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AdCare Health Systems, Inc. (ADK) Announces Upcoming Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2011 Conference Call
AdCare Health Systems, a leading long-term care provider, today announced that it will be holding a conference call later this week on Friday, March 9, 2012, at 8:30 a.m. EST to discuss results for the fourth quarter and full year ended December 31, 2011. The company’s financial results will be issued in a press release before the call.
AdCare President and Chief Executive Officer Boyd P. Gentry, Chief Financial Officer Martin D. Brew, and Vice Chairman and Chief Acquisition Officer Chris Brogdon will host the presentation, followed by a question and answer period.
Dial-In Number: 1-877-941-1427
International: 1-480-629-9664
Conference ID#: 4520448
In addition to calling one of the phone numbers above, investors may also join the conference call by accessing a simultaneous broadcast that will be available via the investor section of the company’s Web site at www.adcarehealth.com.
A replay of the call will be available after 11:30 a.m. EST on the same day. Investors can either visit the investor section of the company’s website or use the telephone numbers below to listen to the recorded conference call.
Toll-free replay number: 1-877-870-5176
International replay number: 1-858-384-5517
Replay pin number: 4520448
ADK Announces Upcoming Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2011 Conference Call
AdCare Health Systems, a leading long-term care provider, today announced that it will be holding a conference call later this week on Friday, March 9, 2012, at 8:30 a.m. EST to discuss results for the fourth quarter and full year ended December 31, 2011. The company’s financial results will be issued in a press release before the call.
AdCare President and Chief Executive Officer Boyd P. Gentry, Chief Financial Officer Martin D. Brew, and Vice Chairman and Chief Acquisition Officer Chris Brogdon will host the presentation, followed by a question and answer period.
Dial-In Number: 1-877-941-1427
International: 1-480-629-9664
Conference ID#: 4520448
In addition to calling one of the phone numbers above, investors may also join the conference call by accessing a simultaneous broadcast that will be available via the investor section of the company’s Web site at www.adcarehealth.com.
A replay of the call will be available after 11:30 a.m. EST on the same day. Investors can either visit the investor section of the company’s website or use the telephone numbers below to listen to the recorded conference call.
Toll-free replay number: 1-877-870-5176
International replay number: 1-858-384-5517
Replay pin number: 4520448
TearLab Corp. (TEAR) is “One to Watch”
TearLab presents a unique offering in Dry Eye Disease (DED) diagnostics with their TearLab Osmolarity System, a first-of-its-kind platform for objectively quantifying a crucial feature set of the disease, tear film osmolarity in a manner that is rapid, easy, and highly accurate.
Percentages of sufferers from DED in the US and Asia are as high as 13% (Schein 1997) and 33% (Shimmura 1999) respectively in reported incidence cases. This is a huge market with massive potential for TearLab, which presents a novel solution to clinicians for both diagnosis and management of the disease. The TearLab Osmolarity System consists of a portable counter-top reader/base unit and pen which uses test cards to harvest nanometric quantities of the patient’s tears without ever touching the eye. The pen is then placed back into the reader which calculates osmolarity data according to TEAR’s ingenious method.
A 2009 American Academy of Ophthalmology patient trial of 300 found that osmolarity correctly identified 95% of severe cases of DED (88% normal, 75% mild/moderate, all at a cut-off rate of around 308 mOsms/L). The TEAR system was shown to outperform extant methods of diagnosis for mild/moderate cases (Sullivan 2009) and uses the aforementioned method for rapidly assaying via the TearLab Osmolarity Test.
The end result is a simple, self contained, lab-on-a-chip system that lets clinicians rapidly diagnose DED using a simplified, categorical descriptor set that clearly shows osmolarity value, allowing for confident diagnosis. Incorporated into the workflow, this professional in vitro diagnostic platform, which also features a two-card electronic check card system and quality control solutions for calibration purposes, gives medical professionals the kind of fast/accurate benchmarking they need to accelerate patient care. The number is psychologically valuable as well, being able to show patients they have dry eye disease according to a quantifiable vector achieved via rapid analysis after sampling the aqueous fluid helps doctors educate patients otherwise reluctant to even take the condition seriously.
Another recent report (Feb 23) has TEAR moving to secure abundant space in the Japanese market via entry into a material definitive agency agreement to roll the TearLab Osmolarity System out there. A 2008 study in Japan to determine the prevalence of DED among young- to middle-aged office workers using visual display terminals found clinically diagnosed DED in as much as 10.1% of men and 21.5% of women.
Recently receiving its CLIA waiver categorization from FDA (Jan 24) for the TearLab Osmolarity System and a positive code decision from Medicare, TEAR stands ready to service clients in assisting with obtaining a Moderately Complex CLIA certificate. TEAR will even provide the costs of any Lab Director course (if needed), and all materials required for assurance of quality testing under CLIA. This is a huge win for TEAR that should give the company serious momentum and investors will be taking a closer look as the TearLab Osmolarity System approaches becoming an established standard of care in the industry.
Having received company-wide ISO 13485:2003 certification early on in the commercialization of the technology, TEAR is a clear beacon of rigorous quality standards in the development of medical devices.
For more information on TearLab Corp. please visit the company’s website at: www.TearLab.com
A123 Systems (AONE) Expands Partnership with SAIC Motor to Address Lithium Ion Battery Technology Demand in China
Today, A123 Systems, Inc. announced a planned expansion of its partnership with SAIC Motor Corporation Limited, which is China’s largest automaker. This will build on the existing partnership that was established between the two companies back in 2009, when Advanced Traction battery Systems (ATBS), a battery pack joint venture company, was formed.
Under a new framework agreement, A123 and SAIC Motor will carry out a feasibility study defining the business plan and investment requirement for a jointly developed battery manufacturing facility in China. It is anticipated that the proposed facility will serve the local market with an initial focus on transportation; this will enable A123 to meet the increasing demand for advanced lithium ion battery technology more quickly and cost-effectively. The agreements setting forth the terms and conditions for the proposed facility and its operations, currently in negotiations, are expected to be completed by September 2012.
Since the formation of ATBS, A123 has been a strong partner for SAIC Motor, supplying lithium ion battery systems for three of SAIC’s electric vehicles. SAIC sees potential for A123’s technology across several different Chinese markets, and the company anticipates that the expanded partnership will provide SAIC with increased opportunity to benefit from the rising demand for advanced lithium ion phosphate solutions.
SAIC Motor leads the Chinese auto market. The company’s total vehicle production exceeded 4 million vehicles in 2011.
A123 Systems, Inc. is a leader in developing and manufacturing advanced lithium ion batteries and energy storage systems for transportation, electric grid and commercial applications. The company’s Nanophosphate lithium iron phosphate technology, built on novel nanoscale materials initially developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is designed to deliver high power and energy density, improved safety and extended life. Leveraging cutting-edge technology, quality manufacturing and expert systems integration capabilities, A123 delivers innovative solutions that enable customers to create and market next-generation products. For further information, visit www.a123systems.com.
EDGAR (EDGR) Posts Q4, Full-year Financial Results
Financial results reflect significant growth in full-year 2011, posts record revenues
EDGAR® Online Inc., a premier provider of fundamental financial data, analytics and disclosure management services, today announced its unaudited financial results for the fourth quarter and full-year ended December 31, 2011.
Total revenues were $7.6 million for the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2011, compared to $4.9 million for the comparable quarter of 2010; fourth-quarter adjusted EBITDA was $0.8 million compared to a net loss of $(1.3 million) for the quarter ended December 31, 2010. For full-year 2011, EDGAR reported total revenues of $27.8 million compared to $19.5 million for 2010; adjusted EBITDA was ($3.6 million) for the year ended December 31, 2011, compared to ($1.9 million) for full-year 2010.
EDGAR reported an operating loss was of ($0.6 million) for the fourth quarter of 2011 compared to a loss of ($3.1 million) for the same quarter last year. Full-year 2011 operating loss was ($9.6 million) as compared to a loss of ($6.9 million) for the year ended December 31, 2010.
The company reported deferred revenue of $4.0 million at December 31, 2011, compared to $4.5 million reported at December 31, 2010.
As of December 31, 2011, EDGAR had cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments totaling $5.6 million compared to $11 million at December 31, 2010. At December 31, 2011, the company had term loan outstanding of $1.7 million and a $3.0 million revolving credit facility.
The company’s full-year performance reflects its implementation and execution of initiatives designed to promote growth.
“I am pleased to report that EDGAR Online experienced tremendous growth in 2011,” Robert J. Farrell, EDGAR’s president and CEO stated in the press release. “In addition to generating record revenues for the year, we implemented the infrastructure and added the human talent necessary to support future growth and product evolution. The value propositions embodied in our data & analytics products, disclosure management solutions, and software businesses position EDGAR Online to expand and gain market share. In 2012 we will leverage our industry recognized expertise in XBRL and disclosure management to deliver innovative solutions to professionals who both produce and consume financial information, with a particular focus on the areas of governance, risk and compliance.”
EDGAR anticipates annual revenue growth of more than 35 percent in 2012 as compared to 2011 revenue.
For more information visit www.edgar-online.com
VistaGen Therapeutics (VSTA) Develops New Approach to Major Neurological Market
One of the fastest growing markets in healthcare is the field of neuropathic pain therapeutics. Neuropathic pain is the sensation of pain caused by damaged or dysfunctional nerves sending incorrect signals to the brain’s pain centers. Potential causes of neuropathic pain are many and varied, ranging from cancer and cancer treatments, to strokes and surgery, to infections and even alcoholism. It’s a complex field, and the treatment of neuropathic pain is a multi-billion market, expected to grow at over 9% annually to potentially $10 billion by 2018.
