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RPRX - Dewophile, thank you very much for those insights based on your professional knowledge in this field. Good luck to you and other RPRX longs, and may the upcoming Proellex safety results support this sentiment.
RPRX Level 2 - what is EDGX doing this morning?
thanks!
rfj, still accumulating? I'd think you would have filled your tank in the $10's and 11's as you are a bargain shopper. But then, RPRX is still a bargain! ;)
Biotech program trading? TA move after pullback? Just comparing RPRX and GNVC movement this morning and both look identical. I own a little GNVC too. Not sure if any other stocks were on this list/movement. Thoughts?
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?t=5d&s=GNVC&l=on&z=m&q=l&c=rprx
I'm not trading. If I do, it would just be 10% of my position around my core holdings. Thanks and best wishes!
Bio_Pete, did you get any cheap shares in 11.2's this a.m.?
Looks like someones interested in buying after the last few days of pause. ;)
Biowatch, are these kinds of letters atypical in DNDN's situation, or are do they occassionally happen for drug approvals? When someone coined the term "battleground" stock for DNDN, they really meant it. I look forward to the evolution of this immunotherapy field one step at a time. ;)
Thanks!
OT: AP Stocks Up Litle Despite Strong Earnings
Thursday April 26, 12:59 pm ET
By Tim Paradis, AP Business Writer
Stocks Advance Moderately After Earnings Reports Fail to Galvanize the Market After Dow Record
so much for spell check or other QC tools at the AP news wire. ;)
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/070426/wall_street.html?.v=29
Thanks for your thoughts Bio_pete.
Well, it seems we are continuing to get more volume even since your post, within a tight price range. Which I believe indicates bullish "accumulation".
Bio_Pete, do you think the MM's negotiating block trades between themselves, keeping the share price stable? Just noticed around 35k traded with little change in share price. Thoughts from you or others, is this normal for thinly traded stocks?
T.i.a.
Gym, I remember reading a Barron's article 2-3 months ago where one of the analysts said that there was so much liquidity in world stock markets that he expected a market "melt up" to occur sometime during 2007 followed by a good size correction later in the year. It seems like his forecast may play out.
MEDI - Wow, what a deal. Did anyone buy it based on the Goldman Sachs Reuters release on April 12th? I didn't but man buying some May 47.5 or 50 calls, let alone the stock, would have provided some fast money!
GNVC- thanks krenjp for your reply. I agree with what you are saying.
I saw this piece by Feuerstein's mailbox. Seems like his review of GNVC was very cursory and doesn't even look at the other interesting parts of the GNVC pipeline and partners. In some ways, that makes me feel more confident that even folks in the biotech industry may not be following this story closely enough. I mean Feuerstein says, "there's a ton of risk here". Come on, biotechs by design have risk, so why bother just spouting "ton of risk" especially if you can't back up your statement with any facts. I agree with Dew that Feurstein's writing is very soft on analysis and specifics.
Feuerstein's Biotech Mailbag
Page 3
From Mike A. comes a question about GenVec (GNVC - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr - Rating). "I would appreciate your analysis on the potential of GenVec's pancreatic cancer drug TNFerade. They are due to present at ASCO in June."
GenVec is a highly speculative stock. TNFerade (pronounced T-N-F-erade or ten-ef-er-ade? I have no idea) is generating excitement in some corners of the biotech world because gene therapy is sexy and interim data from a phase III trial looks good. However, there's a ton of risk here that won't be cleared up until we get more data on the drug.
Last December, GenVec announced interim survival results from a phase II/III study of TNFerade in patients with locally advanced pancreatic cancer. The data, from the first 51 patients enrolled, showed a 70.5% survival rate in patients given TNFerade plus standard of care at one year, compared to 28% of patients given standard of care alone.
These were encouraging results, but they were derived from a small number of deaths (five and seven in the TNFerade and control arm, respectively) which makes drawing larger conclusions very difficult.
