SEPT 9,2008

 

PROHOST   FILTER

TYSABRI FOR CANCER, AND MORE 09/05/2008 Tysabri is a great drug. Not only it amazes neurologists and gastroenterologists about its superior effect on M.S. and Crohn\'s disease patients, the drug might be on its way to amaze oncologists. In another unrelated subject, a novel monoclonal antibody targeting a protein involved in autoimmune disease might offer hope for patients suffering from systemic lupus erythematosus.  

NEW TREATMENTS FOR UNTREATED DISEAS.... 09/04/2008 Deep vein thrombosis, thromboembolisms, hereditary antithrombin deficiency and Alzheimer\'s disease.  

TWO BIOTECHS CASHED MILESTONE PAYME.... 09/02/2008 Collaboration between biotech and pharmaceutical firms begins with the interest of big pharma in breakthrough molecules developed by biotech firms. An early signal of success is receiving a deserved milestone payment from collaborators. The comforting signal has come from two development stage biotech firms.  

AMGEN: A NEW HOPE FOR PATIENTS OFFE.... 08/25/2008 Could it be that investors might not like to see the patients who spend their lives in fear of bleeding get rid of that fear? (For subscribers only.)  

OUR OPINION WILL NOT STOP THEM FROM.... 08/22/2008 The is a large difference between positive and negative views and opinions in their ability to impact stocks. Three biotech companies have lost most of their values based on negative views. Now, we are witnessing determination by negative assessors to bring down another biotech firm.  

PDL BIOPHARMA AGREEMENT WITH BRISTOL MEYRS: .08/20/2008 Elotuzumab offers a new approach for the treatment of multiple Myeloma. It attracted Bristol-Myers Squibb and the agreement is signed. The drug is in early phase trial, but (for subscribers only)  

EYE BLINDNESS, HEART DISEASE AND AI.... 08/19/2008 The goal of the sound professional biotech firms is to provide far-reaching treatments. Here we witness a successful outcome of a breakthrough treatment for wet macular degeneration, another for a hereditary heart condition known as long QT syndrome (LQT3) and a serious attempt by a top of the world institute, Karolinska Institute, to use an adjuvant developed by VICAL to test an HIV vaccine.  

TWO DRUGS REACHED THE END OF THE TH.... 08/18/2008 Two drugs developed by two small biotech firms have reached the end of the road towards approval. The first is for head and neck cancer; the second is for hereditary angioedema (HAE)  

XENAPINE APPROVED FOR HUNTINGTON\'.... 08/18/2008 The FDA has cleared the first treatment for Huntington\'s\" disease, which affects approximately \"30,000 pa-tients in the United States. Xenazine (tetrabenazine), treats chorea, the involuntary movement that occurs in patients with the disease.  

MICROMET (MITI) AND NON-HODGKIN\'S: .08/15/2008 Blinatumomab Phase 1 trial on non-Hodgkin\'s lymphoma regressed tumors in patients who relapsed after previous treatments and were considered to have incurable disease.  

ATRYN: CLOSING THE COLLABORATION AG.... 08/15/2008 The agreement brings in $257 million in potential payments t for meeting clinical, regulatory, and sales milestones,  

GILEAD: ANOTHER HBV DRUG APPROVAL 08/12/2008 Gilead\'s drug Viread is approved for HBV. Epix\' (EPIX) novel molecules for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and moderate-to-severe pulmonary hypertension (PH). Icahn is buying m

EYE ON: GENZ; HDVY; CRME 08/07/2008 A promising drug for Heterozygous familial hypercholesterolemia (heFH). A more accurate test for prostate cancer by a tiny biotechnology firm, Expecting FDA answer for Cardiome\'s atrial fibrillation drug. Next Saturday, read about how MODIGENE (MODG.OB) has indirectly validated its unique long acting drug delivery technology. We were waiting for this validation.  

EYE ON: ALNYLAM 08/06/2008 More validation for Alnylam\'s RNAi technology and programs.  

EYE ON: MEDX, CLDA 08/05/2008 The FDA gave the green light for Medarex’ drug MDX-1105 to begin clinical trials. Clinical Data acquires Adenosine Therapeutics, L.L.C.  

TYSABRI: TIME TO KNOW THE TRUTH 08/04/2008 The time has come for people to know that other drugs are also associated with PML, that PML is related to diseases and that it is an extremely rare side effect.

EYE ON: DRUGS' SIDE EFFECTS? 08/01/2008 From as many as 31,800 M.S. patients who took Tysabri, only two developed symptoms of cerebral infection. No deaths have been reported and no cases of infection in the U.S. Many other best selling drugs have the same side effects.  

EYE ON ELAN 07/30/2008 They should have known better those who are printing the wrong stuff. The sell-off began before, not after the conference call. We predicted it. The drug is promising.  

EYE ON: BAPINEUZUMAB 07/29/2008 Today, Bapineuzumab will be discussed, especially Phase 2 trials. The major topic, though, we believe, will be a large subgroup of patients who can be pinpointed who benefited from the drug.  