There are currently a limited number of therapies for dealing with neuropathic pain, which provide only partial pain relief and do not effectively address the underlying cause of the pain. The need now is for something that is more effective, with less safety concerns. One of the challenges in dealing with neurological problems is getting effective drugs across the blood-brain barrier. For example, 7-Chlorokynurenic acid (7-Cl-KYNA) is one of the most potent and specific glycineB (GlyB) site antagonists currently known, important for dealing with pain and other issues. When injected directly into the brain, 7-Cl-KYNA is known to reduce seizures, excitotoxic and neuronal death. But, like almost all existing GlyB antagonists, 7-Cl-KYNA does not cross the blood-brain barrier, and is ineffective following peripheral administration. AV-101 readily crosses the blood-brain barrier and is then efficiently converted into 7-chlorokynurenic acid (7-Cl-KYNA), one of the most potent and specific glycineB site antagonists currently known, and has been shown to reduce seizures and excitotoxic neuronal death.
VistaGen Therapeutics’ lead drug candidate, AV-101, is currently under development as a new orally available treatment for neuropathic pain. AV-101 is a prodrug (4-Cl-KYN) of 7-Cl-KYNA. The important difference between the two is that 4-Cl-KYNA is able to readily cross the blood-brain and is then efficiently converted into 7-Cl-KYNA. In other words, like a Trojan horse, AV-101 can sneak its way into the brain, overcoming the blood-brain barrier. Once inside, it changes into a highly potent new form (7-Cl-KYNA), which, VistaGen believes, will enable it to become an effective treatment for a widespread medical problem.
In preclinical studies, AV-101 has been shown to have a positive effect on chronic neuropathic pain, with no observed adverse behavioral effects. It has shown greater than 90% oral bioavailability, and is rapidly and efficiently transported across the blood-brain barrier where it is converted into 7-Cl-KYNA in the brain and spinal cord – preferentially at the site of seizures and potential neural damage. Moreover, VistaGen’s development plan for AV-101 has been designed to allow Phase 1 safety studies to support potential Phase 2 development for any additional neurological indications (such as epilepsy, Parkinson’s disease, Huntington’s disease, and depression) for which there is supporting efficacy information. To date, VistaGen has been awarded over $8.5 million from the U.S. National Institutes of Health for preclinical and clinical development of AV-101.
VSTA Develops New Approach to Major Neurological Market
One of the fastest growing markets in healthcare is the field of neuropathic pain therapeutics. Neuropathic pain is the sensation of pain caused by damaged or dysfunctional nerves sending incorrect signals to the brain’s pain centers. Potential causes of neuropathic pain are many and varied, ranging from cancer and cancer treatments, to strokes and surgery, to infections and even alcoholism. It’s a complex field, and the treatment of neuropathic pain is a multi-billion market, expected to grow at over 9% annually to potentially $10 billion by 2018.
There are currently a limited number of therapies for dealing with neuropathic pain, which provide only partial pain relief and do not effectively address the underlying cause of the pain. The need now is for something that is more effective, with less safety concerns. One of the challenges in dealing with neurological problems is getting effective drugs across the blood-brain barrier. For example, 7-Chlorokynurenic acid (7-Cl-KYNA) is one of the most potent and specific glycineB (GlyB) site antagonists currently known, important for dealing with pain and other issues. When injected directly into the brain, 7-Cl-KYNA is known to reduce seizures, excitotoxic and neuronal death. But, like almost all existing GlyB antagonists, 7-Cl-KYNA does not cross the blood-brain barrier, and is ineffective following peripheral administration. AV-101 readily crosses the blood-brain barrier and is then efficiently converted into 7-chlorokynurenic acid (7-Cl-KYNA), one of the most potent and specific glycineB site antagonists currently known, and has been shown to reduce seizures and excitotoxic neuronal death.
VistaGen Therapeutics’ lead drug candidate, AV-101, is currently under development as a new orally available treatment for neuropathic pain. AV-101 is a prodrug (4-Cl-KYN) of 7-Cl-KYNA. The important difference between the two is that 4-Cl-KYNA is able to readily cross the blood-brain and is then efficiently converted into 7-Cl-KYNA. In other words, like a Trojan horse, AV-101 can sneak its way into the brain, overcoming the blood-brain barrier. Once inside, it changes into a highly potent new form (7-Cl-KYNA), which, VistaGen believes, will enable it to become an effective treatment for a widespread medical problem.
In preclinical studies, AV-101 has been shown to have a positive effect on chronic neuropathic pain, with no observed adverse behavioral effects. It has shown greater than 90% oral bioavailability, and is rapidly and efficiently transported across the blood-brain barrier where it is converted into 7-Cl-KYNA in the brain and spinal cord – preferentially at the site of seizures and potential neural damage. Moreover, VistaGen’s development plan for AV-101 has been designed to allow Phase 1 safety studies to support potential Phase 2 development for any additional neurological indications (such as epilepsy, Parkinson’s disease, Huntington’s disease, and depression) for which there is supporting efficacy information. To date, VistaGen has been awarded over $8.5 million from the U.S. National Institutes of Health for preclinical and clinical development of AV-101.
eGain Communications Corp. (EGAN) Award-Winning Knowledge Management Solution Selected by Union Bank, N.A.
Today, eGain Communications announced that Union Bank, N.A. has selected eGain’s platform to implement its enterprise-wide customer-facing knowledge strategy. Union Bank, a full-service commercial bank, provides its customers with an assortment of financial services tailored for individuals, small businesses, middle-market companies, and major corporations, including banking, asset management, brokerage, loans, investments, and insurance. Union Bank is a member of the Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group.
Desiring to leverage existing knowledge sources and integrate them into a single platform, Union Bank selected eGain for its comprehensive multichannel customer interaction platform as well as its market leadership, which is supported by marquee financial services clients and top ratings from leading technology analysts. In addition to creating a layer of guided navigation, thereby improving accessibility and customer experience, the bank additionally desired to tightly integrate the knowledge capability with its CRM environment to improve the productivity of its customer service specialists. Multilingual content management was also an essential need, as Union Bank is a global organization with a Japanese parent. The bank additionally wanted the capability to easily activate new customer points of contact like e-mail, Web, social and mobile.
eGain leads the industry in providing cloud and on-site customer interaction hub software. For more than 10 years, the company’s solutions have improved customer experience, service, and sales across Web, social, and phone channels, and eGain has transformed fragmented sales engagement and customer service operations into unified Customer Interaction Hubs for hundreds of the world’s largest companies.
For more information, visit the company’s Web site at www.eGain.com
White Mountain Titanium Corp. (WMTM) Enters Key Agreements Needed to Advance Chilean Titanium Production Project
Today, White Mountain Titanium, which is steadfastly working to advance their Cerro Blanco project in Chile (capable of producing high-grade titanium dioxide for paint/pigment and metal feedstock) to final feasibility, reported entry into additional requisite agreements towards this end with key regional/professional firms.
Executive Chairman of WMTM, Brian Flower, underscored the robust prices for rutile concentrate and shortages in titanium feedstock as being massive drivers.
Chiefly, the AMEC International (Chile) S.A. review of extant engineering data and studies on Cerro Blanco originally prepared by Cade Idepe will serve as a fundamental component of the Final Feasibility Study and EIS (Environmental Impact Statement). AMEC will rigorously perform a full review of the logistics including process plant design, recovery, waste/tailings disposal, and economic assessment. Projections place this copious review’s completion around the middle of this year and a Q2 submission to the Chilean mining authorities is already scheduled.
Working hand-in-hand with environmental consultant Arcadis Geotecnica, the WMTM environmental team will integrate AMEC’s analysis of the process design and waste/tailings logistical architecture into the EIS. The EIS will also incorporate baseline monitoring studies of onsite flora/fauna, in addition to potential impact on local communities, actions reinforced substantially by outreach discussions over the preceding three weeks with key community leaders of the potentially impacted areas.
Entry into a non-binding power-supply, transmission line, and sea water (for proposed onsite desalination plant) agreement with Empresa Electrica Guacolda S.A. will only become binding after the company has permits in hand to commence construction at Cerro Blanco. Port storage, loading facility requirements for rutile concentrate, and other considerations have also been discussed with Guacolda, in anticipation of considerable throughput once operations commence.
Finally, ongoing R&D on the key Chinuka Titanium Metals Technology process by personnel in the UK at the University of Cambridge has produced some interesting results that were disclosed at a recent meeting with the researchers. The next phase of research will include optimizing the increased reactor vessel size used in producing sponge titanium from Cerro Blanco rutile concentrate.
Brian Flower commended project and consulting personnel involved in advancing Cerro Blanco so capably, pointing to the important work done by UK metallurgists on the Chinuka Process as a major accelerant for external market dynamics.
Titanium has been growing steadily as a demand material, with aerospace being a major driver of overall consumption and the use in paints/pigments being another strong growth vector. With major players like DuPont recently announcing a significant price hike for all its Ti-Pure® titanium dioxide grades, the market is sending clear signals about the future of titanium. Chile has some great titanium sites and Cerro Blanco is one of them.
The Cerro Blanco also has high potential for secondary production of an important feldspar product that would see solid penetration in glass/ceramics markets and WMTM is working to fully investigate this potential as well.
For more information the agreements, or to stay connected with White Mountain Titanium Corp. as events unfold, please visit the company’s website at www.WMTCorp.com
GlobalWise Investments, Inc. (GWIV) Continues to Grow Acquisition Potential
GlobalWise Investments, through its wholly-owned subsidiary Intellinetics, is a leading-edge technology company focused on the design, implementation, and management of Cloud-based ECM (Enterprise Content Management) systems, targeting both the public and private sectors.
Cloud and SaaS (Software as a Service) are increasingly seen as hot technologies, representing a developing and major revolution in the way that processing functionality is accessed and used. Going to the Cloud offers increased flexibility and a better leveraging of resources, in addition to saving money. It’s a rapidly growing movement, and the biggest players in software are taking aggressive steps to ensure that they are not left behind the curve. Memories of the PC revolution, the positioning power gained by its early adopters, and the hit taken by laggards, are still strong. IBM, SAP, and Oracle have all gone after Cloud and SaaS savvy companies, paying top dollar based on the realization that acquisition is the quickest way to get on the train and stop the leak in market share.