These are the data, I believe, that will be presented in June at the American Society of Clinical Oncology annual meeting, as Mike said. The details will be interesting, but even then, my gut tells me that this TNFerade study in pancreatic cancer is still high-risk.
Pancreatic cancer is really tough to crack; the list of clinical trial failures is long. And TNFerade itself is a bit quirky. The drug uses a benign virus to deliver a therapeutic protein known to be toxic to cancer cells. But in order for TNFerade to work, it must be delivered directly to the tumor. In other words, it can't be injected in the arm or given via an IV. Instead, doctors use a couple of different invasive procedures to get the drug directly into the pancreas, where it then must be activated by radiation.
GenVec: Intriguing story, but I'd tread carefully
http://www.thestreet.com/_yahoo/newsanalysis/biotech/10351640_3.html
REGN up 7.8% on strong volume. $26.29 + 1.85
New 52 week high intraday which should hold into the close.
what does the magic candlestick say today? time to buy? lol
interesting site if you are a trader.
RPRX under accumulation as Cleverox, myself and others have stated. Stock now gets an IBD rating of A- = strong accumulation. Chart looks solid too. Enjoy! ;)
Feuerstein:
He should, however, strengthen his analytical skills. He botches too many stories for someone in his position, IMO. The recent Satraplatin episode is a case in point.
In other words, he needs a few young hot-shot staff to do the DD analytical work to feed into his literary bend so that his stories are more grounded. ;)
PreciousLife: Somehow your intended link didn't post; only your definition of "incomprehensible".
Back to my dark chocolate and red wine. ;)
Genisi: Wanted to say "thanks" the other day back to you for your quick summary of RPRX CEO's presentation on Thurs.
Regards,
Spartex
Someone was dumping 40k shares or more into the close today, and it appears the MM just lapped them up without dropping the price more than a few cents before moving back up to 11.18.
Bladerunner: Did Dr Garren become a bear on GNVC?
I heard from the YMB that he was once a bull and is now a bear on the company, and that there may be some issues going on with his views being biased. thoughts?
T.i.a.
They didn't mention any contribution to increased cancer due to pollution (air, water, other industrial exposures) for the increasingly industrialized nations such as China. Not sure if that would being a significant portion compared to smoking.
Good question: DNDN effect. I am also seeing new 52wk highs in IMMU and especially IMGN on very high volume today. GNVC was yesterday's big mover. It looks like it may involve inflows from both hedge funds and institutions imo. And of course those short may be covering with this upward movement.
I remember watching David Miller on CNBC near the last day of trading (Dec 06) where he listed DNDN panel review/FDA decision as one of his biggest biotech industry influencing events for 2007. Now if we only put a bunch of money (or bought calls) in a basket of these immunotherapy stocks on the cheap during the late Feb-early Mar 07 market correction, we'd be sitting happy! :)
I would then call this product Deleve. To reduce those elevated lines. LOL.
Rats! I missed accumulating DYAX and GNVC. :(
MEDI now trading in pre-market above 41 and 6 mil vol. Wow!
MedImmune up as sources say Goldman hired
Thu Apr 12, 2007 7:19am ET
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Shares of MedImmune Inc. (MEDI.O: Quote, Profile , Research) rose 3 percent before the bell on Thursday after sources told Reuters the biotechnology company had hired Goldman Sachs to help with a possible sale of the company.
In consolidated electronic trading ahead of the opening bell, the stock was up $1.26 at $39 after closing Wednesday at $37.84 on Nasdaq.
Based on Wednesday's closing price, the company has a market capitalization of about $8.8 billion. Its stock has not traded above $39 since August 2003.
http://today.reuters.com/news/articleinvesting.aspx?type=hotStocksNews&storyID=2007-04-12T111946...
RPRX: Thanks dewophile and rfj for your professional thoughts on potential Proellex safety issues. Looking forward to tomorrow's RPRX presentation.
