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Sunday, March 06, 2016 12:13:48 PM
$PMCB Cardica News and Response Bodes Well for Pharmacyte Biotech
Cardica, Inc. (NASDAQ:CRDC) has given the market a not-so-gentle reminder that biotechnology and medical devices aren't under the same fire as biopharmaceuticals. Time to put Pharmacyte Biotech Inc. (OTCMKTS:PMCB) back on the radar, for the same reason.
After more than a year's worth of miserable performance from the stock, Cardica, Inc. (NASDAQ:CRDC) shares are soaring, up 36% today on the heels of news that its surgical stapling device has been cleared by the FDA for far more uses than had been previously permitted. The news doesn't come as a complete shock to CRDC owners, though that's certainty didn't start to materialize until after January 7th when the company announced a new partnership agreement with Intuitive Surgical that vaguely suggested good news was on the way. And, even the inkling of good news didn't do as much for Cardica shares as the confirmed news did this morning.
In a bigger sense, while pharmaceuticals and specialty drugs were under fire during the latter half of 2015, that weakness also unfairly pressured makers of biotech devices lower. The rebound from CRDC helps to imply the group is in rebound mode now, so for investors looking to pick up other compelling but speculative biotech device ideas may want to add Pharmacyte Biotech Inc. (OTCMKTS:PMCB) if not their portfolio.
Pharmacyte Biotech is the developer of a biotechnology called Cell-In-a-Box, which is making the healthcare industry rethink what's possible in terms of drug delivery.
Pharmacyte Biotech has, in simplest terms, perfected the elusive art of live cell encapsulation. In other words, PMCB is successfully doing what most researchers and biotech companies have struggled to do well (and been unable to do for the long haul) by encapsulating live cells in a package that (1) is small enough to be implanted into a human body, (2) durable enough to resist a body's immune response, and (3) porous enough to allow the healthy cells living inside the encapsulation to operate normally when that patient's own cells aren't doing their job. Cell-in-a-Box is that biotechnology.
It's as much of a process as it is a molecular structure. The first step in their creation is a mix of live cells (that ultimately spur or even become the therapy) and a proprietary polymer that is then dropped into another proprietary polymer. The two polymers react to form a solid object about the size of the head of the pin, with the still-living cells beneath the shell of the tiny sphere. Though only a few millimeters across, the number of living cells inside the tiny bead-sized capsule can be in the thousands.
While it's not a new idea, Pharmacyte has upped the ante, so to speak, on encapsulation. These capsules allow the cells inside to receive nutrients from a body as well as emit certain chemicals, yet they don't let antibodies in and potentially kill the outside, unrecognized cells the way an immune system normally would. And, unlike most other encapsulation efforts, the capsule itself isn't known to degrade.
The implications for such a technology are almost limitless, although Pharmacyte is first focusing on two arenas... pancreatic cancer, and type 1 diabetes.
On the diabetes front, the cells "in the box" would be insulin-producing engineered Magellan cells inside the pinhead-sized beads, which are then surgically deposited in the leg, near the bloodstream. Just like a patient's own cells would detect the presence of glucose and begin producing insulin, the cells inside the encapsulation are capable of sensing high levels of glucose and produce an appropriate amount of insulin.
As for pancreatic cancer, Cell-in-a-Box is a means of placing thousands of live cells that produce a P450 enzyme inside the capsule, which can activate an otherwise inactive form of cancer drug ifosfamide to produce an anti-cancerous effect.
The upside to this approach is pin-point placement.
Ifosfamide in its active form is usually delivered intravenously and then activated in the liver. The process "works", but much of the drug doesn't make it to the pancreas. To deliver a dose big enough to make a dent in a pancreatic tumor, nasty side effects are almost a given. The Cell-in-a-Box approach circumvents this inefficient form of delivery by inserting encapsulated P450-producing cells very near the tumor itself, which means ifosfamide isn't activated until it's at or near the pancreatic tumor, which means the bulk of the drug is delivered where it needs to be delivered. This in turn means less of the drug is necessary to produce a response. Less of a drug means fewer side effects, without giving up efficacy.
It blurs the line between biotechnology device and biopharmaceuticals... as most next-generation treatments should.
Though there's still more work to be done, as most veteran traders can attest, the market rewards biotech companies reaching milestones by pushing the stock upward. The PMCB premise alone already has plenty of people interested, and with 2016 being a year with lots of catalysts in the queue, now's the time to start taking a closer look.