GlobalWise is a good example of the power of the Cloud. The Intellinetics flagship ECM platform, Intellivue™, combines the power of the Cloud with on-demand solution templates and a user-focused design to maximize their ECM solution. It gives the client the ability to access and manage every piece of content they produce or receive, including but not limited to paper documents, digital content, database print streams, and e-mail. The data is accessible from virtually any PC, laptop, tablet, or smartphone, from anywhere in the world. Using the power of the Cloud, Intellinetics is positioned to dominate in the underserved small-to-mid sized business marketplace, seeking to capture significant market share within the lucrative $149 billion Business Software & Services industry.
For additional information, visit the company’s website at www.GlobalWiseInvestments.com
Gasco Energy (GSX) Appoints Richard Crist as VP of Business Development and Exploration
Gasco Energy, a natural gas and petroleum exploitation, development, and production company, today announced the addition of Richard P. Crist to the newly created role as the company’s vice president of business development and exploration.
Crist has more than 42 years of oil and gas experience, which entails a wide range of managerial and technical expertise and 25 years in corporate and senior management roles.
Crist’s previous roles include his tenure as chief operating officer and founder of White Birch Energy, a Denver-based start-up company focused on providing technical consulting to international exploration and production companies; executive vice president and chief operating officer and later as executive vice president of business development for Elk Resources, a privately held, Denver-based oil and gas company focused on the US Rocky Mountain region; as well as various senior technical and business development positions for energy companies including, GLOBEX Energy, Inc., Triton Energy Corporation, The Superior Oil Company and Sinclair/Atlantic Richfield.
Crist earned a degree in engineer geophysics with a minor in geology from the Colorado School of Mines in Golden, Colo. He is a member of the Society of Exploration Geophysicists and the American Association of Petroleum Geologists and is a certified petroleum geologist.
“On behalf of Gasco, I would like to welcome Dick Crist to the Gasco management team,” King Grant, Gasco’s CEO and president stated in the press release. “We have known Dick through his work in the Denver oil and gas community and are fortunate to have attracted a professional who brings an extensive industry contact base essential for his business development function. Equally important is his technical prowess in geophysics, engineering and geology that can help him properly assess the new opportunities that we generate at Gasco.”
For more information visit www.gascoenergy.com
Tandy Leather Factory, Inc. (TLF) Announces Strong February Retail Sales
Tandy Leather Factory, Inc. is a specialty retailer and wholesale distributor of a broad leather product line, including leather, leatherworking tools, buckles and adornments for belts, leather dyes and finishes, saddle and tack hardware, and do-it-yourself kits. The company distributes these products through its 29 Leather Factory stores and 76 Tandy Leather retail stores in the United States and Canada.
The company reported today that sales for the month of February were strong, up 15% from a year ago to $5.8 million. Sales so far this year are up 17% to $11.9 million versus $10.2 million in the same period of 2011.
Retail Leathercraft’s February sales rose 20% as compared to a year ago to $3.4 million. Year-to-date sales for Retail Leathercraft are up 19% versus the same period in 2011 to $6.6 million. Wholesale Leathercraft’s sales were up 6% from a year ago to $2.1 million. Year-to-date, Wholesale Leathercraft sales rose 12% to $4.8 million.
For further information about the company, please visit its website at www.tandyleatherfactory.com
FluoroPharma Medical, Inc. (FPMI) First in Class Diagnostic Agent Advanced to Phase II Study
FluoroPharma Medical, a biopharmaceutical company engaged in the development of breakthrough diagnostic imaging products that utilize positron emission tomography (PET) technology to detect and assess pathology before clinical manifestation of diseases, just announced that the company has recruited SGS Life Science Services as the contract research organization (CRO) for their Phase II study of CardioPET to assess myocardial perfusion and fatty acid uptake in coronary artery disease (CAD) patients.
CardioPET, one of FluoroPharma’s first in class PET imaging products, is a perfusion and fatty acid uptake indicator. The imaging agent allows assessment of acute and chronic coronary artery disease while patients are at rest. CardioPET may be an accurate alternative to standard treadmill stress-testing, which could be especially valuable in patients who are unable to exercise.
According to today’s press release, the phase II trial will be an open label trial designed to assess the safety and diagnostic performance of CardioPET as compared to stress echocardiography, myocardial perfusion imaging, and angiography. Two trial sites are planned in Belgium and results are expected in the second half of this year.
Thijs Spoor, President and Chief Executive Officer of FluoroPharma Medical, stated, “We are delighted to announce SGS Life Science Services as the CRO for this phase II trial; a significant milestone for FluoroPharma and our extraordinary pipeline of products. Symptomatic coronary artery disease (CAD) affects millions of patients worldwide and accounts for a significant and increasing percentage of all deaths. It is clear that novel diagnostic imaging agents are urgently required and we are focused on driving forward the development of our pipeline to meet these needs.
“We are very excited to be initiating this Phase II study for CardioPET,” added David Elmaleh, Chief Scientific Officer of FluoroPharma Medical. “CardioPET’s differentiated and superior imaging profile could have a significant impact on the evaluation of CAD patients across the spectrum of disease severity. Because CardioPET can detect perfusion and fatty acid uptake insufficiency in the myocardium; CardioPET could potentially be an accurate alternative to stress-testing in patients with CAD.”
Dyax Corp. (DYAX) Appoints Dr. Burd Adelman as Chief Medical Officer
Today, Dyax Corp. announced that it has appointed Burt Adelman, M.D., to the position of Chief Medical Officer. As Dyax’s new CMO, Dr. Adelman will lead the development and regulatory strategy for the company’s non-histamine-mediated angioedema franchise.
“Burt is a thought leader with an unparalleled record of success in developing and commercializing important therapeutics,” remarked Gustav Christensen, President and Chief Executive Officer of Dyax. “His scientific, clinical, regulatory and market-based expertise will be invaluable as we expand our KALBITOR-led angioedema franchise. We look forward to his contributions toward optimizing KALBITOR in hereditary angioedema, advancing KALBITOR in ACE inhibitor-induced angioedema, developing the first-ever laboratory test for non-histamine-mediated angioedemas, and progressing Dyax’s next-generation plasma kallikrein inhibitor toward the clinic.”
Dr. Adelman is experienced in drug development and commercialization, having led the successful development of a number of important biologic and small molecule therapeutics, including Angiomax®, Avonex®, Amevive®, and Tysabri®. His professional career began in 1991 with Biogen as Director of Medical Research, and held positions of increasing responsibility including Vice President, Regulatory Affairs, Vice President, Development Operations, and Executive Vice President, Research and Development.
Dr. Adelman retired from Biogen Idec as Executive Vice President of Portfolio Strategy in 2007. He currently serves as a lecturer in medicine at the Harvard Medical School. He was Associate Professor of Medicine at the Medical College of Virginia and Chief of the Hematology-Oncology service at the Hunter Holmes McGuire VA Medical Center.
“Dyax has established KALBITOR as a leader in the acute hereditary angioedema treatment space, and with this, there exists a tremendous opportunity to further expand the Company’s angioedema platform,” stated Dr. Adelman, “I am excited to be working with the Dyax team, as we focus on developing a suite of products designed to identify and appropriately treat the tens of thousands of patients affected by non-histamine-mediated angioedemas.”
For more information, visit the company’s website at www.dyax.com
Local Corp. (LOCM) Launches Exact Match Display
Yesterday, Local Corp. announced the launch of Exact Match Display. The service is intended for small to medium sized businesses and is powered by Local’s rich media platform, RAMP, which was launched in November of last year.
Local is focused on connecting traditional brick and mortar businesses with their customers online via digital marketing techniques such as local rich media, business and product search, and social media. Local states that their company serves a million customers a day through their flagship websites, Local.com and Spreebird.com, as well as over 1,000 regional media sites.
The new Exact Match Display service is a part of Local’s suite of marketing products. The service provides customizable ads that a client company can display on websites or mobile devices, with each ad being produced within RAMP. These ads can include company logos, contact information, and client-specified keywords.
“Exact Match Display ads are powered by RAMP and fulfilled on our OCTANE360 platform. This represents another example of the integration of our recently acquired assets,” said Michael Sawtell, president and COO of Local Corporation. “Exact Match Display provides our SMB subscribers with high quality display ads, which can be distributed on Local.com, our network of more than 1,000 regional media publishers, or on third-party ad networks.”
“While SMBs continue to embrace online advertising, many of them don’t have the budget or resources to develop and manage online ads themselves,” said Mark Wallin, VP of product for Local. “With Exact Match Display, we’re providing sophisticated and highly targeted display ads for local businesses to build brand awareness and drive consumers who are searching for their local products and services online and via mobile devices.”
Currently, there is one market marker at $1.72 and another at $1.77.
The next market maker is at $5.00.
GlobalWise Investments, Inc. (GWIV) Continues to Grow Acquisition Potential
GlobalWise Investments, through its wholly-owned subsidiary Intellinetics, is a leading-edge technology company focused on the design, implementation, and management of Cloud-based ECM (Enterprise Content Management) systems, targeting both the public and private sectors.
Cloud and SaaS (Software as a Service) are increasingly seen as hot technologies, representing a developing and major revolution in the way that processing functionality is accessed and used. Going to the Cloud offers increased flexibility and a better leveraging of resources, in addition to saving money. It’s a rapidly growing movement, and the biggest players in software are taking aggressive steps to ensure that they are not left behind the curve. Memories of the PC revolution, the positioning power gained by its early adopters, and the hit taken by laggards, are still strong. IBM, SAP, and Oracle have all gone after Cloud and SaaS savvy companies, paying top dollar based on the realization that acquisition is the quickest way to get on the train and stop the leak in market share.
GlobalWise is a good example of the power of the Cloud. The Intellinetics flagship ECM platform, Intellivue™, combines the power of the Cloud with on-demand solution templates and a user-focused design to maximize their ECM solution. It gives the client the ability to access and manage every piece of content they produce or receive, including but not limited to paper documents, digital content, database print streams, and e-mail. The data is accessible from virtually any PC, laptop, tablet, or smartphone, from anywhere in the world. Using the power of the Cloud, Intellinetics is positioned to dominate in the underserved small-to-mid sized business marketplace, seeking to capture significant market share within the lucrative $149 billion Business Software & Services industry.