Well, we're at least getting a technical breakout. Nice volume today, but there is some resistance to eat through before going much higher. It's nice to see a positive inflow of buying interest bring the stock back above the 50 dma.
http://stockcharts.com/h-sc/ui?s=rprx&p=D&b=5&g=0&id=0
Good luck tomorrow at the NYC event. Hope Joe tells it the way it is with a little New Yoooork zip!
Thanks Pete. I only look at the intraday charts via yahoo which show 15k+ or so volume during one of the minutes earlier today. Probably a pretty crude way to view specific trades.
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=RPRX&t=1d&l=on&z=m&q=l&c=
Bio_pete, was there another block buy this morning as well?
thanks
Stem cell experiment lets diabetics forgo insulin
Risky transplants performed on 13 young diabetics in Brazil
By LINDSEY TANNER
AP Medical Writer
CHICAGO (AP) -- Thirteen young diabetics in Brazil have ditched their insulin shots and need no other medication thanks to a risky, but promising treatment with their own stem cells - apparently the first time such a feat has been accomplished.
Though too early to call it a cure, the procedure has enabled the young people, who have Type I diabetes, to live insulin-free so far, some as long as three years. The treatment involves stem cell transplants from the patients' own blood.
"It's the first time in the history of Type 1 diabetes where people have gone with no treatment whatsoever ... no medications at all, with normal blood sugars," said study co-author Dr. Richard Burt of Northwestern University's medical school in Chicago.
While the procedure can be potentially life-threatening, none of the 15 patients in the study died or suffered lasting side effects. But it didn't work for two of them.
Larger, more rigorous studies are needed to determine if stem cell transplants could become standard treatment for people with the disease once called juvenile diabetes. It is less common than Type 2 diabetes, which is associated with obesity.
The hazards of stem cell transplantation also raise questions about whether the study should have included children. One patient was as young as 14.
Dr. Lainie Ross, a medical ethicist at the University of Chicago, said the researchers should have studied adults first before exposing young teens to the potential harms of stem cell transplant, which include infertility and late-onset cancers.
In addition, Ross said that the study should have had a comparison group to make sure the treatment was indeed better than standard diabetes care.
Burt, who wrote the study protocol, said the research was done in Brazil because U.S. doctors were not interested in the approach. The study was approved by ethics committees in Brazil, he said, adding that he personally believes it was appropriate to do the research in children as well as adults, as long as the Brazilian ethics panels approved.
Burt and other diabetes experts called the results an important step forward.
"It's the threshold of a very promising time for the field," said Dr. Jay Skyler of the Diabetes Research Institute at the University of Miami.
Skyler wrote an editorial in the Journal of the American Medical Association, which published the study, saying the results are likely to stimulate research that may lead to methods of preventing or reversing Type I diabetes.
"These are exciting results. They look impressive," said Dr. Gordon Weir of Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston.
Still, Weir cautioned that more studies are needed to make sure the treatment works and is safe. "It's really too early to suggest to people that this is a cure," he said.
The patients involved were ages 14 to 31 and newly diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. An estimated 12 million to 24 million people worldwide - including 1 to 2 million in the United States - have this form of diabetes, which is typically diagnosed in children or young adults. An autoimmune disease, it occurs when the body attacks insulin-producing cells in the pancreas.
Insulin is needed to regulate blood sugar levels, which when too high, can lead to heart disease, blindness, nerve problems and kidney damage.
Burt said the stem cell transplant is designed to stop the body's immune attack on the pancreas.
A study published last year described a different kind of experimental transplant, using pancreas cells from donated cadavers, that enabled a few diabetics to give up insulin shots. But that requires lifelong use of anti-rejection medicine, which isn't needed by the Brazil patients since the stem cells were their own.
The 15 diabetics were treated at a bone marrow center at the University of Sao Paulo.
All were newly diagnosed, before their insulin-producing cells had been destroyed.
