Reviews and news about biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies and their products. Additional information about the stock performance of these companies
Friday, December 14, 2012
Something different
I'm hoping to post some new findings in the next 3 days. I have some immediate deadlines that need to be addressed before I can go back to having fun :)
I know I have been silent these days, but trying to find a new career (if you have any available let me know :) )
In the mean time please check out these links:
Something different: http://posts.fanbox.com/6l765
Some perfect gifts to give for Christmas!
http://yardsellr.com/yardsale/Zeus-Hens-778835?pap=778835
Thursday, September 20, 2012
Sangamo Biosciences .. Treatment for HIV?
Sangamo Biosciences (SGMO)
This is an interesting biopharmaceutical company
involved in the development of drugs against HIV at the clinical stage. They
have been developing and commercializing the use of zinc finger DNA binding
proteins (ZFPs) and modifying them to become nucleases (cut nucleic acids).
Monday, August 06, 2012
Arena Pharmaceuticals and G protein coupled receptors
Arena (ARNA)
This is an interesting biopharmaceutical company. It is
focused on developing and commercializing oral drugs that target
G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) in the areas of inflammatory, metabolic,
cardiovascular, and central nervous system.
Monday, July 30, 2012
Gilead is going for the Gold (in honor of the Olympics :) )
For Fun: Please check out www.wondersofkindle.com Thanks!
Gilead Sciences is a research-based biopharmaceutical
company that discovers, develops and commercializes medicines. Their primary
focus areas include HIV/AIDS, hepatitis B and C, cardiovascular and respiratory
conditions. They are a global company with operations in North America, Europe
and Asia Pacific. They have many
products as shown below in this table.
Thursday, July 26, 2012
Onyx Pharmaceuticals it is all in the black….:)
Onyx Pharmaceuticals has a lot of clinical trials going on and development of drugs in the hopper.
Onyx Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: ONXX) announced today in
Blood, the medical journal of the American Society of Hematology, has published
their results from the 003-A1 Phase 2b trial, a single-arm, multicenter
clinical trial evaluating Kyprolis(TM) (carfilzomib) for Injection for the
treatment of patients with advanced multiple myeloma, who had received a median
of five prior anti-myeloma regimens.
Labels:
blood,
bone,
bortezomib,
carfilzomib,
clinical trials,
dexamethasone,
ER,
kyprolis,
myeloma,
NSLC,
onxx,
onyx,
onyx pharmaceuticals,
osteoblast,
osteoclast,
proteosome,
ps-341,
velcade,
ziegel
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
Both sides of the coin for Sanofi
Both sides of the coin for Sanofi
Some
interesting recent news in France about Sanofi, which use to be called Sanofi-Aventis,
came out today. As we have seen in the past, the people in France like to
protest. “Workers at Sanofi (SAN) had a message for politicians at protests in
Paris this month: Job cuts by the nation’s biggest drugmaker are crushing
morale among researchers and hurting the company’s ability to develop new
products (http://www.biospace.com/News/genzyme-corporations-rd-culture-pushes-sanofi/267846)
.”
I wonder if it is going to have an effect on what happens to the company?
The chief Executive Officer Chris Viehbacher was not persuaded by those
arguments. After purchasing Genzyme Corp.
for $20.1 billion last year, the CEO was inspired to refashion Sanofi in the
Cambridge, Massachusetts-based company’s image, a project he is pursuing at
full bore. Scientists are now organized as hubs, in the hopes that scientists
will be more open and share their ideas with one another. In the new
headquarters in Paris, he has had coffee bars installed for workers to mingle. He chose Genzyme executives to run the Boston
R&D hub and Sanofi’s U.S. business development. His daughter is even
interning at Genzyme. Sounds like he is keeping it all in the family,
huh….
Besides
the disgruntled employees in France, the FDA has also brought some charges
against Sanofi too that they posted on July 12th on their website.
There appears to be mold problems in several of Sanofi’s plants located both in
Canada and France. The drug TheraCys BCG
Live is produced in the Canadian plant and because of these issues has created
a shortage of the drug. The FDA has requested renovations at the Canadian
plant. (http://www.biospace.com/News/fda-to-meet-sanofi-france-execs-over-violations-at/267717)
What does this mean
for the stock, SNYNF:OTCQB?