GWIV Continues to Grow Acquisition Potential
GlobalWise Investments, through its wholly-owned subsidiary Intellinetics, is a leading-edge technology company focused on the design, implementation, and management of Cloud-based ECM (Enterprise Content Management) systems, targeting both the public and private sectors.
Cloud and SaaS (Software as a Service) are increasingly seen as hot technologies, representing a developing and major revolution in the way that processing functionality is accessed and used. Going to the Cloud offers increased flexibility and a better leveraging of resources, in addition to saving money. It’s a rapidly growing movement, and the biggest players in software are taking aggressive steps to ensure that they are not left behind the curve. Memories of the PC revolution, the positioning power gained by its early adopters, and the hit taken by laggards, are still strong. IBM, SAP, and Oracle have all gone after Cloud and SaaS savvy companies, paying top dollar based on the realization that acquisition is the quickest way to get on the train and stop the leak in market share.
GlobalWise is a good example of the power of the Cloud. The Intellinetics flagship ECM platform, Intellivue™, combines the power of the Cloud with on-demand solution templates and a user-focused design to maximize their ECM solution. It gives the client the ability to access and manage every piece of content they produce or receive, including but not limited to paper documents, digital content, database print streams, and e-mail. The data is accessible from virtually any PC, laptop, tablet, or smartphone, from anywhere in the world. Using the power of the Cloud, Intellinetics is positioned to dominate in the underserved small-to-mid sized business marketplace, seeking to capture significant market share within the lucrative $149 billion Business Software & Services industry.
FluoroPharma Medical, Inc. (FPMI) First in Class Diagnostic Agent Advanced to Phase II Study
FluoroPharma Medical, a biopharmaceutical company engaged in the development of breakthrough diagnostic imaging products that utilize positron emission tomography (PET) technology to detect and assess pathology before clinical manifestation of diseases, just announced that the company has recruited SGS Life Science Services as the contract research organization (CRO) for their Phase II study of CardioPET to assess myocardial perfusion and fatty acid uptake in coronary artery disease (CAD) patients.
CardioPET, one of FluoroPharma’s first in class PET imaging products, is a perfusion and fatty acid uptake indicator. The imaging agent allows assessment of acute and chronic coronary artery disease while patients are at rest. CardioPET may be an accurate alternative to standard treadmill stress-testing, which could be especially valuable in patients who are unable to exercise.
According to today’s press release, the phase II trial will be an open label trial designed to assess the safety and diagnostic performance of CardioPET as compared to stress echocardiography, myocardial perfusion imaging, and angiography. Two trial sites are planned in Belgium and results are expected in the second half of this year.
Thijs Spoor, President and Chief Executive Officer of FluoroPharma Medical, stated, “We are delighted to announce SGS Life Science Services as the CRO for this phase II trial; a significant milestone for FluoroPharma and our extraordinary pipeline of products. Symptomatic coronary artery disease (CAD) affects millions of patients worldwide and accounts for a significant and increasing percentage of all deaths. It is clear that novel diagnostic imaging agents are urgently required and we are focused on driving forward the development of our pipeline to meet these needs.
“We are very excited to be initiating this Phase II study for CardioPET," added David Elmaleh, Chief Scientific Officer of FluoroPharma Medical. “CardioPET’s differentiated and superior imaging profile could have a significant impact on the evaluation of CAD patients across the spectrum of disease severity. Because CardioPET can detect perfusion and fatty acid uptake insufficiency in the myocardium; CardioPET could potentially be an accurate alternative to stress-testing in patients with CAD.”
FPMI First in Class Diagnostic Agent Advanced to Phase II Study
FluoroPharma Medical, a biopharmaceutical company engaged in the development of breakthrough diagnostic imaging products that utilize positron emission tomography (PET) technology to detect and assess pathology before clinical manifestation of diseases, just announced that the company has recruited SGS Life Science Services as the contract research organization (CRO) for their Phase II study of CardioPET to assess myocardial perfusion and fatty acid uptake in coronary artery disease (CAD) patients.
CardioPET, one of FluoroPharma’s first in class PET imaging products, is a perfusion and fatty acid uptake indicator. The imaging agent allows assessment of acute and chronic coronary artery disease while patients are at rest. CardioPET may be an accurate alternative to standard treadmill stress-testing, which could be especially valuable in patients who are unable to exercise.
According to today’s press release, the phase II trial will be an open label trial designed to assess the safety and diagnostic performance of CardioPET as compared to stress echocardiography, myocardial perfusion imaging, and angiography. Two trial sites are planned in Belgium and results are expected in the second half of this year.
Thijs Spoor, President and Chief Executive Officer of FluoroPharma Medical, stated, “We are delighted to announce SGS Life Science Services as the CRO for this phase II trial; a significant milestone for FluoroPharma and our extraordinary pipeline of products. Symptomatic coronary artery disease (CAD) affects millions of patients worldwide and accounts for a significant and increasing percentage of all deaths. It is clear that novel diagnostic imaging agents are urgently required and we are focused on driving forward the development of our pipeline to meet these needs.
“We are very excited to be initiating this Phase II study for CardioPET," added David Elmaleh, Chief Scientific Officer of FluoroPharma Medical. “CardioPET’s differentiated and superior imaging profile could have a significant impact on the evaluation of CAD patients across the spectrum of disease severity. Because CardioPET can detect perfusion and fatty acid uptake insufficiency in the myocardium; CardioPET could potentially be an accurate alternative to stress-testing in patients with CAD.”
CUI Global, Inc. (CUI) Closes $10 million Equity Raise
CUI Global announced today that it has closed on its $10 million equity raise with the aid of its U.S. investment banker, Merriman Capital, Inc., and its London advisor, Prosdocimi Ltd. Proceeds of the raise will be used for working capital and to pay down and retire certain corporate debt, as well as to bring the company’s new Vergence, Novum, and Solus Technologies to the market.
This capital infusion and its associated up-list to the Nasdaq Capital Market are momentous events for CUI Global, assuring the company’s plans to move forward with its technology strategy, commercialize its product lines, further broaden its audience, and bring increased value to the company’s shareholders.
CUI Global is a platform company specializing in maximizing shareholder value through acquiring and developing innovative companies and technologies. CUI Global touches many markets through its diversified portfolio of industry-leading technologies – from the energy sector to the networking and telecom industries. For additional information, visit www.cuiglobal.com
Alvarion Ltd. (ALVR) Unveils New 3G and LTE Mobile Data Offloading Solution
Today, Alvarion announced a new solution for Wi-Fi mobile data offloading in 3G and LTE networks that will enable a high level of service, fast connectivity, and secured Internet access. The company’s carrier-grade Wi-Fi, based on two-way Beamforming Wi-Fi technology, will provide an all-inclusive solution for the scalability, reliability, and security needs of operators with large-scale Wi-Fi networks for mobile data offloading and hot zones.
Operators can now benefit from increased network capacity and high traffic area coverage – where data congestion currently overloads 3G and LTE networks – thanks to Alvarion’s Mobile Data Offloading solution. The solution is Hot Spot and 802.11u ready, which permits a cellular-like experience via the Wi-Fi network with zero-configuration from the user. Operators can utilize the Wi-Fi network for more cost-effective user data connectivity – still providing the same level of service – and expand their network coverage and capacity, returning the original capacity to their 3G/LTE network.
Alvarion’s Mobile Data Offloading solution enables operators to increase network customer retention, minimize churn, and improve customer satisfaction. By using a carrier-grade Wi-Fi solution, operators can gain insight into user behavior by seeing network users and their user information. They can resultantly begin offering revenue-generating services like location-based amenities and mobile advertising; they can also lease extra capacity to service providers.
With the growing abundance of Wi-Fi enabled smartphones, laptops, and tablets, it follows that the same operators should be able to implement a data offload solution that is cost-effective, easy to install, scalable, and utilizes the free unlicensed spectrum. Alvarion’s Wi-Fi technology, closely integrated with the mobile operators’ core network, allows more solutions to be offered to customers addressing their increasing capacity challenges. The idea of merging Wi-Fi and 3G/LTE networks as one network is becoming a reality.
Alvarion provides optimized wireless broadband solutions that address the challenges in connectivity, coverage and capacity experienced by public and private networks. The company’s state-of-the-art solutions are founded upon multiple technologies across both licensed and unlicensed spectrums.
For further information about the company, visit www.alvarion.com
AxoGen, Inc. (AXGN) is “One to Watch”
AxoGen, Inc., parent company of wholly-owned operating subsidiary AxoGen Corp., is the Alachua, FL, headquartered developer of an impressive portfolio of proprietary technologies in the peripheral nerve reconstruction/regeneration space, which, through advancements like the Avance® Nerve Graft, is revolutionizing peripheral nerve restoration methods. AxoGen is a bold pioneer on the forefront of nerve repair science with thousands of surgical implants of the company’s products performed across the U.S., including in military hospitals, offering patients an alternative to costly, risky autografts (taking nerve tissue from another part of the body).
The sensitive nerve tissues often damaged during traumatic injury (700k plus people in the U.S. each year alone, a roughly $1B potential domestic market), or as a result of surgical intervention procedures, repetitive stress injuries, and chronic compression injuries, can cause serious impairment, including loss of muscle function, sensitivity, neuroma (a growth or tumor of nerve tissue), or chronic pain. AxoGen has devised a host of key technologies, focused on ExtraCellular Matrix (ECM) scaffolds and the associated, proprietary, patent-protected, and licensed decellularization technologies, which allow the host tissue to retain micro-structural integrity, promoting regeneration of tissues via the patient’s own cells/natural cellular activity.
This is a massive boon for sufferers of peripheral nerve damage and AXGN is well-positioned to deliver to an underserved market what is essentially the only complete portfolio of Peripheral Nerve Repair (PNR) products in the space. AXGN has built the team required to execute on their commercialization strategy as well, with over 100 years combined experience in the tissue regeneration field, showing the kind of historic market penetration capability ideal for bringing this compelling value proposition to optimal levels.
