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NLST will have to deal with Samsung etc after this is resolved - and with Micron, Google & others.
It makes sense for NLST to seek to move on after it wins this $$ from Samsung. It should maintain good relations with the company that will become their biggest customer. As an investor, I'd love to see a billion $$ settlement, but I'd rather see $330 million now, and to have NLST become a growint=g business structured something like Qualcom.
That would be better long term for everyone involved, except maybe a few diehards, and shorts.
Japan: new cure for Alz -- in mice.
Here's a quick quote. Human trials of course weill take many years, but it's interesting. Does it have anything to do with AVXL's work"
quote
The team, from the Tohoku University, discovered the disease-modifying therapeutic candidate – SAK3 – which, in the studies, was found to rescue neurons in most protein-misfolding, neurodegenerative diseases.
end quote
Interesting bit of news from Japan at:
\https://www.healtheuropa.eu/new-research-could-help-to-reverse-alzheimers-disease/109593/
New info on Amyris:
This Seeking Alpha article basically just links to a Youtube interview with Randy Baron, an analyst in the biotech field. It's really good. He talks a lot about AMRS, their product segments, their strategy, and their CEO. Well worth a listen. AMRS is generating revenue from cosmetics, sugar substitutes, and cannabinoids, raw materials are all made in house via biotech.
https://seekingalpha.com/article/4436940-amyris-how-lead-in-synthetic-biology-could-brew-up-big-profits
This 2nd piece talks about an acquisition (Olika) that will add value to another recent acquisition, Pippette, which specializes in baby care skin products.
https://seekingalpha.com/news/3706424-amyris-expands-with-acquisition-of-olika-consumer-brand
What's the business rationale for AMRS to acquire these small brands? I'm guessing there are two/three:
- They can use their own squalane products in them, which makes them richer while reducing costs, as AMRS makes the squalene.
- Like other companies in consumer goods space, sales costs are reduced the more similar products you have to put on the shelf, or in the website.
- When these products grow, a company like P&G starts looking at acquiring. AMRS is structure so they could spin off products & cash in. I'm thinking Biossance, Pippette, Olika, in skin care, and Purecane as a sugar substitute perhaps attractive to companies in that sector. Not to mention their essences and flavors.
As an example, Biossance, a business unit of AMRS, is growing very rapidly in high end skincare based on their squalene. They can afford to use a much richer dose than the high end brands, because they source it from an acre of sugar cane they grow in Brazil, rather than killing 2 million sharks a year, the estimated supply chain for high end cosmetics.
Have a look: https://biossance.com
BTW, AMRS is listed on IHub as in the biofuels segment. That's very old news. Fracking killed that market opportunity, which forced AMRS to focus on their skills in identifying specific molecules and then finding ways to grow them in commercial quantities. They have since expanded into CBD/CBG, squalene (a chemical derived from shark liver that they can make without killing sharks - used extensively in very high end cosmetics), identifying molecules that give specific tastes, flavors & aromas. AMRS is busy expanding businesses that take advantage of their basic skills from their roots as a biotech innovator.
I hope others on iHub will have a look at the new directions in AMRS.
FYI - I tried to buy SOLI this morning via Fidelity. They would not allow the purchase to go through - the message was rather humorous, it said it does not allow purchases of Caveat Emptor.
I called the active trader desk, they tried to put the purchase through, and they could not do it either. Unfortunately I'm not about to open a new brokerage account to buy this, but if I were, can someone please advise the brokerage they use to buy SOLI (CareClix).
Thank you.
Thank you for your perspective, Dr. Magnet, good to have the opinion from someone in the field. I agree with your take on the margins. Certainly will be greater than in a consumer product. Let's hope it works out the way you say, and the mass market follows later.
Gotta disagree on the market size for topical applications. I envision a product like BandAids. It would be in every emergency vehicle, cop car, fire engine, emergency room, and eventually every medicine cabinet in the developed world.