Overall
its performance has been up a little over 7% for the year. It doesn’t appear
that any analyst is following the stock? OR at least none that is evident on
the Scottrade website. The stock has ranged from 62.30 in September of 2011 to
78.45 in July of 2011. Presently the stock is at 74.05, which is just bobbing
below the high for the stock.
If
I was going to take a guess, I would say that the stock is going to go down on
the news that I have provided above. However, if some new drugs or advancement
comes out of Sanofi, then I think the stock will go up a bit. However, from
what I see it doesn’t seem like it is going to go up much higher for now.
Check
out the chart and the news, and let me know what you think!?
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
Peregrine Pharmaceuticals is Flying High
For Fun after enjoying my blog, please go to:
So what is Peregrine Pharmaceutical Inc business?
http://adf.ly/AltA4 and enjoy a few e-books.
So what is Peregrine Pharmaceutical Inc business?
This company is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company that
develops and manufactures monoclonal antibodies for the treatment of cancer and
viral infections. As of April 30, 2011, the Company had three Phase II clinical
programs, including two oncology programs, as well as a hepatitis C virus (HCV)
program. Peregrine's pipeline of investigational monoclonal antibodies is based
on two technology platforms, including phosphatidylserine (PS)-targeting
antibodies and deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA)/histone-targeting antibodies.
Bavituximab is its PS-targeting antibody. Cotara is the Company's
DNA/histone-targeting antibody-based on its Tumor Necrosis Therapy (TNT)
technology platform. Peregrine's wholly owned biomanufacturing subsidiary is
Avid Bioservices, Inc., which provides integrated cGMP commercial and clinical
manufacturing services for Peregrine and third-party clients (Compliments of
Scottrade).
As you can see, this company’s main focus is using antibodies to
targeting difficult cancers by either targeting a phospholipid called
phosphatidylserine at the cell membrane or by targeting a DNA-histone complex .
These are both effective mechanisms for targeting a cancer, especially if it is
hard to reach by conventional manners.
More recently, Peregrine provided promising evidence that bavituximab improves tumor response and survival trends in a randomized Phase II trial for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).
Additionally, Peregrine announced the start of investigator initiated Phase 1 trial with for up to 18 patients with stage II or III rectal adenocarcinoma with the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) at Texas Southwestern Medical Center (http://ir.peregrineinc.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=692072)
So why did I pick this company to blog about? Well, I did a stock screen for companies in healthcare>> Biotechnology and Drugs that were over 20% increase in stock price in the last 5 days and checked out the charts of the stock. This stock has had a terrific run for the last few days. The news on PPHM suggests that it will continue to increase; how much more is not known.
More recently, Peregrine provided promising evidence that bavituximab improves tumor response and survival trends in a randomized Phase II trial for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).
Additionally, Peregrine announced the start of investigator initiated Phase 1 trial with for up to 18 patients with stage II or III rectal adenocarcinoma with the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) at Texas Southwestern Medical Center (http://ir.peregrineinc.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=692072)
So why did I pick this company to blog about? Well, I did a stock screen for companies in healthcare>> Biotechnology and Drugs that were over 20% increase in stock price in the last 5 days and checked out the charts of the stock. This stock has had a terrific run for the last few days. The news on PPHM suggests that it will continue to increase; how much more is not known.
Both S&P and Reuters have improved their rating from the
negatives to neutral (Rank 4) four days ago. This year is looking good for the Biotechnology stocks.
My 2 cents, as a stock, I would buy it (haha if I had money) at
1.80 is a bargain and watch it to continue its ride up. I would keep an eye on
the technicals, because there is sure to be a dip that would be a buying point.
Tell me what you think….
