1/30/11

PerkinsElmer Genomic Sequencing History

Genomic DNA is fragmented into random pieces a...Image via Wikipedia

Perkins Elmer has an extensive history in the genomic sequencing field and Dr. Craig Venter. Dr. Venter is a former researcher for The Institute for Genomic Research and founded the J. Craig Venter Institute.  Find out more  here:  http://www.jcvi.org/

Google finance:  NYSE:PKI

PerkinElmer Website

PerkinElmer Enters DNA Sequencing Market

By MATTHEW HERPER

PerkinElmer headquarters

In a move that heralds the growing importance of DNA sequencing to medical research and, eventually, diagnostics, PerkinElmer, the $1.9 billion (sales) maker of diagnostic tests, is entering the gene scanning market.

Rather than compete with makers of big DNA sequencing machines, PerkinElmer is creating a service business that will allow researchers to get human genetic data without owning their own DNA sequencers or high-powered supercomputers. Customers will be able to access and analyze DNA data on a password-protected computer cloud. The DNA sequencing and the data analysis will be compliant with regulations for lab diagnostics. Eventually, the will also comply with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability act (HIPAA), which protects medical privacy.
Continued

1/27/11

Top Rated Biotechnolgy Stocks-The Street, Clinical Data Bulls Bears

Bulls & Bears
Image via Wikipedia

Top Rated Stocks: Biotechnology

01/27/11

Clinical Data Website

Clinical Data Pipeline

Clinical Data--Google Finance  CLDA

Clinical Data, Inc. Announces FDA Approval of Viibryd™ (vilazodone HCl) for Major Depressive Disorder

RSS Feed for Top Rated Stocks: Biotechnology

Every day TheStreet Ratings produces a list of the top rated stocks. Every day we will publish several lists to provide you with some stock buying (or selling) ideas.

Equity Top: Biotechnology

Symbol Equity Rating

EBS EMERGENT BIOSOLUTIONS INC A-

BIIB BIOGEN IDEC INC B+

AMGN AMGEN INC B+

ALXN ALEXION PHARMACEUTICALS INC B+

CBPO CHINA BIOLOGIC PRODUCTS INC B

SSRX 3SBIO INC -ADR B

UTHR UNITED THERAPEUTICS CORP B

SCLN SCICLONE PHARMACEUTICALS INC B

CBST CUBIST PHARMACEUTICALS INC B

CEPH CEPHALON INC B

Source: TSC Ratings

Drugs

Clinical Data: Bulls and Bears Round Two

1/25/11

NEWTON, Mass. (TheStreet) --Clinical Data (CLDA) scored a big victory with the approval of a new antidepressant, sending the stock price soaring 68% to $25.17 on Monday. Many of the company's shareholders and supporters, however, are looking for an even bigger payday when Clinical Data sells itself to the highest bidder.

Continued

Top BioHealth Investor Calls of the Month

Top BioHealth Research Calls of the Week (MNKD, PDLI, ILMN, CLDA, MRK, PFE, LLY, BMY, ALXN, SVNT, AMGN)


January 22, 2011 · Filed Under Financial, analyst calls, fda · Comment 
There were some key research calls in biotech and biohealth shares this week.  Over in our “top five analyst calls of the week” at 24/7 Wall Street we noted how one firm came out in defense of MannKind Corporation (NASDAQ: MNKD) on its implosion this week and another call was highlighting the potential upside value that remains in PDL BioPharma, Inc. (NASDAQ: PDLI) despite its patent fight concerns.  There were many other standout calls though in analyst coverage this last week in biohealth:

Illumina Inc. (NASDAQ: ILMN) has remained impressive after having been one of our “Best of Big BioHealth in 2010″ and was also at the start of the year listed as “an overvalued biohealth names with peers.” This week brought an analyst duel.  Citigroup raised its rating to BUY from Hold and the new price target is $85.00 per share.  Thomson Reuters has a consensus price target of $66.87 and the Citi target appears to be the street-high price target.  Elsewhere, RBC Capital Markets lowered the rating to Sector Perform from Outperform due to valuation.  Illumina’s 52-week range is $34.25 to $71.07, and at $68.75 it has a market cap now of $8.6 billion.

Clinical Data Inc. (NASDAQ: CLDA) will be one to watch this coming week after the FDA approved its antidepressant drug to be sold under the brand name Viibyrd.  Shares closed at $15.03 on Friday but were much higher after the news and the 52-week trading range is $10.87 to $22.39.  What is interesting is that analysts already see peak sales above $2 billion as this antidepressant is believed to not interfere with sexual desire as much as in some rival drugs. The consensus price target is already $29.67 per Thomson Reuters data.

