Rodman & Renshaw: Promising Biotechs from TheStreet

I was really impressed by Adam Feuerstein's article in TheStreet today. The Rodman Investor's Conference showcases promising upcoming Biotech and Pharmaceutical companies.
Stocks mentioned in this article are: AVII, BDSI, DNDN, RXII, ATHX, NEOL, PYMX

Rodman Rambles: Promising Biotechs

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- I saw some promising, small biotech companies at this week's Rodman & Renshaw Annual Global Investment Conferences. The confab wasn't all about the biotech dreck---i.e. Biotech losers.

Monday's BioPharma Top Performers

Image via Wikipedia Top Performers Pharmaceutical for Monday August 16th

Top Weekly Performers in Biopharma

Top Weekly Performers from:
Fri 04 Sep vs. Fri 28 Aug


Top 15 Gains (%) - ranked on change in share price



Rank/Company/Currency/Market Cap/Change in Market Cap/Notes

1 Nutra Pharma USD +89% 74M +34
Sep 2: Shares rise on 12.5x average daily trading volume.

2 Aerocrine SEK +65% 144M +57
Sep 3: Health Canada approves Aerocrine's Niox Mino, a medical device that measures inflammation in the airways, for use in treating asthma.

3 Peplin AUD +50% 129M +43
Sep 2: Leo Pharma announces agreed takeover of Peplin, for $288m.

4 Facet Biotech USD +48% 378M +123
Sep 4: Company receives a hostile takeover offer from Biogen Idec at $14.50 per share, having previously rejected a $15 per share offer; Biogen's offer values Facet at $355m, only around $45m higher than Facet's estimated cash of $310m; Facet's shares closed at $15.38 suggesting that the market expects Biogen will eventually have to raise its bid to close the deal.

5 The Medicines Company USD +46% 583M +184
Sep 2: Company announces that it has received a new patent from the US patent office for its anti-clotting drug, Angiomax, raising analyst hopes that onset of generic competition for the drug will be delayed.

6 Sinovac Biotech USD +45% 388M +120
Sep 3: The Chinese State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA) issues a production license for the company's H1N1 swine flu vaccine, Panflu, prompting the company to raise its revenue guidance for the year to greater than 20% growth. 31 Aug: Company receives a positive opinion for Panflu by an expert committee held by the Chinese SFDA.

7 Diamyd Medical SEK +36% 162M +42
Sep 3: Company reports 4-year follow-up data from a phase II trial of type 1 diabetes patients who received just two injections of Diamyd vaccine.

8 Jazz Pharmaceuticals USD +31% 287M +68
Sep 4: Shares rise on 5.5x average daily trading volume.

9 Transcept Pharmaceuticals USD +24% 164M +31

10 Algeta NOK +24% 337M +64
Sep 3: Company licenses global rights to its phase III, bone metastases cancer drug, Alpharadin, to Bayer for $61m upfront and potentially $800m in total, whilst retaining a 50% co-promotion and profit-share option in the US; Bayer will cover the majority of further developmental costs for Alpharadin.

11 AVI BioPharma USD +23% 191M +36
Shares of companies engaged in the development of a swine flu vaccine rise following a positive recommendation for Sinovac Biotech's swine flu vaccine in China on 31 Aug.

12 Protalix BioTherapeutics USD +23% 565M +107
Sep 3: Shares rise to a one-year high of $7.57 on increasing confidence in the company's Gaucher disease product, prGCD, and heightened speculation the company is a takeover target given its low cost plant cell-based biological manufacturing technology. 2 Sep: Hapoalim Securities initiates coverage with an "outperform" rating and price target of $10, claiming Teva could be a likely acquirer. 1 Sep: Shares rise on 5.5x average daily trading volume.

13 Sepracor USD +23% 2533M +470
Sep 2: Shares rise to a five-year high prior to a halt in trading on news that the company is to be acquired by Dainippon Sumitomo Pharma for $23 per share, or $2.7bn in total.

14 Cellectis EUR +21% 186M +33
Sep 1: Monsanto licenses the use of Cellectis' genome modification technology for the development of meganuclease technology in plants; company to receive €3m upfront, milestones and royalties.

15 Curis USD +21% 159M +27
Sept 2[post-market]: The New England Journal of Medicine publishes two encouraging papers on GDC-0449, a drug which targets the hedgehog pathway, including phase I data from a trial in the rare skin cancer basal cell carcinoma; Curis and partner Roche have a phase II trial in the indication ongoing; the papers raise hopes that the drug will prove successful in fighting skin cancer and possibly other tumour types.

AVII Avi BioPharma

Detailed Quote for Avi Biopharma Inc. (AVII)
$ 1.55 0.20 (+14.81%) Volume: 964.86 k 4:00 PM EDT Jul 14, 2009

close 52 Week Information
52 Week High June 26,2009 Close: 1.98
52 Week Low November 21,2008 Close: 0.45

Last Price 1.55
Change $ 0.20
Change % 14.81%

MSN Money Business Model for AVI Biopharma at the following link:
http://msnmoney.brand.edgar-online.com/EFX_dll/EDGARpro.dll?FetchFilingHTML1?ID=5794505&SessionID=6yCxW8rKa94lGg9

AVI BioPharma, Inc. Presents at American Society of Virology Annual Meeting

PORTLAND, OR -- (Marketwire) -- 07/14/09 -- AVI BioPharma, Inc. (NASDAQ: AVII), a developer of RNA-based drugs, today announced that Dr. Fred Schnell of AVI presented at the American Society of Virology Annual Meeting which took place July 11-15 in Vancouver, B.C. The title of the presentation was "Pan-Arenavirus Antisense Therapeutic Based On PMOplus(TM) Chemistry." In addition to Dr. Schnell, Drs. Bestwick, Iversen and Mourich, all of AVI, coauthored the presentation.

Schnell presented results of preclinical findings using an antiviral oligomer compound that incorporates AVI's proprietary backbone chemistry (PMOplus(TM)). The work shows that a single oligomer blocks a terminal sequence common to the eight distinct RNAs expressed by viruses from the family of hemorrhagic fever arenaviruses. Because this sequence is highly conserved among arenaviruses, a single agent might serve as a pan-arenavirus drug. Arenaviruses include Lassa fever, lymphocytic choriomeningitis, Junin and Machupo viruses, all members of the Class A bioterrorism pathogen list.

"We believe that the PMOplus(TM) chemistry is particularly useful for targeting potential variable or mutation prone sequences within the viral RNA," said Ryszard Kole, AVI Senior V.P. Discovery Research. "This chemistry, combined with the fact that a single agent blocks RNAs involved in several steps of the viral life cycle of a whole family of viruses, makes this approach to viral drug discovery look very promising."

About AVI BioPharma

AVI BioPharma is focused on the discovery and development of RNA-based drugs utilizing proprietary derivatives of its antisense chemistry (morpholino-modified phosphorodiamidate oligomers or PMOs) that can be applied to a wide range of diseases and genetic disorders through several distinct mechanisms of action. Unlike other RNA-based therapeutic approaches, AVI's antisense technology has been used to directly target both messenger RNA (mRNA) and its precursor (pre-mRNA), allowing for both up- and down-regulation of targeted genes and proteins. AVI's RNA-based drug programs are being evaluated for the treatment of Duchenne muscular dystrophy as well as for the treatment of cardiovascular restenosis through our partner Global Therapeutics, a Cook Group Company. AVI's antiviral programs have demonstrated promising outcomes in Ebola Zaire and Marburg Musoke virus infections and may prove applicable to other viral targets such as HCV or Dengue viruses. For more information, visit www.avibio.com.