Check out the chart below:
Sunday, July 15, 2012
Alnylam Pharmaecuticals and Ascletis form an agreement
For some amusement, please check out this website link: http://adf.ly/AltA4
Alnylam Pharmaceuticals (ALNY) and RNAi technology
As I have said in a previous posting, most
large biopharmaceutical companies have been focusing on humanizing antibodies. It is good to find that there are some
companies that are looking at RNAi. Alnylam Pharmaceuticals (ALNY) is focusing more
on RNAi and lipid nanoparticles. Their
technology recently been licensed to Ascletis
Pharmaceuticals, a Chinese/American company where the two companies have formed
a strategic collaboration to develop ALN-VSP, an RNAi therapeutic for treatment
of liver cancer.
On July 12th, Ascletis announced the
formation of an agreement between Alnylam and a Ascletis to develop ALN-VSP, an
RNAi Therapeutic for the Treatment of Liver Cancers (http://www.ascletis.com/N07122012.html
)
So what do I think of Alnylam, this is an
exciting company that has the potential to treat a lot of different diseases
and syndromes. It is based in Cambridge MA, which is one of the nuclei of
pharmaceutical companies in the US. Using nanoparticles made of lipids provides
a way to transfer the interfering RNAs (RNAi) into the cell without triggering
the immune system response is the way to go. Avoiding the use of viruses will
help it be accepted by the public.
The use of RNAi’s clearly demonstrates that
this company is following the most recent literature and an understanding that
epigenetic regulation of the cell is an important aspect to understand for
treatment of cancers and disease. Their focus on the liver for their drug is
understandable, since the liver has a high capacity for taking in lipid based particles
into the cell, and the liver has a higher degree of cellular division than most
tissues.
The one aspect of this company that makes me
cautious to recommend it fully, is that it is not hiring scientists in the US.
I agree that collaboration is good, and China has a plethora of people and
scientists to collaborate with, but that Alnylam is not hiring and supporting scientists
in the US makes me hesitate about fully endorsing this company.
What about the stock itself? S and P gave it 4 stars. Reuter’s gives it
7/10 in neutral toward the positive and Second Opinion upgraded it about 34
days ago closer to “Improving”. It has had a positive run in the last month; it
seems to have a resistance at 13.00. If you wait for a pull back, I think it’s
a good bargain. Or if you are going to hold it for long, I recommend this
stock. (my 2cents, no I don’t own the stock)
Some extra information below:
From scottrade:
Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Alnylam) is a
biopharmaceutical company developing therapeutics based on ribonucleic acid
interface (RNAi). Its Alnylam 5x15, is focused on the development and
commercialization of novel RNAi therapeutics for the treatment of genetically
defined diseases. Its core programs in clinical or pre-clinical development
are: ALN-TTR for the treatment of transthyretin-mediated amyloidosis (ATTR);
ALN-APC for the treatment of hemophilia; ALN-PCS for the treatment of severe
hypercholesterolemia; ALN-HPN for the treatment of refractory anemia, and
ALN-TMP for the treatment of hemoglobinopathies, including beta-thalassemia and
sickle cell anemia. The Company has three partner-based programs in clinical or
pre-clinical development, including ALN-RSV01 for the treatment of respiratory
syncytial virus (RSV), infection, ALN-VSP for the treatment of liver cancers
and ALN-HTT for the treatment of Huntington's disease (HD).
Alnylam Pharmaceuticals in the last 3 months, courtesy of Scottrade |
Labels:
alny,
alnylam,
ascletis,
cambridge,
cancer,
china,
huntingtons,
liver,
RNA interference,
RNAi
Monday, July 09, 2012
Acadia Pharmaceuticals stock and pipeline
ACADIA Pharmaceuticals
Inc (ACAD)
This quiet
little stock has been slowly increasing since June. The stock has outperformed
the Dow and S&P 500 during trading in June.
So
what does Acadia do for a business? Acadia has several preclinical and clinical
trials going to treat Alzheimer’s disease psychosis. The
drug pimavanserin is an inverse agonist on the serotonin receptor subtype 5-HT2a. An inverse agonist binds to the receptor as
an agonist, but induces the opposite response.
