Archive for the ‘Health Care Stocks’ Category

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Molecular Insight Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (MIPI) – Buzz Stock of the Day

Friday, June 18th, 2010

Shares of oncology-focused biotech, Molecular Insight Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: MIPI) were up more than 28 percent in morning trading on Friday.

Last week, the Cambridge-based Molecular Insight Pharmaceuticals presented nonclinical data demonstrating the utility of the Company’s novel radiopharmaceutical compounds for the molecular imaging of prostate and other tumors at the Society of Nuclear Medicine (SNM) annual meeting in Salt Lake City.

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“Molecular Insight has established a deep pipeline of novel radio-imaging and radiotherapeutic compounds capable of binding to specific disease-related changes at the cellular level for a given cancer for highly targeted results,” said John W. Babich, Ph.D., Executive Vice President, Chief Scientific Officer, and President of Research and Development for Molecular Insight Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

Molecular Insight also announced the receipt of SNM’s 2010 Berson-Yalow Award for a nonclinical study demonstrating the potential of Molecular Insight’s compound 99mTc-MIP-1340 to provide accurate imaging of metastatic prostate cancer. 99mTc-MIP-1340 is a small molecule inhibitor of PSMA for molecular imaging of prostate cancer. Preclinical results have confirmed that 99mTc-MIP-1340 binds specifically and with high affinity to PSMA and accumulates in human prostate cancer xenografts.

Other notable biotech for this week include: Neurocrine Biosciences, Inc. (Nasdaq: NBIX), Celgene Corp. (Nasdaq: CELG) and CardioNet, Inc. (Nasdaq: BEAT). Biotech could be a bright spot in the market this year, according to some experts.

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Posted in Health Care Stocks | 1 Comment »

Neurocrine Biosciences, Inc. (NBIX) – Buzz Stock of the Day

Thursday, June 17th, 2010

We first covered Neurocrine Biosciences, Inc. (Nasdaq: NBIX) in late May 2010, when the stock was trading at $3.40 a share. About a week after our post, shares of NBIX climbed to a high of $5.20 a share. Neurocrine rallied again on Thursday, climbing almost 8 percent to a 52-week high of $5.79 a share in morning trading after the company announced a development deal with privately held German drug maker, Boehringer Ingelheim.

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The two companies will work together to research and develop small molecule GPR119 agonists for the treatment of Type II diabetes and other indications . Neurocrine will get a $10 million upfront payment and research funding to support discovery efforts. The company is also eligible to receive up to $225 million in milestone payments, according to Neurocrine.

A day before, Neurocrine licensed the worldwide rights to its experimental endometriosis drug to Abbott Laboratories. Under terms of the deal announced Wednesday, Abbott gains worldwide rights to elagolix in exchange for a $50 million upfront payment to Neurocrine. Abbott agreed to pay all future development costs for the drug. Neurocrine is eligible for up to $500 million in future milestone payments as well as royalties based on sales of elagolix if approved.

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Posted in Health Care Stocks, Technology Stocks | 2 Comments »

Penwest Pharmaceuticals Co. (PPCO) – Buzz Stock of the Day

Tuesday, June 8th, 2010

Shares of drug maker, Penwest Pharmaceuticals Co. (Nasdaq: PPCO) were up as much as 21 percent in morning trading on Tuesday after the company announced that it settled a patent litigation with Impax Laboratories, Inc. (Nasdaq: IPXL) over the production and sale of a generic version of the pain drug Opana, which is jointly developed by Penwest and Endo Pharmaceuticals Holdings, Inc. (Nasdaq: ENDP).

Penwest shares rose as high as $3.38, up from Monday’s closing price of $2.78 per share.

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Penwest and Endo have agreed to grant Impax a license to sell the copycat on Jan. 1, 2013. Impax will have 180 days of marketing exclusivity for 5 mg, 10 mg, 20 mg, 30 mg and 40 mg tablets of the drug, Reuters reported. Impax could also get up to $40 million in milestones from Endo for an Impax brand drug the two companies will promoted together outside the field of neurology. Further terms of the settlement were not disclosed.