This week came a standout call in Big Pharma from Wells Fargo as the firm raised the sector to “Overweight.”  Wells Fargo raised Merck & Co. (NYSE: MRK) and Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) to Outperform ratings and also noted Eli Lilly & Co. (NYSE: LLY) and Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (NYSE: BMY) in the call.

Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: ALXN) closed the week out at $84.43 and has a 52-week range of $44.86 to $87.14.  There was an analyst duel this week.  Gleacher & Co. raised its rating to Buy while UBS cut its rating to Hold.

Savient Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: SVNT) hit new 52-week lows this last week and closed at $10.20 versus a 52-week range of $10.16 to $23.46.  Its shares were downgraded to “Underperform” over at Bank of America Merrill Lynch after previous news in its business update of reports of batch failures with its new gout medication called Krystexxa.

Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ: AMGN) is set to report earnings on Monday and Thomson Reuters has estimates of $1.10 EPS and $3.8 billion in revenues; for the next quarter estimates are $1.31 EPS and $3.67 billion in revenues. At $56.97 shares are actually down slightly from 90-days ago and the 52-week range is $50.26 to $61.26.  This stock is getting toward its higher end of a 3 year trading band, so we expect that analyst will have to make some adjustments after earnings.  Thomson Reuters has an average price target above $65.00 currently.

At the end of December, we gave a list of Big Biotechs With the Most Upside in 2011.

1/13/11

Mannkind Is Having Increased Momentum and Volatiliy in January----This was the title before the stock was rejected by the FDA and the stock has declined considerably

Insulin syringes are marked in insulin "u...
Biotech and Pharmaceutical news:  Mannkind (MNKD)

Google Finance:  MNKD
Mannkind Corp.  Website
Mannkind Pipeline

I am cautious about Mannkind's approval chances with the FDA in the next coming weeks (FDA delayed Dec 29th decision 4 weeks) but I am optimistic about its chances of an increase in stock price while the FDA reviews Mannkind's approval for Afrezza for Diabetes.  Here are some news that has occurred for Mannkind in the past few weeks.  Continued

1/12/11

Another 2011 Standout: Peregrine Pharmaceuticals


Electron micrographs of hepatitis C virus puri...
Hepatitis C Virus Image via Wikipedia
Peregrine seems poised for growth in 2011
Written by Patrick Crutcher Tuesday, 11 January 2011

Zacks.com Profile:  PPHM

Peregrine Pharmaceutical Pipeline

Peregrine Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:PPHM) announced that it has initiated several trials in oncology and viral infections. They seem poised to garner attention from the Street over the coming months.
Continued

1/11/11

Top Biotech Stocks for 2011 and January Catalyst Event Dates

CLYDEBANK, SCOTLAND - APRIL 30:  Scientists wo...
Stocks Mentioned:  Dendreon, Human Genome Sciences, Eli Lilly, Cerus, Curis, Compugen, Spectrum Pharmaceuticals, Impax Laboratories, Exelixis, Medivation, Seattle Genetics, Corcept, PolyMedix, BioMarin, Endo PharmaceuticalsDepoMed, Mannkind, Orexigen Therapeutics, AstraZeneca, Clinical Data

Here are the Top Biotech Picks for 2011, Stocks Highlighted at the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference, News on Human Genome Sciences, Dendreon, Bargain Biotech Stocks, and January FDA Catalysts.

5 Bargain Biotech Stocks for 2011
Street Picks

NEW YORK (InvestorPlace) -- On July 8, 2009, I recommended five cutting-edge medical products and biotech stocks. Even factoring in the single dud of the group, you would still have an average return of more than 110%.

Do I have your attention? Good, because I've put together a list of the hottest bargain biotech stocks to buy for 2011. Some of the names will look familiar because I think the stocks still have legs, while others have been swapped out for new names that I think have more potential in the year ahead.

Here are the best biotech stocks to own now:
Continued

1/10/11

Raptor Pharmaceuticals in 2011

Ball and stick model of the cysteamine molecule.Cysteamine Image via Wikipedia
Interest for Raptor Pharmaceuticals is really picking up in 2011.  Here are the recent headlines for this up and coming Small Cap Pharmaceutical company.  It has a Pipeline for Rare Diseases and I expect 2011 to be a strong year for Raptor Pharmaceuticals if Clinical Trial results are successful.  Results for DR Cysteamine clinical trials is expected in 1Q 2011.  DR Cysteamine has clinical development programs including:

◦Nephropathic Cystinosis, a rare genetic disorder (Phase 3)

◦Non-alcoholic Steatohepatitis (NASH), a metabolic disorder of the liver (Phase 2)

◦Huntington's Disease, an inherited neurodegenerative disease (Phase 2)

Raptor Pharmaceuticals Stock Quote:  RTTP  Google Finance

Read more from their previous 10-K filings for the company's Strategic Development Plan here.