The level of activity of the receptor needs to decrease basal levels of the
receptor when it binds. Recently preclinical
studies of pimavanserin are being developed for Parkinson’s disease psychosis
and is said to be already in Phase III trial for Parkinson’s disease psychosis
(Dow Jones News) and may also have therapeutic benefits in treatment of
Alzheimer’s disease psychosis (ADP) as seen in a rodent model of Alzheimer’s
disease (Businesswire). Interesting Wikipedia takes a more negative view on the
efficacy of pimavanserin on ADP.
So all that being said, what does this
mean for the stock? Well it has been upgraded 10 days ago by Reuters to neutral
and Second opinion upgraded it 7 days ago to improving. The below graph provides you some insight
into the last 3 months.
My 2 cents? Well, this is a tricky
stock, since it seems that it’s stock performance
is based on only one drug. My question is what other drugs are in the pipeline
and how far are they along? Well if you go to their website, http://www.acadia-pharm.com/pipeline/
you can see that by far pimavanserin has the lead over other companies such as
Allergan. Acadia is also working on some preclinical studies for ERb and
Nurr-1.
Unfortunately they do not define ERb
and Nurr-1 on their website, but presumably
ERb is estrogen receptor beta and Nurr-1 is actually NURR1, which is a nuclear
receptor involved in intracellular signaling with complex of proteins called
CoREST which assembles chromatin-
modifying enzymes. It is also modified
by sumoylation and works with glycogen synthase kinase 3 (GSK3) to function. GSK3
is also involved in canonical Wnt signaling which has been moved to the
forefront in neurobiology these days.
I think it is too soon to know whether
they are on to something or not, but NURR1 has been associated with
dopaminergic dysfunction in Parkingson’s disease, schizophrenia, manic
depression, and mis-regulation of NURR1 is associated with rheumatoid
arthritis. There are a lot of question to be answered on how all this happens,
but it will be interesting to see if the scientists at ACADIA can figure it
out!
I think if you want to speculate, it
might be worth the purchase and the ride. What do you think?
-JR
(PS.. I don’t own the stock, but I’m
thinking about it
PSS… all statements are my own opinions
based on the research I did on the stock. You can take or leave my opinions for
what they are worth…)
PSSS (last one, for the night) Please check out http://www.wondersofkindle.com
and/or go through http://amazingwonders-of-kindle.blogspot.com/ for daily free e-books for kindle
Images from Scottrade (thanks Scottrade!) |
Friday, July 06, 2012
Array Pharmaceuticals and NSLC
Non small lung cancer (NSLC) is a devastating disease, and usually by the time it is diagnosed its almost too late to treat. My mom died of NSLC. She went very quickly , and the cancer cells took over her body. If we could find an effective treatment for this terrible disease, many people would not suffer as my mom did.
Array BioPharma (ARRY) provided some new data on treatment of KRAS Mutant advanced NSCLC patients. Many people in the US with NSCLC have the KRAS mutant In a double blind, randomized phase 2 study conducted by AstraZeneca examined the efficacy of selumetinib (AZD6244/ARRY886) with docetaxel in patients with the KRAS mutant had progressive free at least 6 months and improved overall survival.
From http://www.datamonitor.com/ compliments of scottrade. So what about the stock? It is not doing any remarkable climbing, but it is increasing slowly. I would recommend this as a long term investment. Just my 2 cents!
Please check out : http://amazingwonders-of-kindle.blogspot.com/ too!
Array BioPharma (ARRY) provided some new data on treatment of KRAS Mutant advanced NSCLC patients. Many people in the US with NSCLC have the KRAS mutant In a double blind, randomized phase 2 study conducted by AstraZeneca examined the efficacy of selumetinib (AZD6244/ARRY886) with docetaxel in patients with the KRAS mutant had progressive free at least 6 months and improved overall survival.
From http://www.datamonitor.com/ compliments of scottrade. So what about the stock? It is not doing any remarkable climbing, but it is increasing slowly. I would recommend this as a long term investment. Just my 2 cents!
Please check out : http://amazingwonders-of-kindle.blogspot.com/ too!