Endo and Penwest also settled a similar patent litigation with Sandoz Inc, a unit of Swiss drugmaker Novartis AG (NOVN.VX), granting Sandoz a license to sell the generic of the drug on Sept. 15, 2012.

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Celgene Corp. (CELG) – Buzz Stock of the Day

Monday, June 7th, 2010

Shares of cancer drug maker, Celgene Corp. were up 6 percent from Friday’s close after the company announced positive results from a Phase II study of lenalidomide (REVLIMID) in untreated patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO).

Results of the Phase II single-arm study reported that at a median follow-up of 23 months, the overall response rate (OR) for 60 evaluable patients was 62 percent, and 15 percent of patients achieved a complete response (CR/CRi). At the median follow-up, median progression-free survival had not been reached and the overall survival rate was 90 percent. The most common grade 3 or 4 adverse events reported in the study were neutropenia (38 percent of cycles), thrombocytopenia (14 percent of cycles), and anemia (<1 percent of cycles). Grade 3-4 infections were observed in 15 percent of patients.

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REVLIMID is an IMiDs® compound, which along with other IMiDs continue to be evaluated in over 100 clinical trials. The IMiDs pipeline is covered by a comprehensive intellectual property estate of issued and pending patent applications in the US, EU and other regions, including composition-of- matter and use patents. REVLIMID is approved in combination with dexamethasone for the treatment of patients with multiple myeloma who have received at least one prior therapy in nearly 50 countries, encompassing Europe, the Americas, the Middle-East and Asia, and in combination with dexamethasone for the treatment of patients whose disease has progressed after one therapy in Australia and New Zealand.

Shares of Celgene Corp. are up 20 percent over the past 12 months.

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Martek Biosciences Corp. (MATK) – Buzz Stock of the Day

Friday, June 4th, 2010

Shares of infant formula and dietary supplements maker Martek Biosciences Corp. (Nasdaq: MATK) were up as much as 18 percent from Thursday’s close, after the company announced a 14 percent increase in second quarter earnings driven by its recent acquisition of Amerifit Brands.

For the quarter ended April 30, Martek earned $12.6 million, or 37 cents per share, up from $11 million, or 33 cents per share, during the same period a year prior. Excluding charges, the company said it would have earned 45 cents per share. Revenue for the quarter was up 34 percent to $124 million from $92.4 million a year ago.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters  expected net income of 32 cents per share on revenue of $114.9 million.

Martek completed its $200 million buyout of Amerifit Brands in February. Branded consumer health products from the Amerifit buyout added $18 million to revenue. Sales from the company’s infant formula business rose 12 percent to $86.3 million while sales in Martek’s food and beverage business were up 52 percent to $4.5 million. Sales of products in its pregnancy and nursing, nutritional supplements and animal feeds business grew by 30 percent to $8.8 million.

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Martek Biosciences expects third-quarter net income between 33 cents and 36 cents per share on revenue between $113 million and $118 million. Analysts have forecast net income of 39 cents per share on $112.6 million in revenue, on average. For the full fiscal year, the company expects revenue between $440 million and $445 million — which tops analysts’ average $439.1 million estimate.

“The improving economy, new launches of products with Martek’s life’sDHA, growing international markets for Martek’s products and sales of Amerifit’s branded consumer health products all contributed to Martek’s record quarterly results,” said Martek’s CEO, Steve Dublin in a statement. “This year as a whole is looking strong from a revenue perspective, although revenues for the balance of 2010 are projected to be somewhat uneven on a quarter-to-quarter basis due to customer plant shutdowns for maintenance and other timing matters. Martek’s strong run rate coming out of fiscal 2010 should provide an excellent platform from which to grow as some of Martek’s new products currently in development begin to hit the market over the next eighteen months as additional consumer brands launched through Amerifit’s marketing and distribution channels.”

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