (DVAX) jumped more than 30% on Wednesday after the company announced that its Hepatitis B phase III clinical study showed positive results. The announcement came following market close on Tuesday.
The study showed a statistically significant advantage of Dynavax’s HEPLISAV HEP B vaccine when compared to the conventional vaccine, Engerix-B, developed by GlaxoSmithKline (GSK).
What is of primary importance is the fact that HEPLISAV outperformed Engerix-B in older subjects, a population who has historically proven more difficult to immunize.
It was able to provide over 98% protection in this older population after only two doses.
Further trials of HEPLISAV are planned to take place in Canada and Europe to investigate multiple dosing regimens and the effects of the vaccine in differing age populations. Dynavax expects these trials to conclude in 2008.
Shares of Dynavax closed at $9.79 after establishing a new intraday 52-week high.
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Targeted Genetics Stock Continues Unexplained Rise
Shares of Targeted Genetics (TGEN) continued to rise on Wednesday gaining more than 13% to $5.39. On Monday, TGEN stock jumped more than 50%. Both days saw a tremendous spike in volume with no detectable news or any other significant events.
Back on November 8th BioHealth Investor suggested that Biogen Idec (BIIB) should buyout TGEN after the biotech giant helped ease the company’s debt levels through a restructuring agreement. Under the agreement BIIB also purchased more TGEN stock.
Could Biogen or any other company be in merger talks with Targeted Genetics?
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Pain Therapeutics Phase I Study Positive
Pain Therapeutics (PTIE) announced early on Wednesday that its phase I clinical study of the abuse resistant opioid painkiller, PTI-202, showed positive results.
The study was aimed at investigating the safety and tolerability of PTI-202.
The company is focused on research and development of its opioid painkiller portfolio that exhibit non-abuse potential as compared to traditional opioids on the market.
Pain Therapeutics was chosen as a BioHealth Investor Stock Pick back on November 19.
Wednesday’s Top Biotech and Medical Stocks
Biotechnology
REXAHN PHARMACEUTICL [RXHN.OB] +25.00%
POLYDEX PHARM LTD [POLXF] +20.26%
TARGETED GENETICS CP [TGEN] +13.24%
BIODELIVERY SCI INTL [BDSI] +12.84%
SHEFFIELD PHARM NEW [SFPH.OB] +12.67%
Diagnostic Substances
HEALTHCARE TECH LTD [HCTL] +107.87%
PRESSURE BIOSCIENC [PBIO] +9.86%
EPIX PHARMACEUTICALS [EPIX] +8.43%
AVIGEN INC [AVGN] +7.81%
REMOTEMDX INC [RMDX.OB] +5.10%
Drug Delivery
IOMED INC [IOX] +7.41%
BIOPROGRESS PLC [BPRG] +7.05%
FLAMEL TECH SA ADR [FLML] +3.12%
NOVEN PHARMACEUTIC [NOVN] +3.09%
COLUMBIA LABS INC [CBRX] +2.33%
Drug Manufacturers
DYNAVAX TECHNOLOGIES [DVAX] +32.30%
SINOVAC BIOTECH LTD [SVA] +12.37%
PROTALEX INC [PRTX.OB] +11.90%
DEPOMED INC [DEPO] +10.13%
ALEXZA PHARMACEUTICA [ALXA] +7.20%
Medical Appliances & Equipment
POSSIS MEDICAL INC [POSS] +9.64%
QMED INC [QMED] +6.86%
SPECTRASCIENCE NEW [SCIE.OB] +6.56%
THERMAGE, INC. [THRM] +6.36%
THERAGENICS CORP [TGX] +5.96%
Medical Instruments & Supplies
NEPHROS INC. [NEP] +16.67%
MINDRAY MEDICAL INTL [MR] +7.21%
ANGEION CORP [ANGN] +6.50%
IVAX DIAGNOSTICS INC [IVD] +5.71%
BOVIE MEDICAL CORP [BVX] +5.49%
Medical Laboratories & Research
GENOMIC HEALTH, INC. [GHDX] +12.86%
PREMD INC [PME] +7.59%
BIOFORCE NANOSCIENCE [BFNH.OB] +6.06%
BIO-IMAGING TECH [BITI] +5.24%
AASTROM BIOSCIENCE [ASTM] +3.03%
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Sangamo BioSciences Initiates Phase II Diabetes Study
Sangamo BioSciences (SGMO) announced early Wednesday that it has initiated its first phase II clinical trial for SB-509, an injectable formulation of plasmid DNA being investigated for the treatment of diabetic peripheral motor sensory neuropathy in the legs.
The study will attempt to study the safety and clinical effects of repeated dosing of SB-509.
The initiation of the study has triggered the first milestone payment of the $3 million in total promised by the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF).
Sangamo, a $200 million company on the market, carries more than $50 million in cash and no debt.
Shares closed at $7.74 on Tuesday, near the 52-week high of $8.28 reached back in May.
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Anika Therapeutics Jumps 20% on FDA Letter
Shares of Anika Therapeutics (ANIK) jumped more than 20% on Tuesday after the company announced it had received an approvable letter from the FDA regarding its Cosmetic Tissue Augmentation (CTA) product.
CTA is an injectable filler used for facial wrinkles and other cosmetic procedures. It is based on Anika’s proprietary modified hyaluronic acid, and includes the common anesthetic Lidocaine.
The company expects final approval by end of 2006 and commercialization by mid-2007. The company intends on refiling with the FDA and European Union to enhance product features before commercial launch.
The company’s financials have been looking great as both revenues and net earning have been increasing over the last few years.
The company holds almost $50 million in cash and no debt, and is currently worth less than $150 million on the market.
Shares of Anika closed at $13.90 a share, near its 52-week high of $15.37
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