Wednesday, July 04, 2012
Amgen Pharmaceuticals acquisitions
Amgen Pharmaceuticals (AMGN)
Amgen
is a biotechnology medicines company. It has acquired a Turkish company Mustafa Nevzat (MN) Pharmaceuticals through a purchase of
95.4% of the stock in the company. MN is
a leading supplier of pharmaceuticals to the hospital sector and a
majorsupplier of injectable medicines in Turkey. MN is a fast growing company
in the double digits in the last 5 years. This will allow Amgen to spread its
influence around the world, but not necessarily add new medicines to the
market. (From http://www.amgen.com/media/media_pr_detail.jsp?releaseID=1686962)
Stock
of Amgen has been slowly climbing, but it bouncing off the Bollinger bands,
which may indicate that Amgen has hit a resistance; only time will tell if it keeps going up or
whether it flat lines.
Based
on what I have read, it seems to be that Amgen is more focused on acquisition for
growth and not developing new medicines and drugs. I hope I am wrong, because I think that a
company that stops producing new medicines will become stagnant. What do you
think?
Other
sources:
From the NY Times website, “
Amgen Inc. (Amgen) is a biotechnology medicines company. The Company discovers,
develops, manufactures and markets medicines for illnesses. It focuses solely
on human therapeutics and concentrates on medicines based on cellular and
molecular biology. Its products are Neulasta (pegfilgrastim), a pegylated
protein, based on the Filgrastim molecule, and NEUPOGEN (Filgrastim), a
recombinant-methionyl human granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF), both
of which stimulate the production of neutrophils (a type of white blood cell
that helps the body fight infection); Enbrel (etanercept), an inhibitor of
tumor necrosis factor (TNF), a substance, which plays a role in the body's
response to inflammatory diseases, and Aranesp (darbepoetin alfa) and EPOGEN
(epoetin alfa), erythropoiesis-stimulating agents (ESAs). On April 7, 2011, it
acquired Laboratorio Quimico Farmaceutico Bergamo Ltda (Bergamo). In June 2012,
the Company acquired more than 99% of Mustafa Nevzat Pharmaceuticals.”
Labels:
acquisition,
amgen,
amgn,
medicine,
mustafa nevzat,
stock,
turkey
Tuesday, July 03, 2012
Humanized antibodies and Queen's patents
PDL BioPharma, Inc (PDLI) and Humanized Antibodies
I don’t know what they are going to do in the long run, but right now they are sitting pretty collecting royalties! The most recent one I saw in the news is from Reuters “PDL Biopharma Inc to receive royalties on sales of Genetech’s Pertzumab (http://www.reuters.com/finance/stocks/PDLI.O/key-developments/article/2559431 ).
Second Opinion Weekly reported it upgraded as of 8 days ago to “Long”
and “Improving”. Thomson Reuters Stockreport gives it a positive rating of 9
out of a scale of 1-10. Interesting it
even has a dividend associated with it J
PDL BioPharma, Inc. (PDL) is a biotech company. PDL is engaged
in the management of antibody humanization patents and royalty assets, which
consist of its Queen et al. patents and license agreements with various
biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies. The Company receives royalties
based on sales of humanized antibody products marketed and may also receive
royalty payments on additional humanized antibody products launched before
final expiry in December 2014. It has entered into licensing agreements with
numerous entities that are independently developing or have developed humanized
antibodies under which it has licensed certain rights under its Queen et al.
patents to make, use, sell, offer for sale and import humanized antibodies. (Compliments of Scottrade)
-JR
(If you like e-books, check out http://www.wondersofkindle.com )
Sunday, July 01, 2012
BioMarin Pharmaceuticals volume is increasing?
BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc (BMRN)
So what is Biomartin Pharmaceutical
company about? BioMarin
develops and commercializes pharmaceuticals for serious diseases and medical
conditions. (Scottrade being vague, actually the company focuses alot on the regulation and synthesis of sugars that attached to proteins, aka glycosylation). As of December 31, 2011, its product portfolio includes four
approved products and multiple investigational product candidates. Approved
products include Naglazyme (galsulfase), Kuvan (sapropterin dihydrochloride),
Aldurazyme (laronidase) and Firdapse (amifampridine phosphate). As of December
31, 2011, BioMarin conducted clinical trials on a number of investigational
product candidates for the treatment of various diseases, including GALNS, an
enzyme replacement therapy for the treatment of Mucopolysaccharidosis Type IV
or Morquio Syndrome Type A (MPS IV A); PEG-PAL, an enzyme substitution therapy
for the treatment of phenylketonuria (PKU); BMN-701, an enzyme replacement
therapy for Pompe disease; BMN-673, an orally available poly (ADP-ribose)
polymerase, or PARP inhibitor for the treatment of patients with certain
cancers, and BMN-111 CNP for Achondroplasia (Information complements of
Scottrade and Biomartin’s website http://www.bmrn.com/pipeline/index.php
).