It would be in 1st aid kits in every commercial kitchen, workshop, auto repair shop, and school nurse's office in the USA, and beyond.
The market is limitless for topical use. It's not like you'd run to the drugstore when you get a cut. It would be on the shelf, in the glove compartment, tackle box, and stocked in every drugstore and supermarket.
I'm loaded up. With shares that is, and when the product comes on the market, it goes into my medicine cabinets and glove box and I give presents to my kids & grandkids - in their Christmas stockings. My grandson has been to the emergency room several times already this year, he's an avid mountain biker and skateboarder. My wife broke her elbow falling off her bike - so I guess it goes into the little pack that rides under our bike seats as well.
Good luck to us all...
New article in Dermatology Times, quotes Norchi. Talks about stopping bleeding on skin cuts etc. I saw this on the Dr KSS string on StockGumshoe.com
http://dermatologytimes.modernmedicine.com/dermatology-times/news/new-topical-hemostatic-device-pipeline
Excerpts:
Arch Therapeutics has announced that the company plans a 510(k) filing approximately mid-2017 with the FDA focused on external skin applications for its AC5 Topical Hemostatic Device.
In the technology’s first study in humans, researchers at a single center compared AC5 to placebo applied to skin wounds of 46 patients undergoing excisions of lesions on their trunks and upper limbs. AC5 met safety outcomes. But researchers also noted the median time to hemostasis of wounds in the AC5 treatment group was 41% faster than among controls, and wounds healed satisfactorily in both groups.
[stuff deleted]
Dr. Norchi describes the technology as a self-assembling peptide platform. The liquid is a little thicker than water, is clear and not sticky.
“If you would get down to the microscopic level … you’d see these peptides floating around in water, occasionally entangling and disentangling. But if you take that and squirt it onto a wound—a bleeding wound or really any wound—what happens is they go from these fibers that are moving around minding their own business to being entangled into this dense nanofiber network that would have the appearance of almost steel wool at the microscopic level. The liquid becomes more like a gel and gets itself into the nooks and crannies of the connective tissue and mitigates a lot of the bad things we try to stop—the bleeding and leaking,” Dr. Norchi says.
[stuff deleted]
Arch Therapeutics, according to Dr. Norchi, first targeted the area of bleeding for its research and development focus because bleeding is a well-walked regulatory path. The company is working on commercializing the product in Europe and plans to file a 510(k) in the US in mid 2017, addressing external applications first in both jurisdictions.
[stuff deleted]
The hope, according to Dr. Norchi, is that AC5 will be available to dermatologists and others next year.
Am I new here? Nope, I follow this board daily and I truly appreciate the many regular posters who bring value.
Have a nice week.
Price action today says another secondary coming... Hate to put it into words, but that's the way it looks.
Just a note on Dr. Dhillon and his history:
I've made money on pump & dump before. If Dhillon is a pump & dump artist, then I'd say I've gotten in at the right time. If he can drive it to $10, I'm outta here.
However, I believe that ARTH has great product and it will be successful - initially with treating sores and wounds and cuts. The docs I've talked to say it will be a long time before surgeons give up their current methods of stopping bleeding, too much risk of courtroom anguish from trying new products as a pioneer.
Either way, I'm in. If Dhillon can lend his expertise in promoting medical products, so much the better.
MDWD - wound treatment, also heals diabetic sores. A competitor? Future partner?
MediWound's EscharEx successful in mid-stage study, shares ease 1%
Jan. 31, 2017 9:41 AM ET|By: Douglas W. House, SA News Editor
Thinly traded micro cap MediWound (MDWD) can't fight off the market's foul mood in early trading despite positive final results from a Phase 2 study assessing the effect of EscharEx in treating hard-to-heal wounds (results were first reported a year ago).
EscharEx is biopharmaceutical based on the same proteolytic enzyme technology used in the company's NexoBrid product which is commercially available in Europe and Israel for the removal of eschar (dead skin) in adults with serious thermal burns.