That timing is key, Burt said. "If you wait too long," he said, "you've exceeded the body's ability to repair itself."
The procedure involves stimulating the body to produce new stem cells and harvesting them from the patient's blood. Next comes several days of high-dose chemotherapy, which virtually shuts down the patient's immune system and stops destruction of the few remaining insulin-producing cells in the body. This requires hospitalization and potent drugs to fend off infection. The harvested stem cells, when injected back into the body, build a new healthier immune system that does not attack the insulin-producing cells.
Patients were hospitalized for about three weeks. Many had side effects including nausea, vomiting and hair loss. One developed pneumonia, the only severe complication.
Doctors changed the drug regimen after the treatment failed in the first patient, who ended up needing more insulin than before the study. Another patient also relapsed.
The remaining 13 "live a normal life without taking insulin," said study co-author Dr. Julio Voltarelli of the University of Sao Paulo. "They all went back to their lives."
The patients enrolled in the study at different times so the length of time they've been insulin-free also differs.
Burt has had some success using the same procedure in 170 patients with other autoimmune diseases, including lupus and multiple sclerosis; one patient with an autoimmune form of blindness can now see, Burt said.
"The body has tremendous potential to repair," he said.
The study was partly funded by the Brazilian Ministry of Health, Genzyme Corp. and a maker of blood sugar monitoring products.
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AP reporter Carla K. Johnson in Chicago contributed to this report.
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On the Net:
JAMA: http://jama.ama-assn.org
Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation: http://www.jdrf.org
© 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about our Privacy Policy.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18040485/
**************************************************
Seems like a very promising use of stem cells to replace "insulin making cells" in newly diagnosed type I diabetics. Unfortunately for a 20 year diabetic like myself, this procedure won't be viable. But there is still other hopeful research on transplants underway.
Question on asoprisnil, mifepristone and Proellex endometrium affects.
rfj, what's to say that Proellex safety results don't fall in the same trap/situation as those of asoprisnil or mifepristone? How much different chemically is Proellex than these other two drugs? And why is it that one cannot understand why asoprisnil trials were terminated? Is there not enough literature/reports that discuss this decision?
Nerf or others who may be in NYC this Thurs, it would be great if you could probe a little further about why Proellex may be considered safer than asoprisnil or mifepristone.
I just don't know enough to understand whether Proellex is unique enough from these other drugs to stand out in terms of minimal safety issues.
Thanks for your opinions, as well as info updates from the CEO if available.
Regards,
Spartex
Easy Bio_pete, we want to maintain a high level of decorum on our RPRX thread. ;) If anything, I hope our board monitors can clean up the "bashing" posts if they monitor this board within a 24 hr period.
Looks like the MM's put a few stop loss orders at this morning, followed by some interested buyers!
AGEN latte -- You know it's getting frothy when a company that clearly failed its important trial and then it doubles in marketcap this week on DNDN's tailcoats. :)
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=AGEN&t=5d
RPRX: Any answers to Q's by wbart21? rfj or Dewophile?? (see link below)
Thanks guys for your responses!
ps: volume drying up again on RPRX. Zzzzzzzzzzz. ;o)
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=18574906
Walldiver, you may be hearing it right! I was never very good at selling near the top, but I am pretty good at my entry prices (which are more important imo). Enjoy the ride while it lasts! :)
What I find interesting is that the most extremely skeptical analysts on DNDN get the most attention on Wall Street, whereas the others with more common sense don't get the floor.
In the meantime, I did just exit 1/2 of my DNDN position this morning in the low $21's as I feel the mo-mo has gotten too excessive on the stock. I will wait for the dust to settle (and price) before adding any of those shares back.
good luck!
DNDN: sold half my holdings here in the low 21's. Doesn't make sense to be pig with all the mo-mo pushing the stock up. May add back to my holdings after the dust settles.
Thanks Dew for that GNVC link! eom