Comprising the only complete nerve repair portfolio to both repair and protect peripheral nerves, consisting of a variety of size and length availabilities, these AXGN products help to wrap the nerve or bridge a gap, providing a structure/scaffolding for regrowth, separating/isolating the nerve as necessary from other tissues:
• Avance® Nerve Graft – decellularized/sterile three dimensional ECM processed from human peripheral nerve tissue for bridging gaps in the 15mm to 70 mm range up to 5mm diameter; recently (Jan 16, meaningful recovery achieved in 87% of patients) saw clinical peer-reviewed results published in Jan 2012 issue of Microsurgery where Principal Investigator of the study, Darrell Brooks, M.D., of The Buncke Clinic commented on the findings, that such processed nerve allografts helped patients overcome all the dominant hindering factors associated with peripheral nerve repair
• AxoGuard® Nerve Protector – sterile, single-use wrap for protecting peripheral nerves (or reinforcing a coaptation/partially severed nerve site) up to 40 mm that allows for tissue regrowth and healing thanks to a multi-laminar ECM that separates and shields the nerve from surrounding tissues
• AxoGuard® Nerve Connector – coaptation aid for bridging gaps up to 5mm in a unique 10 mm length format that closely approximates served nerve ends, ideal for coaptation site aligning/connecting of nerves in the sub 5 mm range
So far, the company has only tapped into a tiny fraction of the overall market, and because the company’s business strategy emphasizes a strong R&D pipeline, manufacturing process optimization, and a continual refinement of the core commercialization strategy, the company is primed to engage a national coverage roll out. AxoGen’s current vector has them set to expand national coverage via augmented sales range/support capabilities, driving growth through the same organic, customer-focused and personnel-focused means.
AxoGen is working hard to reinforce this lead position, where products like Avance® Nerve Graft represent the first and only commercially available peripheral nerve allografts for severed nerve gap reconstruction. Diligently expanding the pool of clinical data, working to create the largest multi-center peripheral nerve study so far, the company is even readying for access into prostate/breast reconstruction areas.
For more information on this constant innovator, please visit the AxoGen, Inc. website at www.AxoGenInc.com
Ur-Energy Inc. (URG) Completes Acquisition of Interests to Adjacent, Contiguous Acreage in Wyoming at Lost Creek Uranium Property
Today, Ur-Energy, considered by many to be North America’s premier junior uranium mining company, reported that wholly-owned subsidiary NFU Wyoming, LLC successfully completed an important asset exchange agreement with Uranium One Americas, Inc. covering certain federal unpatented mining claims, as well as State of Wyoming Mineral Leases adjacent to the Company’s Lost Creek Property (licensed by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission and permitted with the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality).
This agreement provides for the transfer of the property interests, which extend to the N, SE, and SW of the Lost Creek acreage. Post-transaction this agreement will bring the total URG footprint up to a contiguous 39k acres. Tacking on the two Wyoming State Mineral Leases and 175 federal mining claims covered in the agreement adds considerable weight to the already winning strategy employed by URG in Wyoming. An emphasis on the roll front style uranium projects that have abundant in-situ recovery potential has helped URG differentiate its North America strategy from the competition.
President and CEO of URG, Wayne Heili, called it a mutually beneficial scenario for both companies and underscored the congruency of the acquired property interests with the company’s overall regional resource base expansion objectives.
Uranium One will also be providing geologic data on the area associated with the agreement that will serve to flesh-out URG’s existing, massive database of some 1k historic drill holes within the area. The augmented database will serve as a guide for the URG technical team in making determinations about resources for the newly acquired property interests, anticipating an updated NI 43-101 for Lost Creek that will include the new resources.
In consideration, Uranium One stands to acquire a key geologic database with over 3k unique drill hole logs, over 200 report maps and cross-sections that will be instrumental in development of their Allemand-Ross project in the Powder River Basin. The URG Southwest Powder River Basin drill hole database is a superb deal for the company to make in exchange for choice acreage, reinforcing its footprint at a site with a bright future.
Projections for Lost Creek’s development arc look excellent and ongoing planning/permitting positions the company not only for solid production numbers, but will also allow the implementation of 2M lbs per year of in-situ uranium processing infrastructure. Such facilities would augment an already impressive footprint of US/Canadian acreage under URG control.
Uranium mining, especially in highly-accessible markets like the U.S., has drawn increasing interest of late, with the first new U.S. reactors in three decades recently being approved, and global markets shifting more towards fundamentals, raw inputs and materials amid continued sovereign debt concerns. US DOE is also emphasizing smaller, safer reactors and this lays the groundwork for moves like the Bechtel Corp., Babcock, and Wilcox action to exploit their own patents on emergent, next-gen, small modular reactor tech. Indeed, a recent Siemens report indicated it could cost Germany as much as $2T to drop nuclear by 2030, something unthinkable amid persistent concerns over European sovereign debt in particular.
With some 20% of U.S. power coming from nuclear, the attraction of the uranium sector, whose performance has been suppressed since Fukushima (nevertheless essentially returning to performance parity with the S&P), is growing as investors take a closer look at undervalued uranium miners.
For more information on today’s agreement, or to stay up to date with the latest developments at Ur-Energy Inc. please visit the company’s website at www.Ur-Energy.com
Aastrom Biosciences, Inc. (ASTM) to Present at the ROTH Capital Partners 24th Annual Conference
Aastrom Biosciences is a biotech company engaged in developing autologous cell therapies for the treatment of severe and chronic cardiovascular diseases. The company’s clinical development programs include CLI program, which is in phase IIb clinical development for the treatment of serious and advanced stage of peripheral arterial diseases; and its DCM development program, which is in phase II for the treatment of dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM). The company also has two ongoing U.S. phase II trials to investigate surgical and catheter-based delivery for its product in the treatment of DCM. For more information visit the company’s Web site at www.aastrom.com
ROTH Capital Partners is a relationship-driven investment bank that primarily focuses on connecting small-cap publicly traded companies with institutional investors. This year’s annual ROTH conference will take place at The Ritz Carlton located in Dana Point, CA, on March 11-14. Bringing together executives from more than 400 growth companies, the 24th Annual ROTH Conference is one of the largest of its kind in the U.S. For more information on ROTH Capital Partners, visit www.roth.com
Acacia Research Corp. (ACTG) to Present at the ROTH Capital Partners 24th Annual Conference
Acacia Research operates through its subsidiaries to partner with inventors and patent owners, license the patents to corporate users, and share the revenue. Acacia’s subsidiaries control more than 200 patent portfolios spanning technologies used in a wide variety of industries. For more information visit the company’s Web site at www.acaciaresearch.com
ROTH Capital Partners is a relationship-driven investment bank that primarily focuses on connecting small-cap publicly traded companies with institutional investors. This year’s annual ROTH conference will take place at The Ritz Carlton located in Dana Point, CA, on March 11-14. Bringing together executives from more than 400 growth companies, the 24th Annual ROTH Conference is one of the largest of its kind in the U.S. For more information on ROTH Capital Partners, visit www.roth.com
GlobalWise Investments, Inc. (GWIV) Tells of Intellinetics’ Evolution from ECM Industry Pioneer to Leading-Edge Cloud Technology Company
GlobalWise Investments, Inc. and its wholly owned subsidiary Intellinetics, Inc., a leading-edge technology company focused on the design, implementation and management of cloud-based Enterprise Content Management (“ECM”) systems in both the public and private sectors, today provided an overview of Intellinetics’ history and current position in the ECM industry.
The Intellinetics’ flagship ECM platform, Intellivue™, represents a new industry benchmark in making the promise of ECM a simple to attain, affordable reality by combining the power of the Cloud with on-demand solution templates and user-focused design. Intellivue™ provides clients with the ability to access and manage every piece of content they produce or receive, including but not limited to paper documents, digital content, database print streams and e-mail. The data is accessible from virtually any PC, laptop, tablet or smartphone from anywhere in the world.
Through its cloud-based Intellivue™ product line and unique Channel / OEM distribution model, Intellinetics is prepared to dominate in the underserved small-to-mid sized business marketplace. The Company’s position reflects the entrepreneurial vision and innovation of its founders, which served as catalysts for Intellinetics’ evolution from an early pioneer to a recognizable player in the ECM industry.
In 1994, father and son founders Michael and Matthew Chretien formed Intellinetics, Inc. in Columbus, Ohio. Leveraging Michael’s 25-year law enforcement career combined with Matthew’s IT and operational backgrounds, Intellinetics provided IT consulting, document storage systems and project-specific software development. In 1995, the entrepreneurs won their first consulting contract with the Ohio State Highway Patrol to provide a more sophisticated solution to their 1950s era records management system. This marked the beginning of the modern-day Intellinetics, which began to transition itself from records content storage consulting toward becoming a software development firm focused on enterprise-wide content management.
From mid-1990 to early 2000, Intellinetics focused on business “intelligence” and developed industry-first redaction-enabled technology for the Ohio State Highway Patrol, a development that garnered national recognition. This new redaction-enabled software won the Technology Award of Excellence and continued the Company’s software development path toward an ECM system that could be used as an enterprise-wide document management solution. During this formation timeframe, the Intellinetics customer base evolved beyond law enforcement to government contracts and commercial clients.
From 2001 through 2007, Intellinetics continued to focus on software development, refinement, customer expansion and increasing sales. From 2007 through the beginning of 2010, Intellinetics was awarded two Ohio Innovation Loans to accelerate its software migration from a more traditional client-server premise-based solution to Web-based services optimized for cloud delivery. This transformation is foundational to Intellinetics’ success and timing. As the proliferation of “smartphone” mobile devices were becoming a more viable business tool, the Intellinetics software was being optimized for access from any Internet-enabled hardware device.