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Aging and red wine
Aging
A new molecule enters the field and it is called sirtuins.
These proteins are involved in different types of cellular processes including
aging. One of the intriguing aspects is
that if you activate the protein with a drug called resveratrol, you can extend
life and improve health. Of course this is all done in animal studies, but it
does make you wonder whether if the secret to long healthy life is in the near
future? Now for those of you who are wondering about the drug resveratrol, this
is the compound that is in grape skins… Yes…. Wine J. Resveratrol is also
anti- biotic, meaning it fights fungal and bacterial infections. You can
actually purchase resveratrol online. Just for the heck of it, I provide you
with some links below if you were interested.
I’m not sure of the best way to ingest it is, but if you do some
research of your own you can find out more.
Source: http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/341245/title/Antiaging_protein_helps_set_daily_rhythms
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Labels:
aging,
anti-aging,
health,
resveratrol,
sirtuins,
wine
Proctor and Gamble Goof
Here is a scary thought for you...
Apparently during the creation (aka processing) of Tide
detergent, a carcinogen, 1,4 dioxane, is produced.
A Women’s Voices for the Earth group
sent the detergent out to be tested and one of the chemicals they found is 1,4
dioxane. This is not intentionally added to the ingredients, but rather it’s a byproduct
of the product when it is made.
Now although P&G is responding to “A Women’s
Voices for the Earth”, they have responded to individual people.
Besides the fact that it is there, I am guessing
that almost any detergent you get in your local store has this contaminant. So
the real question is what should we, as a consumer, do about it? Should the
industry add an additional step in the processing to make sure this potential
carcinogen is removed from the detergent before selling?
On the stock side of things, this has the
potential for causing a sell-off of P&G’s stock as consumers worry about
the carcinogen AND the lack of communication and action by P&G’s…. Let’s watch and see
what happens next!
http://www.forbes.com/sites/amywestervelt/2012/04/30/procter-gamble-defends-against-claims-that-tide-detergents-contain-carcinogens/
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Labels:
1,
4 dioxane,
cancer,
carcinogen,
dioxane,
PG,
procter and gamble,
stock,
Tide
Cancer
Caffeine
Interesting story about how caffeine can stimulate the
muscles of the elderly. Now the real question is what is it’s mode of action?
In muscles of the young there is very little effect, so what do you think is
happening?
Caffeine in general, stimulates the central nervous system
and is used as a stimulant, and to treat headaches in combination with aspirin,
for example. It has also been suggested
that caffeine alleviates the pain of a headache by altering the flow of blood
through the blood vessels. Perhaps by doing this in the muscle, will have a
similar response?
Caffeine is also suppose to keep you alert and reduce
dementia and delay Alzheimer’s. SO keep on having your morning Joe!
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Labels:
alzheimers,
blood,
caffeine,
central nervous system,
CNS,
coffee,
elderly,
old age
Monday, June 25, 2012
Genetech and personalized medicine
Genetech
developed a drug against a specific subset of metastatic breast cancer, called
HER2-positive mBC. This drug targets the HER2 receptor and blocks it from
activating downstream signals by receptor dimerization. This is an awesome
accomplishment, but what is made to sound so exciting, is really just Genetech
combining the drugs they already have created, and see if they improve patient
outcome even more so. It’s a pretty standard process, if you target the cancer
in different ways, you are more likely to destroy the cancerous tissue. This concept has already been used to combat
AIDS by giving people a cocktail of drugs.