Find out more about their Clinical Pipeline here.

Continued

1/8/11

Spectrum Pharmaceuticals is Making Headlines in Early 2011

Spectrum Pharmaceuticals Submits Supplemental New Drug Application (sNDA) For Ready-to-Use Formulation Of FUSILEV(R) In Colorectal Cancer

Main Category: Colorectal Cancer
Also Included In: Cancer / Oncology

Article Date: 06 Jan 2011 - 1:00 PST
Spectrum Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: SPPI), a biotechnology company with fully integrated commercial and drug development operations with a primary focus in oncology, announced it submitted a supplemental New Drug Application with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for a Ready-to-Use formulation of FUSILEV (levoleucovorin) for Injection. This submission is in support of FUSILEV's use in colorectal cancer, which is currently under review by the FDA with a Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA) action date of April 29 2011. FDA has up to 60 days to formally accept the submission.

"If approved, we believe a RTU formulation of FUSILEV, as the name implies, will be more convenient for the staff and easy to use. RTU formulation requires no reconstitution, and since it will also be of a higher strength than the currently available lyophilized formulation, the healthcare provider's time to administer FUSILEV to colorectal cancer patients will be considerably reduced," said Rajesh C. Shrotriya, MD, Chairman of the Board of Directors, Chief Executive Officer, and President of Spectrum Pharmaceuticals.   Continued

1/7/11

2011 Biotech Preview: JP Morgan Healthcare Conference

Out of fog Bay Bridge and Golden Gate Bridge a...
JP Morgan Healthcare Conference 2011 Preview

Stocks Mentioned:  AMAG, AMGN, AMLN, ARIA, CELG, DNDN, GENZ, GILD, HGSI, ITMN, KERX, MNKD, NKTR, OREX, SGEN, SNY, SVNT, TEVA, VRTX, VVUS, MRK

The Street: Biotech 2011 Kickoff Party Investor Preview
By: Adam Feuerstein


The biotech industry descends on the City by the Bay starting Sunday for a week of investor meetings, networking, deal making and partying all centered on the 29th annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference.

Biotech investor conferences are a dime a dozen but the J.P. Morgan confab is the oldest, largest and still the most important because of tradition, location (in the birthplace of biotech) and timing. Companies and investors come into this early January meeting with clean slates and use the forum to set goals and agendas for the next 12 months.

2010 was a mixed year for biotech. The biotech sector outperformed the S&P 500 (barely) but sentiment for a large part of the year was negative, dragged down by healthcare reform concerns, European drug price cuts and overall economic uncertainty. Many large institutional investors abandoned or scaled back healthcare investments in 2010 as a result. Drug approvals and merger-and-acquisition activity -- two vital measures of the health of the biotech sector -- were down in 2010.

What's in store for biotech in 2011? J.P. Morgan's senior biotech analyst Geoff Meacham, who will emcee next week's conference, is bullish:

"Looking to 2011, we think the tone in the sector will improve, and as a result, we are broadly bullish on the biotech sector, more than we have been over the past two years," Meacham told his clients in a Monday research note. "Historically, revenue upside (not EPS upside) has been a critical determinant of biotech outperformance, and in this regard the consensus revenue growth for the sector looks too low to us at 8%. More than 25 products could be in launch mode in 2011, which should fuel higher top-line growth for the sector and may drive multiple expansion. Couple this with a favorable M&A and capital markets environment as well as well-known risks from US/EU pricing that are largely assumed in models and we think that the biotech sector is well positioned in 2011."   Continued

1/6/11

BioPharma Investor Is Back In Business-Apologies for the Lack of Posts Last Month

Sorry for any delays.  I was out of town for the past month and was not able to keep up with the website.  The website will be back up and running in the next few days with new BioPharma News and Articles.  Again I apologize for a lack of quality posts last month, but again I will be working diligently throughout this year to provide the most up to date news and information on the hottest BioPharma Stocks and Clinical Trial news throughout 2011 without any more delays.  Thanks for your patience and support.

Sincerely,
BioPharma Investor