Today, with the Company’s technology migration to the “cloud” complete, Intellinetics is rapidly becoming an aggressive player in the growing ECM industry, which Gartner estimates will exceed $5.7 billion by 2014 with compounded annual growth rates of 10.1%. The Intellivue™ ECM platform is now being distributed through a variety of direct sales and value-added resellers or channels throughout the private and public sectors. Leveraging its industry leading position, Intellinetics will capture emerging growth opportunities by driving the ECM economic benefits to the private and public sectors in the underserved small-to-mid sized business market.
Delcath Systems, Inc. (DCTH) Announces First Use of CHEMOSAT® Delivery System
Yesterday, Delcath Systems announced that the Delcath Hepatic CHEMOSAT® Delivery System has been used on first patients at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University Hospital in Germany. The cases were treated as part of the initial launch and training agreement between Delcath and the hospital.
“Delcath’s partnership with J.W. Goethe reinforces the potential of CHEMOSAT,” said Eamonn P. Hobbs, president and CEO of Delcath. “We recently treated our first patients in Milan and are eager to continue our expansion across Europe. Opening another CHEMOSAT treatment center and treating patients in the continent’s largest market is another step forward in the commercialization of this technology.”
Two patients were treated for inoperable, liver-dominant metastases; one from cutaneous melanoma and one from breast cancer. The treating physicians reported that both patients were treated successfully without procedure-related complications. Delcath is a pharmaceutical and medical device company that specializes in oncology. Delcath’s proprietary systems administer high dose chemotherapy and other therapeutic agents to diseased organs or regions of the body, as well as control the systemic exposure of those agents to the body.
Dr. Thomas J. Vogl, Director of the Institute for Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology at J.W. Goethe, said, “We believe this technology has significant potential to help control cancers in the liver. We’re pleased to be the first cancer center to begin offering this important treatment option to patients in Germany, and are eager to further explore its role in the treatment of multiple tumor types including breast cancer.”
Delcath’s initial focus is on the treatment of primary and metastatic liver cancers. The company obtained authorization to affix a CE Mark for the Hepatic CHEMOSAT delivery system in April 2011. The CE mark allows the Company to market and sell the CHEMOSAT system in Europe. Delcath has not yet received FDA approval for commercial sale of its system in the United States; currently, the company is preparing for NDA submission and intends to seek FDA approval for commercial sale of its chemosaturation system.
For more information, please visit the company’s website at www.delcath.com
SoundBite Communications, Inc. (SDBT) Acquires 2ergo Americas
SoundBite Communications recently announced the acquisition of mobile marketing company 2ergo Americas, a subsidiary of 2ergo Group plc. Obtaining 2ergo broadens SoundBite’s base of clients and the mobile marketing services the company offers.
SoundBite provides cloud-based marketing communications focused on two markets: hosted contact centers and mobile marketing, with existing clients including Global 500 and Fortune 500 companies, while facilitating 2 billion customer interactions annually. 2ergo’s marketing clients include Fox News, Fox Sports, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, U.S. Cellular, Orange, Aviva, and Fidelity, among others.
With 2ergo, SoundBite will receive the ability to provide services such as SMS, mobile coupons, QR code, and mobile web platforms, as well as carrier-grade scalability and Latin American connectivity. SoundBite will also become an authorized reseller of podfi, 2ergo’s contactless redemption and in-store location service. Furthermore, 2ergo Group will become a reseller for SoundBite Engage and SoundBite Insight products, a communications platform and demographic data collection system, respectively.
Jim Milton, president and CEO of SoundBite Communications, said, “We are excited to add the clients, technology and employees of 2ergo Americas to the SoundBite family. This acquisition, combined with the 2ergo Group strategic relationship, will help establish SoundBite as a top player in mobile marketing. We are committed to our mission of enabling clients to harness the power and ubiquity of the mobile device to establish lifelong profitable customer relationships, and we will continue to invest in achieving this goal.”
“Today’s announcement with SoundBite accelerates 2ergo Group’s mobile leadership strategy in three ways,” commented Neale Graham, founder and CEO of 2ergo Group. “First, the proceeds from the sale of 2ergo Americas will help accelerate our podifi development efforts. Second, while we increase our focus on podifi, we are delighted that, in SoundBite, we found a home for our Americas’ clients and a staff that shares our values and passion for client success. And finally, the strategic relationship allows both parties to leverage each others’ best-in-class technology.”
AdCare Health Systems, Inc. (ADK) Announces Upcoming Presentation at the ROTH Capital Partners 24th Annual Conference
AdCare Health Systems, Inc., a nursing home and assisted living company, today told investors that it will be presenting at the ROTH Capital Partners 24th Annual Conference. The conference will be held at The Ritz Carlton in Laguna Niguel, California, on March 12-14, 2012.
AdCare CEO Boyd Gentry and Chief Acquisition Officer Chris Brogdon are scheduled to present on Monday, March 12, 2012 at 12:00 p.m. Pacific time, and will have one-on-one meetings throughout the day. They will talk about the emerging opportunities in the highly fragmented health care segments of senior assisted living and elderly nursing care.
Mr. Gentry and Mr. Brogdon will also discuss the progress of AdCare’s M&A program designed to build upon its strong reputation for operational efficiency and high-quality living environments. With the recent acquisition of a skilled nursing and assisted living community in Ohio, plus 25 additional skilled nursing centers AdCare has signed and expects to acquire in the first half of 2012, the company’s annualized revenue run-rate is expected to exceed $355 million, which would represent an increase of 570% over revenues in 2010.
Investors unable to attend may view a live feed of the presentation via http://wsw.com/webcast/roth26/adk. A replay will also be available following the conference in the investor relations section of AdCare’s Web site at www.adcarehealth.com.
For more information about the conference, visit http://www.roth.com/main/page.aspx?PageID=7250
AxoGen, Inc. (AXGN) Sees Success with Nerve Regeneration
In January, Dr. Darrell Brooks, a plastic surgeon with The Buncke Clinic in San Francisco, commented on a study, just released at that time, in which he was the principal investigator. The study indicated that Avance® Nerve Graft, a product of AxoGen, achieved meaningful recovery in 87% of patients with peripheral nerve injuries. Why is this significant? According to Dr. Brooks:
“It is commonly accepted among surgeons who do peripheral nerve repair that success of surgery depends on the type of injury, length of nerve discontinuity, the patient’s age and the type of nerve. Our study findings show that with processed nerve allograft, patients can have meaningful recovery regardless of these factors. Based on our findings, the information I use to counsel my patients prior to surgery will change — this is a paradigm shift.”
It’s a good example of the potential of AxoGen technologies. The company is an emerging regenerative medicine company focused on the commercialization of proprietary products and technologies for peripheral nerve reconstruction and regeneration. Peripheral nerves are critical nerves that provide pathways for motor as well as sensory signals throughout the body. Damage to peripheral nerves can mean a serious loss of feeling and functionality. AxoGen has developed and licensed patented and patent-pending technologies for improving surgical reconstruction and regeneration of peripheral nerves.
AxoGen believes that Avance Nerve Graft is the first and only commercially available allograft nerve for bridging nerve discontinuities (a gap created when the nerve is severed). Avance Nerve Graft is processed from human peripheral nerve tissue, based on AxoGen’s guiding principal that the human body offers the optimal nerve structure. Like other AxoGen products, Avance Nerve Graft has important advantages:
• Applies to long and short gap nerve injuries
• Decellularized and cleansed extracellular matrix
• Provides a three dimensional scaffold (preserving the inherent and relevant structural characteristics of nerve) for bridging a nerve gap
• Structurally supports the body’s own regeneration process
• No donor nerve surgery, therefore no loss of donor nerve function
• Handles similar to an autograft: flexible and pliable
• Alleviates tension at the repair site
• Three years shelf life (kept frozen at or below -40° C/F)
• Supplied sterile in lengths of 15mm to 70 mm and diameters up to 5mm
The company has a rich pipeline of new products to change the standard of care for patients with peripheral nerve injuries. Other AxoGen products include AxoGuard® Nerve Connector, a coaptation aid allowing for close approximation of severed nerves, and AxoGuard® Nerve Protector, which protects nerves during the body’s healing process after surgery.
For more information, see the company website at www.AxoGenInc.com
Stamps.com, Inc. (STMP) is “One to Watch”
Stamps.com is a name which has become synonymous with USPS® printable postage to many businesses and consumers. The Web site is widely known for providing the simple, affordable, and extremely convenient PC Postage service that lets users generate precise letter, package, and parcel post labels using an ordinary inkjet/laser printer. Granting customers unprecedented service, STMP has built an impressive reputation in just over a decade and a half.
Since its inception in 1996, Stamps.com has continued to pioneer and innovate within the digital postage space, offering new features and services to make the entire process easier, and gaining market share all the while. Brilliant offerings like the PhotoStamps™ product that lets users turn their digital photos, designs, or corporate logos into functional US postage, helps companies deliver more effective overall branding (and lets users add a familiar touch to correspondence).
The obvious benefits of cost for the majority of users, not to mention the time and effort expended simply effecting traditional means, are amazingly dwarfed by the huge savings businesses can achieve over postage meters. Slashing costs over postage meters by as much as half or more, with total reliability, no multi-year leases to sign and a low, $15.99/month flat rate, the Stamps.com solution also delivers total information environment awareness and allows customers to simply use their own computer and printer (no maintenance fees, no proprietary inks, etc.).
One of the less talked about, but certainly key aspects of this model for users is the robust backend framework and additional tools enabled, in addition to the peace of mind that comes with the added user-level control security. Being able to print postage is cheap and easy, but having complete visibility across the business to see how every penny is being spent via an intuitive, extremely granular Stamps.com Enterprise software dashboard is the kind of thing that can be a real game-changer for thriving businesses.
The company recently proved to investors, yet again, that the STMP model is a powerful revenue vehicle, reporting record Q4 FY11 revenue growth of 27% for Core PC Postage over the same quarter in 2010 ($24.5M). Also among Q4 highlights was the 20% jump in overall revenue ($27.2M) and net income of $13.4M, or $0.81 per fully diluted share.
