Record Number of Biotechs Under Strategic Review (BPAX, CEGE, EPIX, IDMI, NRGN, TPTX, LJPC, NFLD)
It is hard to know if this is a record of the number of biotech stocks which are under strategic review, but the number is above and beyond normal. Biosante Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: BPAX), Cell Genesys, Inc. (NASDAQ: CEGE), EPIX Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: EPIX), IDM Pharma, Inc. (NASDAQ: IDMI), Neurogen Corporation (NASDAQ: NRGN), and TorreyPines Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: TPTX) are all under strategic reviews and many of their futures are probably questionable at best. Even La Jolla Pharmaceutical Co. (NASDAQ: LJPC) is in this group; and Northfield Laboratories Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLD) fits loosely into this category while not being a classic biotech.
Biosante Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: BPAX) has Deutsche as its advisor in its exploration of strategic alternatives. This stock is at $2.06 and its 52-week range is $0.81 to $5.85. This used to be a $10 stock and it has been public since 2001. Back in December, Kingsbridge committed to provide up to $25 million of capital for a period of two years. This one was set up to explore treatments for female sexual health, menopause, contraception, and male hypogonadism.
Cell Genesys, Inc. (NASDAQ: CEGE) retained Lazard last month to help it explore strategic alternatives now that most of its operations have been wound down. Some were once hoping it would have the same sort of hope that Dendreon had for prostate cancer, but that is history now. Amazingly enough, this one has been public since the early 1990’s and shares used to be massively higher than now.
EPIX Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: EPIX) has JPMorgan to help it explore strategic alternatives. This one is at $0.30 and the 52-week range is $0.21 to $2.50. EPIX has been public since 1997 and was usually above $10.00 until late in 2005. It never saw that again. This is set up to treat diseases of the central nervous system and lung conditions.
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Synthetic Blood Fades Away Into History (SYBD, OXBO, NFLD)
In 1999 there were high hopes for synthetic blood. In 2009 there look to be almost zero options for synthetic blood.
This morning we have seen an announcement out of Synthetic Blood International, Inc.
(OTCBB:SYBD) saying that the new name for the company is Oxygen Biotherapeutics, Inc. It will also have a new stock ticker of “OXBO” on the OTC-Bulletin Board. The company’s chairman noted that it has several exciting bio-therapeutic applications for its Oxycyte(R), yet none of them is synthetic blood.
If you recall, the big hope was banking on a company called Northfield Labs Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLD). Its PolyHeme® blood substitute was hoped for by many as the holy grail for blood substitutes in emergency applications. It unfortunately failed miserably, although the company still does routine updates on progress there. We noted that this one is for all practical purposes in a zombie status.
In 2019 we’ll be talking about fake blood. Likely it will be from some other company that might not even exist today. For now it seems D.O.A.
Jon Ogg
July 1, 2008
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