AMGEN IS THE STAR OF BIOTECHNOLOGY 07/28/2008 we will not be surprised to see AMGN rally. As we kept telling you, the star will continue to prove it is the star of the biotech industry. All the bad that has been said about this firm has not, and will not affect its outperformance. Suddenly many are seeing how heavyweight Amgen is, and how it is and will continue to be an outperformer. The reason for the enthusiasm? Its osteoporosis drug Desonumab.

GENENTECH AGAIN 07/15/2008 As we expected, by raising their expectations, analysts got what they wanted from investors who believe in the “meeting analysts’ expectations” irrational, or irrationally used rule of thumb. The rule is crazy because by just raising their expectations, the masters are directly and indirectly expressing their conviction that the firm has a strong showing; strong sales and strong plans.  

GENENTECH AND OTHER NEWS 07/14/2008 Fairness in the stock market is a slow process that takes time to apply. The only act of common sense in the market is to follow history, which clearly tells us that good news can be easily turned into bad news.  

SOME NEWS 06/30/2008  

HE SAID, SHE SAID, THEY SAID 06/27/2008 You will always hear a lot of opposing and challenging opinions, not only on Vanda’s sleeping pill tasimelteon, but on each and every drug following the announcement of results from clinical trials. The truth is ..

GOOD NEWS IN A BAD MARKET 06/26/2008 Another bad market day, which makes us expect some profit taking from the firms that have been recently in rallying moods. There is good news, but the bad bear will not let their news boost their stocks. The good news, though, must be remembered for future consideration.

WHAT'S NEW FOR TYPE 1 DIABETES 06/25/2008 Developing a treatment that could halt progression of type 1 diabetes and preserve enough islet cell function to avoid the need for insulin administration all together is the ultimate goal of endocrinologists.  

BIOTECHNOLOGY IN A SLIDING MARKET 06/24/2008 In the bad market, the biotechnology sector is looking solid compared to other industrial sectors, big and small.

CONTROLLING GENES 06/19/2008 Three years and two months of testing Sangamo\'s technology were sufficient to validate its capability to manipulate genes and revolutionize agriculture, fuel and drug industries.  

 TECHNOLOGIES AND THE BIOREVOLUTION 06/17/2008 Some biotechnology firms look sometimes like faltering with no remedy to revive them. All of a sudden, news that looks of little impact might mark the beginning of resurrection.

 IDENIX' (IDIX) PROMISING HIV DRUG 06/12/2008 A novel HIV non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor drug has good results.  

 SANGAMO (SGMO): PROMISING DATA IN D.... 06/10/2008 At the 68th Scientific Sessions of the American Diabetes Association (ADA), positive data were presented about Sangamo\'s ZFP Therapeutic™ program. The presentation is entitled, \"Evidence of Neuroregeneration Using Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF) Zinc Finger Protein Activator (SB-509) in Diabetic Neuropathy: A Chronic Degenerative Polyneuropathy,\" Sangamo\'s Phase 1b results from clinical trial (SB-509-401) demonstrated statistically significant improvements in measurements of nerve health and function in subjects with diabetic neuropathy.  

SEQUENOM'S DOWN SYNDROME TEST 06/04/2008 Sequenom (SQNM), one of Prohost’s picks announced that its prenatal SEQureDX test, which screens maternal blood for Down syndrome had a 100% success in predicting positive disease. The stock rallied.  

ALNYLAM (ALNY): BIG MONEY 05/27/2008 Another deep-pocketed Japanese company, Takeda is attracted to Alnylam\'s RNAi technology.  

 HUMAN PAPILLOMA VIRUS (HPV) 05/20/2008 A more accurate test for HPV might save more women from developing cervical cancers.  

ASCO: Too early to call 05/19/2008 Giving everybody access to thousands of abstracts presented at ASCO is a step forward. The question is: Will the unprecedented move by ASCO succeed in eliminating some analysts’ rush to evaluate cancer drugs prior to the meeting, thus causing confusion?  

LPATH (LPTH): WHAT DID WE LEARN? 05/15/2008 What should we learn from a press release? Taking as an example the news announced by Lpath, we learned that the firm has the fundamentals indispensable for a development-stage biotechnology company. These fundamentals are usually overlooked by analysts, a leading cause for the undervaluation of many biotechnology firms.  

BIOTECHNOLOGY EVOLUTION IS BREATH-T....05/14/2008 Biotechnology is, indeed, evolving with astonishing high speed towards unveiling the body’s biological molecules involved in providing health, or causing diseases. We have news here. (for subscribers only)  

PROHOST E-LETTER #271 05/06/2008 For Subscribers Only. Please click on the link on the Home page below.  

 

WHAT HAPPENNED ON MARCH 28 IN A CHI.... 05/02/2008 A child suffering from Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL), a cancer of the bone marrow and blood has been treated by transplanting human placenta-derived stem cells (HPDSCs. Read about the firm and the hospitals behind the groundbreaking transplant  

 

IDERA”S TOLL-LIKE RECEPTORS 05/01/2008 The Promises of TLR technology  

 

ZYMOGENETICS M.S. DRUG ATACICEPT 04/30/2008 Why atacicept for M.S.  