Core PC Postage continues to be a strong revenue vehicle for STMP, and growth in this segment represents an accelerating trend among consumers, reinforced by the proliferation of printing infrastructure amid the swell of migrations to a more digital space, especially among businesses and enterprise customers who do high volume shipping. E-commerce shipping has never been easier and STMP even has seamless MS Word® and QuickBooks® integration, allowing users to print postage right from the software. Stamps.com also lets you import existing address books from Outlook and other popular platforms.
With Stamps.com, users can also take advantage of discounts they’d never see at the post office and track packages with the click of a button. It is not hard to figure out what the buzz is about here, more and more companies are modernizing and upgrading their overall implementation, and transforming the shipping methodology is often central, especially for entities that do a lot of shipping. Automatic integration with Amazon.com®, eBay®, Paypal®, Etsy®, Yahoo!, Google Checkout™, and even user site-specific shopping carts means never having to fill out forms manually and the ability to batch print multiple labels.
STMP continues to put effort into other Non-core PC Postage revenue channels as well, engaging overdrive in the enhanced promotion program for instance, allowing marketing partners to wow customers with direct promotions online. This kind of customer-centric fan service is part of the winning STMP solution, as the company has always striven to make the customer feel comfortable, secure, and at home. The ability for even a small business to effortlessly transform its shipping and outgoing mail into a much more professional looking and feeling format is powerful, and not having to interact with archaic means/modes is something that can really be felt in the bottom line.
Click, print, and mail for massive savings while controlling waste, abuse, or overspending, all within a secure, digital environment that allows for total information awareness and enterprise-wide process transparency. The service provided by STMP is exemplary, starting with a white glove corporate roll-out program that carefully, thoroughly, and seamlessly helps the business transition its infrastructure to Stamps.com.
For more information on Stamps.com Inc. please visit the company’s website at: www.Stamps.com
BofI Holding, Inc. (BOFI) Gets “Buy” Rating from Sidoti
In January, BofI Holding, parent company of Bank of Internet USA, announced that CFO Andrew Micheletti was going to present at the Sidoti & Company, LLC, Semiannual New York Micro-Cap Conference held on January 10. It was a good time to present, given BofI’s earlier release of second quarter financial results, showing net income growth of just over 35% from the same quarter of the previous year.
BofI is known as a “branchless bank”, operating via state-of-the-art online banking technology versus traditional brick-and-mortar branches, allowing BofI customers to bank using mobile applications as well as standard browsers. Headquartered in San Diego, California, but serving personal, commercial, and industrial customers throughout the country, they now carry $2 billion in assets. The company aims to become “the most innovative branchless bank in the United States providing products and services superior to our competitors, branch-based or otherwise.” BofI specializes in income property lending, providing multi-family housing loans and some commercial property lending, in addition to a wide range of home lending products. They also do bulk loan pool acquisitions, C&I loans, structured finance, mortgage loan trading, and secondary marketing/loan sales.
It’s a model that has worked well for BofI, reducing operating costs for the bank while maximizing service availability for customers. BofI’s revenues have grown rapidly to over $100 million, from only $23 million in 2005. With net income up 35%, total deposits up 39%, non-performing assets down from 80 basis points to 64 basis points, and a strong mortgage loan pipeline, BofI anticipates a record 2012. It’s all good information to take to the investment community. In Sidoti’s case, it must have worked. The New York based equities research firm just initiated coverage with a “Buy” rating.
For more information, see the company website at www.BOFIFederalBank.com
Limelight Networks, Inc. (LLNW) Helps Wayfair.com Optimize Site and Drive Online Conversions
Located in Tempe, Arizona, Limelight Networks provides solutions that enable business and technology decision makers to profit from the shift of content and advertising to the online world. Today, Limelight announced the completion of Limelight Accelerate on Wayfair.com and Allmodern.com.
Limelight has garnered attention by proactively optimizing Web sites for most of the retailers attending eTail Palm Springs. The front-end optimization solution (FEO) improves Time to Action – the time it takes visitors to first engage with content on online sites. The solution has been shown in comprehensive testing to boost performance on most Web sites twofold to fivefold.
Leading the team at Wayfair LLC, formerly CSN Store, is Steven Conine whom is the Co-Founder and Chairman. In reference to this press release, Conine stated, “Online shoppers don’t want to wait–they want to engage and interact with sites instantly. We knew that our sites could have a stronger impact if we delivered the most important and desired content first. Because our Web properties generate dynamic content to enable unique and customized experiences for our customers, we required a solution that could optimize dynamic content on the fly–Limelight Accelerate delivered this capability for us. After just one month of employing Accelerate, we saw a 17% jump in page views per visitor. It’s clear that our improved site performance created a more satisfying shopping experience for our customers, which ultimately affects our brand and our bottom line.”
Limelight Networks Senior Vice President David Hatfield added, “Limelight Accelerate ensures that the most important information renders first, so content such as specific product details are prioritized. The faster users get the information they want, the faster they will act on it, resulting in longer site visits, more sales, and ultimately enhanced brand loyalty.”
Currently, Limelight Networks, Inc. is trading in the $3.95 range. To learn more about this press release or the company as a whole, visit their corporate website at www.limelight.com
AdCare Health Systems, Inc. (ADK) Announces Upcoming Presentation at the ROTH Capital Partners 24th Annual Conference
AdCare Health Systems, Inc., a nursing home and assisted living company, today told investors that it will be presenting at the ROTH Capital Partners 24th Annual Conference. The conference will be held at The Ritz Carlton in Laguna Niguel, California, on March 12-14, 2012.
AdCare CEO Boyd Gentry and Chief Acquisition Officer Chris Brogdon are scheduled to present on Monday, March 12, 2012 at 12:00 p.m. Pacific time, and will have one-on-one meetings throughout the day. They will talk about the emerging opportunities in the highly fragmented health care segments of senior assisted living and elderly nursing care.
Mr. Gentry and Mr. Brogdon will also discuss the progress of AdCare’s M&A program designed to build upon its strong reputation for operational efficiency and high-quality living environments. With the recent acquisition of a skilled nursing and assisted living community in Ohio, plus 25 additional skilled nursing centers AdCare has signed and expects to acquire in the first half of 2012, the company’s annualized revenue run-rate is expected to exceed $355 million, which would represent an increase of 570% over revenues in 2010.
Investors unable to attend may view a live feed of the presentation via http://wsw.com/webcast/roth26/adk. A replay will also be available following the conference in the investor relations section of AdCare’s Web site at www.adcarehealth.com.
ADK Announces Upcoming Presentation at the ROTH Capital Partners 24th Annual Conference
AdCare Health Systems, Inc., a nursing home and assisted living company, today told investors that it will be presenting at the ROTH Capital Partners 24th Annual Conference. The conference will be held at The Ritz Carlton in Laguna Niguel, California, on March 12-14, 2012.
AdCare CEO Boyd Gentry and Chief Acquisition Officer Chris Brogdon are scheduled to present on Monday, March 12, 2012 at 12:00 p.m. Pacific time, and will have one-on-one meetings throughout the day. They will talk about the emerging opportunities in the highly fragmented health care segments of senior assisted living and elderly nursing care.
Mr. Gentry and Mr. Brogdon will also discuss the progress of AdCare’s M&A program designed to build upon its strong reputation for operational efficiency and high-quality living environments. With the recent acquisition of a skilled nursing and assisted living community in Ohio, plus 25 additional skilled nursing centers AdCare has signed and expects to acquire in the first half of 2012, the company’s annualized revenue run-rate is expected to exceed $355 million, which would represent an increase of 570% over revenues in 2010.
Investors unable to attend may view a live feed of the presentation via http://wsw.com/webcast/roth26/adk. A replay will also be available following the conference in the investor relations section of AdCare’s Web site at www.adcarehealth.com.
GlobalWise Investments, Inc. (GWIV) Tells of Intellinetics’ Evolution from ECM Industry Pioneer to Leading-Edge Cloud Technology Company
GlobalWise Investments, Inc. and its wholly owned subsidiary Intellinetics, Inc., a leading-edge technology company focused on the design, implementation and management of cloud-based Enterprise Content Management (“ECM”) systems in both the public and private sectors, today provided an overview of Intellinetics’ history and current position in the ECM industry.
The Intellinetics’ flagship ECM platform, Intellivue™, represents a new industry benchmark in making the promise of ECM a simple to attain, affordable reality by combining the power of the Cloud with on-demand solution templates and user-focused design. Intellivue™ provides clients with the ability to access and manage every piece of content they produce or receive, including but not limited to paper documents, digital content, database print streams and e-mail. The data is accessible from virtually any PC, laptop, tablet or smartphone from anywhere in the world.
Through its cloud-based Intellivue™ product line and unique Channel / OEM distribution model, Intellinetics is prepared to dominate in the underserved small-to-mid sized business marketplace. The Company’s position reflects the entrepreneurial vision and innovation of its founders, which served as catalysts for Intellinetics’ evolution from an early pioneer to a recognizable player in the ECM industry.
In 1994, father and son founders Michael and Matthew Chretien formed Intellinetics, Inc. in Columbus, Ohio. Leveraging Michael’s 25-year law enforcement career combined with Matthew’s IT and operational backgrounds, Intellinetics provided IT consulting, document storage systems and project-specific software development. In 1995, the entrepreneurs won their first consulting contract with the Ohio State Highway Patrol to provide a more sophisticated solution to their 1950s era records management system. This marked the beginning of the modern-day Intellinetics, which began to transition itself from records content storage consulting toward becoming a software development firm focused on enterprise-wide content management.
From mid-1990 to early 2000, Intellinetics focused on business “intelligence” and developed industry-first redaction-enabled technology for the Ohio State Highway Patrol, a development that garnered national recognition. This new redaction-enabled software won the Technology Award of Excellence and continued the Company’s software development path toward an ECM system that could be used as an enterprise-wide document management solution. During this formation timeframe, the Intellinetics customer base evolved beyond law enforcement to government contracts and commercial clients.