The drug they are calling Perjeta (which you have to love these names!) is a combination of Herceptin (which interferes with HER2, part of the EGF-superfamily) and docetaxel (which interferes with the microtubule cytoskeleton). The name Perjecta is derived from the concept of “personalized” medicine, where they examine the cancer and see what genes and hence proteins are mutated, and target them specifically to a person. This way if a person does not have a problem with the HER2 protein and pathway, they would not be treated with this drug combination.
Their data
will be submitted for presentation at an upcoming medical meeting. And Dr.
Barron, chief medical officer and head of Global Product Development is excited that there is an improvement in
survival in the CLEOPATRA (Clinical Evaluation Of Pertuzumab And TRAstuzumab) study. There are a whole bunch of side effects which
include diarrhea, hair loss, low
white blood cell count with or without fever, upset stomach, fatigue, rash and
peripheral neuropathy (numbness, tingling or damage to the nerves). The most
common Grade 3-4 adverse reactions (rate greater than 2 percent) were low white
blood cell count with or without fever, decrease in a certain type of white
blood cell, diarrhea, damage to the nerves, and decrease in red blood cell
count, weakness and fatigue. But if you survive cancer, I expect people are
willing to accept the side effects during treatment. Although, I’m not sure I’d
be too excited about damaging my nerves.
Friday, June 22, 2012
What avenues of research are going on in Big Pharma?
Recently I have been looking at pharmaceutical companies and
the jobs they are posting. I have a strong background in research, and was
thinking of changing career paths.
Interesting what I have discovered is that many of the large
companies, such as Abbott Laboratories, Pfeizer, and Eli Lily are all focused to
a large extent on research where antibodies are used as treatments for
disorders and illnesses. Now coming from
an academic research angle, this surprised me. It seems to me that these larger
companies are behind the scientific research that is being done these days. In
academia, non-coding RNAs (miRNA siRNA, etc), are the focus. In addition to
genomic and proteomic global approaches for individualizing treatments.
So, who do you think are the most innovative companies out
there?
Sunday, May 20, 2012
helicos biosciences continues
I've copied this information from the Businesswire, it is very exciting! With another patent litigation settled, its only a little bit of time before Helicos Biosciences stock goes up even more!
Helicos BioSciences Corporation Settles its Patent Litigation Against Pacific Biosciences, Inc.
Helicos BioSciences Corporation Settles its Patent Litigation Against Pacific Biosciences, Inc.
6 days 8 hours 35 minutes ago - Businesswire
Helicos BioSciences Corporation (OTCQB: HLCS.PK) announced today that it has settled its patent infringement litigation against Pacific Biosciences, Inc. The settlement gives Pacific Biosciences freedom-to-operate from Helicos's patents within a limited field of use covering Pacific Biosciences' current products only. In addition to paying an undisclosed financial settlement, Pacific Biosciences agreed to refrain from challenging the validity, enforceability, or patentability of any of Helicos's patents, which includes halting its efforts in the inter partes reexamination of the patents in suit with the USPTO.
Stay tune for more as I continue to follow helicos biosciences!
Saturday, May 05, 2012
Helicos Biosciences Corp a company to watch
Helicos Biosciences Corp
An interesting company.
Here is a summary of the company:
An interesting company.
Here is a summary of the company:
Helicos BioSciences Corporation (Helicos) is a life sciences company focused on genetic analysis technologies. Helicos has developed a technology to enable the analysis of genetic material by directly sequencing single molecules of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) or ribonucleic acid (RNA). The platform consists of an instrument, called the HeliScope Single Molecule Sequencer, an image analysis computer tower called the HeliScope Analysis Engine, associated reagents, which are chemicals used in the sequencing process, and disposable supplies. The Company's True Single Molecule Sequencing (tSMS) technology enables the simultaneous sequencing of large numbers of strands of single DNA or RNA molecules. Helicos has developed a technology to perform targeted sequencing using its newly developed DirectGene Sequencing capability. (compliments of Scottrade).
I think this company has some awesome potential, and the way it is fluxuating, I think it has a lot of potential for making you money. On Friday, when the market went down 140+ points, Helicos went up 30%!! From the grape vine-- its about settling some patent conflicts, 1 down, 2 to go!
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