With that in mind, just this morning the company updated its explanation of its biotechnology and added some new information about Cell-In-a-Box. Newcomers as well as those familiar with Pharmacyte Biotech will want to take a look right here.
http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/globenewswire/6150096.htm
Cardica, Inc. (NASDAQ:CRDC) has given the market a not-so-gentle reminder that biotechnology and medical devices aren't under the same fire as biopharmaceuticals. Time to put Pharmacyte Biotech Inc. (OTCMKTS:PMCB) back on the radar, for the same reason.
After more than a year's worth of miserable performance from the stock, Cardica, Inc. (NASDAQ:CRDC) shares are soaring, up 36% today on the heels of news that its surgical stapling device has been cleared by the FDA for far more uses than had been previously permitted. The news doesn't come as a complete shock to CRDC owners, though that's certainty didn't start to materialize until after January 7th when the company announced a new partnership agreement with Intuitive Surgical that vaguely suggested good news was on the way. And, even the inkling of good news didn't do as much for Cardica shares as the confirmed news did this morning.
In a bigger sense, while pharmaceuticals and specialty drugs were under fire during the latter half of 2015, that weakness also unfairly pressured makers of biotech devices lower. The rebound from CRDC helps to imply the group is in rebound mode now, so for investors looking to pick up other compelling but speculative biotech device ideas may want to add Pharmacyte Biotech Inc. (OTCMKTS:PMCB) if not their portfolio.
Pharmacyte Biotech is the developer of a biotechnology called Cell-In-a-Box, which is making the healthcare industry rethink what's possible in terms of drug delivery.
Pharmacyte Biotech has, in simplest terms, perfected the elusive art of live cell encapsulation. In other words, PMCB is successfully doing what most researchers and biotech companies have struggled to do well (and been unable to do for the long haul) by encapsulating live cells in a package that (1) is small enough to be implanted into a human body, (2) durable enough to resist a body's immune response, and (3) porous enough to allow the healthy cells living inside the encapsulation to operate normally when that patient's own cells aren't doing their job. Cell-in-a-Box is that biotechnology.
It's as much of a process as it is a molecular structure. The first step in their creation is a mix of live cells (that ultimately spur or even become the therapy) and a proprietary polymer that is then dropped into another proprietary polymer. The two polymers react to form a solid object about the size of the head of the pin, with the still-living cells beneath the shell of the tiny sphere. Though only a few millimeters across, the number of living cells inside the tiny bead-sized capsule can be in the thousands.
While it's not a new idea, Pharmacyte has upped the ante, so to speak, on encapsulation. These capsules allow the cells inside to receive nutrients from a body as well as emit certain chemicals, yet they don't let antibodies in and potentially kill the outside, unrecognized cells the way an immune system normally would. And, unlike most other encapsulation efforts, the capsule itself isn't known to degrade.
The implications for such a technology are almost limitless, although Pharmacyte is first focusing on two arenas... pancreatic cancer, and type 1 diabetes.
On the diabetes front, the cells "in the box" would be insulin-producing engineered Magellan cells inside the pinhead-sized beads, which are then surgically deposited in the leg, near the bloodstream. Just like a patient's own cells would detect the presence of glucose and begin producing insulin, the cells inside the encapsulation are capable of sensing high levels of glucose and produce an appropriate amount of insulin.
As for pancreatic cancer, Cell-in-a-Box is a means of placing thousands of live cells that produce a P450 enzyme inside the capsule, which can activate an otherwise inactive form of cancer drug ifosfamide to produce an anti-cancerous effect.
The upside to this approach is pin-point placement.
Ifosfamide in its active form is usually delivered intravenously and then activated in the liver. The process "works", but much of the drug doesn't make it to the pancreas. To deliver a dose big enough to make a dent in a pancreatic tumor, nasty side effects are almost a given. The Cell-in-a-Box approach circumvents this inefficient form of delivery by inserting encapsulated P450-producing cells very near the tumor itself, which means ifosfamide isn't activated until it's at or near the pancreatic tumor, which means the bulk of the drug is delivered where it needs to be delivered. This in turn means less of the drug is necessary to produce a response. Less of a drug means fewer side effects, without giving up efficacy.
It blurs the line between biotechnology device and biopharmaceuticals... as most next-generation treatments should.
Though there's still more work to be done, as most veteran traders can attest, the market rewards biotech companies reaching milestones by pushing the stock upward. The PMCB premise alone already has plenty of people interested, and with 2016 being a year with lots of catalysts in the queue, now's the time to start taking a closer look.
With that in mind, just this morning the company updated its explanation of its biotechnology and added some new information about Cell-In-a-Box. Newcomers as well as those familiar with Pharmacyte Biotech will want to take a look right here.
http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/globenewswire/6150096.htm
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