From 2001 through 2007, Intellinetics continued to focus on software development, refinement, customer expansion and increasing sales. From 2007 through the beginning of 2010, Intellinetics was awarded two Ohio Innovation Loans to accelerate its software migration from a more traditional client-server premise-based solution to Web-based services optimized for cloud delivery. This transformation is foundational to Intellinetics’ success and timing. As the proliferation of “smartphone” mobile devices were becoming a more viable business tool, the Intellinetics software was being optimized for access from any Internet-enabled hardware device.
Today, with the Company’s technology migration to the “cloud” complete, Intellinetics is rapidly becoming an aggressive player in the growing ECM industry, which Gartner estimates will exceed $5.7 billion by 2014 with compounded annual growth rates of 10.1%. The Intellivue™ ECM platform is now being distributed through a variety of direct sales and value-added resellers or channels throughout the private and public sectors. Leveraging its industry leading position, Intellinetics will capture emerging growth opportunities by driving the ECM economic benefits to the private and public sectors in the underserved small-to-mid sized business market.
GWIV Tells of Intellinetics’ Evolution from ECM Industry Pioneer to Leading-Edge Cloud Technology Company
GlobalWise Investments, Inc. and its wholly owned subsidiary Intellinetics, Inc., a leading-edge technology company focused on the design, implementation and management of cloud-based Enterprise Content Management (“ECM”) systems in both the public and private sectors, today provided an overview of Intellinetics’ history and current position in the ECM industry.
The Intellinetics’ flagship ECM platform, Intellivue™, represents a new industry benchmark in making the promise of ECM a simple to attain, affordable reality by combining the power of the Cloud with on-demand solution templates and user-focused design. Intellivue™ provides clients with the ability to access and manage every piece of content they produce or receive, including but not limited to paper documents, digital content, database print streams and e-mail. The data is accessible from virtually any PC, laptop, tablet or smartphone from anywhere in the world.
Through its cloud-based Intellivue™ product line and unique Channel / OEM distribution model, Intellinetics is prepared to dominate in the underserved small-to-mid sized business marketplace. The Company’s position reflects the entrepreneurial vision and innovation of its founders, which served as catalysts for Intellinetics’ evolution from an early pioneer to a recognizable player in the ECM industry.
In 1994, father and son founders Michael and Matthew Chretien formed Intellinetics, Inc. in Columbus, Ohio. Leveraging Michael’s 25-year law enforcement career combined with Matthew’s IT and operational backgrounds, Intellinetics provided IT consulting, document storage systems and project-specific software development. In 1995, the entrepreneurs won their first consulting contract with the Ohio State Highway Patrol to provide a more sophisticated solution to their 1950s era records management system. This marked the beginning of the modern-day Intellinetics, which began to transition itself from records content storage consulting toward becoming a software development firm focused on enterprise-wide content management.
From mid-1990 to early 2000, Intellinetics focused on business “intelligence” and developed industry-first redaction-enabled technology for the Ohio State Highway Patrol, a development that garnered national recognition. This new redaction-enabled software won the Technology Award of Excellence and continued the Company’s software development path toward an ECM system that could be used as an enterprise-wide document management solution. During this formation timeframe, the Intellinetics customer base evolved beyond law enforcement to government contracts and commercial clients.
From 2001 through 2007, Intellinetics continued to focus on software development, refinement, customer expansion and increasing sales. From 2007 through the beginning of 2010, Intellinetics was awarded two Ohio Innovation Loans to accelerate its software migration from a more traditional client-server premise-based solution to Web-based services optimized for cloud delivery. This transformation is foundational to Intellinetics’ success and timing. As the proliferation of “smartphone” mobile devices were becoming a more viable business tool, the Intellinetics software was being optimized for access from any Internet-enabled hardware device.
Today, with the Company’s technology migration to the “cloud” complete, Intellinetics is rapidly becoming an aggressive player in the growing ECM industry, which Gartner estimates will exceed $5.7 billion by 2014 with compounded annual growth rates of 10.1%. The Intellivue™ ECM platform is now being distributed through a variety of direct sales and value-added resellers or channels throughout the private and public sectors. Leveraging its industry leading position, Intellinetics will capture emerging growth opportunities by driving the ECM economic benefits to the private and public sectors in the underserved small-to-mid sized business market.
VistaGen Therapeutics (VSTA): A Hidden Stem Cell Opportunity
When it comes to modern medicine, stem cells are seen as playing a role unmatched by anything else. Used in a growing number of cell therapies for certain cancers, various diseases related to the immune system, and other treatment applications, in addition to cell research, stem cell technology is opening an increasing number of doors for medical researchers and practitioners. Today it’s a market rapidly closing in on $1 billion, and, in spite of controversy surrounding some aspects of stem cell use, the funding for stem cell research continues to grow.
Stem cells, including pluripotent stem cells (non-embryonic adult cells that are artificially reprogrammed to mimic embryonic stem cells), are unique in their ability to differentiate into specialized cells, such as heart or muscle or nerve cells. As a result, they provide an important tool for medical research, treatment, and drug development.
For example, stem cells can play a substantial role in the discovery of new medicines that are more effective and safer for patients. They can also be used in the field of regenerative medicine, where various tissues and organs can be generated to replace damaged ones, for application to spinal cord injuries, Parkinson’s disease, diabetes, and perhaps even Alzheimer’s. In addition, given their ability to duplicate the functions of a whole host of other cells, stem cells are becoming important in all types of advanced biomedical research, helping us understand the most basic workings of the human cell and human body.
But one of the lesser known, though potentially huge applications of stem cell technology, involves the early stage testing of drug candidates. The pharmaceutical industry can spend vast amounts of money developing and introducing a new drug, only to find out later that it has negative effects on the heart, liver, or other organs. As a result, the drug must be limited or withdrawn, greatly reducing, or even eliminating, the anticipated profit potential. The numbers involved are telling. It can cost over $1 billion to bring a new drug to market, and it can all be lost if the drug is later found to have toxicity issues, such as causing heart problems. In addition to the time and money spent on developing and marketing, companies can face a long string of associated lawsuits.
In the case of Avandia, an anti-diabetic drug produced by GlaxoSmithKline, concerns that the drug may lead to an increased risk of heart attack, even though not firmly established at the time, still led to a major reduction in sales, and a slew of lawsuits. Given that the drug had been bringing in over $2 billion in annual sales prior to the trouble, it was a significant blow, and gives an idea of how much big pharma might be willing to pay for a workable solution.
It’s a problem for which California based VistaGen Therapeutics believes it has the answer, and it all revolves around stem cells. Using advanced stem cell technology, VistaGen has produced functional human cardiac cells that can be used early on in the drug development process to test for cardiotoxicity. Cardiotoxicity has been a factor in over 30% of drug withdrawals, and addressing it is seen as a major market. The use of real human heart cells in pre-clinical testing offers important advantages over traditional testing methods, such as animal testing.
First of all, it can be performed at the earliest stages of development, reducing the risks of developing the wrong drug. It’s also more accurate, since traditional testing involving animals can fail to detect potential risks in humans. And it’s far easier than the large number of patients and lengthy testing required in human trials. By identifying cardiotoxicity issues early in the process, drug developers can take steps to rescue the drug candidate, developing variants that are both functional and safe. Given that stem cells, including non-embryonic stem cells, can be pointed in many different directions, their potential to transform drug development has no clear limit.
But VistaGen is only now beginning to show up on many investors’ radar screens. Its recent strategic drug rescue-related collaboration agreements with Synterys, a medicinal chemistry and drug discovery services company, and Cato Research Ltd., a leading contract research and development organization, were further indications of the recognition VistaGen has earned for the exciting potential of its stem cell technology-based drug rescue initiatives.
The collaborations are intended to help develop safer drug rescue variants by leveraging VistaGen’s drug rescue initiatives with Synterys’ medicinal chemistry expertise and Cato Research’s drug development and regulatory capabilities. In the case of its key collaboration with Synterys, the idea is to combine VistaGen’s human pluripotent stem cell technology platform, called Human Clinical Trials in a Test TubeTM, with modern medicinal chemistry, to generate new safer variants of once-promising drug candidates discontinued in development due to heart toxicity concerns.
VistaGen sees itself as essentially transforming drug development by bring human biology to the front end of the process, attacking cardiotoxicity issues early in the cost curve, and removing much of the risk and uncertainty typically involved in bringing new drugs to market. Perhaps more importantly, it lessens the chance that patients will be asked to play the role of unsuspecting guinea pig, taking drugs that may cause them far more harm than good.
Access Plans, Inc. (APNC) to be Acquired by Aon Affinity for $70M
Access Plans, a leading membership benefits marketing company with customers in the United States and Canada, today announced it will be acquired by Aon Affinity, a unit of global risk management business, Aon Corporation.
Per the agreement, Aon Affinity will acquire all Access Plans outstanding shares and options to acquire the company’s common stock for cash consideration of approximately $70.1 million, subject to adjustment for various necessary and closing expenses; assuming a net cash amount of $15.0 million, the per share cash consideration is approximately $3.30.
Access Plans is a membership plan provider in the specialty rent-to-own market space. The company bundles a wide range of non-insurance, commonly used products and services, from medical, dental, and pharmacy benefits, to groceries, and hotel rooms. The company sells these plans to consumers primarily in retail and rent-to-own businesses established in more than 10,000 stores in the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico.
Access Plans CEO and Chairman Danny Wright said the acquisition is the next step in the company’s move toward overall company growth and value.
“At Access Plans, we provide opportunities for people to save money on the things they spend money on every day and offer access to products and services they might otherwise be unable to afford,” Wright stated in the press release. “This sale represents a natural step for us. Becoming a part of the leading risk advisory firm translates into a positive outcome for our shareholders, greater options and value for our clients and increased opportunities for our employees.”
Access Plans’ executive team and administrative staff will remain in their Norman, Oklahoma, and Irving, Texas, locations, and will operate as a business unit of Aon Affinity in Hatboro, Penn.
The deal is expected to close during the second quarter of 2012, and is subject to various closing conditions.
For more information visit www.aon.com