 

REGENERON: TOWARDS ANOTHER FINISH L.... 04/28/2008

 

PROGENICS' DRUG APPROVAL 04/25/2008 Prohost warrned investors that slashing Progenics stock price was irrelevant and the subcutaneous form of methylnaltrexone will be approved. It was.  

ELAN AND TYSABRI 04/24/2008 Hype has a short life span because, sooner, or later, reality surfaces. Tysabri is one of the most deliberately misjudged, if not the most underestimated breakthrough drugs ...  

MIGRAINE 04/16/2008 The medical community has become increasingly aware that Inflammation might be playing an important role in many chronic and life-threatening diseases, including cancer. Capitalizing on this notion, Pozen and GlaxoSmithKline added an anti-inflammatory drug to a member of migraine-specific medicines. It worked. The firms were granted FDA approval for a new better acting migraine drug called Treximet.  

PROMISING CANCER DRUGS 04/15/2008 Cancer drugs, Vaccines, predictive tests and other presentations. (Subscribers only)  

MILLENNIUM: A TAKE OVER 04/10/2008 Knowing better than investors the value of Millennium Pharmaceuticals (MLNM), Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. has bid $8.8 billion on Millennium. Stock has crossed our $24 target.  

ONCOPHAGE® (VITESPEN) VACCINE APPRO.... 04/08/2008 the Russian Ministry of Public Health has issued a registration certificate for the use of Oncophage® (vitespen) developed by Antigenics (AGEN) for the treatment of kidney cancer patients at intermediate risk for disease recurrence. The company expects to launch Oncophage in Russia in the second half of 2008.

SANGAMO BIOSCIENCES (SGMO) 04/07/2008 More and more scientists and drug developing firms, private and public, are becoming aware that Sangamo’s ZFP Nuclease (ZFN) platform might be the breakthrough that addresses many of the major problems hampering the success of biological science revolution.

VERTEX' DRUG FOR CYSTIC FIBROSIS 04/01/2008 Vertex Announces Positive Results for VX-770 - an oral Investigational Agent That Targets a defective protein responsible for cystic fibrosis  

COMPUGEN: A MARKER IN MYOCARDIAL IN.... 04/01/2008 Compugen has provided the medical community with what confirms the value of its predictive discovery platforms. This capability has begun to bring in new valuable molecules, which were not previously known.  

A NEW DRUG TO DIMINISH HIV RESISTAN.... 03/31/2008 A broad-spectrum antiviral product candidate might suppress HIV resistance to nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs)

PRADAXA®: A NOVEL ANTICOAGULANT 03/28/2008 Pradaxa®, an oral direct thrombin inhibitor. The novel drug is approved in Europe to prevent venous thromboembolic events in adults who have undergone elective total hip or total knee replacement surgery.  

THE PROHOST N-LETTER IS POSTED 03/27/2008 The Game. The biotech sector . The bad patterns. The rule of thumb and the biotech disciplines that will supervene. (FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY>)  

DINAVAX (DVAX) AND MERCK 03/18/2008 While receiving an investigational hepatitis B vaccine, one individual among 2500 vaccinated with 5000 doses of the HEPLISAV vaccine co-developed by Dynavax and Merck was diagnosed with Wegener\'s granulomatosis,  

GENTA'S DRUG GENASENSE 03/17/2008 Genta\'s drug, Genasense inhibits Bcl-2, a protein that makes cancer resist chemotherapy.  

GENENTECH'S YEAR AND YEARS 03/14/2008 It is, indeed, Genentech’s day, where the firm is expected to project 2008 profit outlook between $3.30 and $3.45 per share, its Avastin\'s unprecedented sales growth, its pipeline and its plans for the future.  

PDL BIOPHARMACEUTICALS 03/05/2008 \"To sell ourselves, or not to sell ourselves\", this is the question. \"We want to sell, but we could not sell\", this is the cause of investors\' catastrophic losses. The story repeats itself with different star players. Is it time to buy now, or to think about it? What other biotechnology made us decide to buy without thinking? Read the answer in the upcoming Prohost letter.  

REWRITING THE TEXT BOOKS? 03/03/2008 The market first. Then news from Vanda (VNDA) which insinuates that as a developer of antipsychotic and neurological products, especially of an antipsychotic drug waiting for approval, this firm is doing its homework.

GENENTECH: THE GIANT SUPERVENED 02/22/2008 We said it on February 15. It happened on February 22. The FDA granted Avastin accelerated approval to protect women from breast cancer spread and protect investors from the market's parasites.  

ONYX (ONXX) A BUY OPPORTUNITY 02/19/2008 The irrational selling of the stock offers an opportunity for those who had missed buying the stock and another opportunity to accumulate by the firm’s fans.  

ADVANCED PROSTATE CANCER: A NEW HOP.... 02/16/2008 A private biotech and a publicly traded biotech firm might have good news for hormone refractory prostate cancer. For subscribers only.  

CORRECTING HYPONATREMIA 02/16/2008