The 73-subject trial compared EscharEx to hydrogel vehicle in treatment-resistant wounds, including diabetic foot ulcers, venous leg ulcers and post-surgical and traumatic wounds. The primary endpoint was the incidence of completed debridement (removal of non-viable tissue) at the end of the debridement period (up to 10 treatment days).
Patients treated with EscharEx experienced a higher incidence of complete debridement (55%) compared to hydrogel vehicle (29%) (p=0.047). The difference was more profound in patients with diabetic foot ulcers and venous leg ulcers.
The company intends to share the data with the FDA and expects to advance EscharEx into Phase 3 development.
Previously: MediWound's EscharEx successful in mid-stage study; shares up 13% (Feb. 3, 2016)
Benitec halted in Australia, according to hotcopper.com...
http://hotcopper.com.au/post_single.asp?fid=1&tid=2233360&msgid=13229525#.U0yoBuZdXLk
Thanks for the link to the interesting presentation on the HIV cure.
How can I know that Benitec supplies technology to Calimmune that is used in this method of cure?
Thank you!
Good find by NukeJohn on how promotions are handled, and how that can affect top line revenue.
However, I think we have to understand exactly how this is applied. It is normal practice for promotions like coupons to be subtracted from topline revenues, also slotting fees.
However advertisements, where the company pays for an ad on radio or TV or print or online, these are part of SG&A costs -- that is my understanding. So if correct, the number of radio or TV ads we see is not coming off the top revenue line, but shelf talkers, coupons, in-store discounts, could well be.
It would be interesting to hear from others who are in the consumer good promotion business.
NBA All-star fights inflammation -- an Anatabloc opportunity?
I saw an article on a basketball blog about Brandon Roy, former NBA all-star, and his joint pain that caused him to get cut from the Portland Trailblazers. It mentions inflammation as the root of the problem, and it describes a treatment (Kobe Bryant treatment) that has possibly rejuvenated his career.
The parallels to Anatabloc are striking, so much so that NukeJohn or someone else should contact the Timberwolves about the potential for Anatabloc to help Mr Roy. I am a basketball fan, but I do not have the chops to present this credibly to Timberwolves management or the doctors that attend to elite athletes.
I hope someone can follow up on this
Here is the link to the article, and below that are a couple of quotes that have to do with the Koby Bryant treatment and the affect on inflammation.
link:
http://www.sbnation.com/longform/2012/10/31/3577384/brandon-roy-minnesota-timberwolves-comeback
quote about the "Kobe Bryant treatment"
"Roy was aware of how a blood spinning treatment in Germany benefited Kobe Bryant and that something beyond his recent rest was necessary to help the comeback effort. He and his agent didn’t put out word to teams about the possible return -- yet. Instead, they scheduled an appointment at LifeSpan Medicine and it was off to Los Angeles where Bayno would come into play again.
Doctors in Los Angeles explained to Roy the procedure they could perform known as Regenokine was the same as what Bryant went through in Germany. They took 60 milliliters of blood from his arm, about three times as much as the normal blood draw for a cholesterol test. Roy’s blood was then heated to more than 100 degrees in an incubator in order to give it a fever. The heat caused the blood to respond the same way it would if you were sick. It began to produce additional proteins, several of which are anti-inflammatory.
After a few hours in the incubator, the blood was removed and placed in a centrifuge in order to break down all of the cells and separate the proteins. Next, the blood was filtered to produce an amber-colored serum filled with the individual’s anti-inflammatory and healing proteins. The serum, which is a little thicker than water, was then frozen.
Patients can receive one injection a day over the course of a week or two shots a week over a three-week period to produce results confirmed in published studies. Dr. Moshe Ben-Roohi injected Roy’s personal serum into his knee joints with a 1.5-inch needle, the same size as one used for a flu shot, over the course of five days.
end quote
quote about pain and inflammation:
start quote
According to Dr. Chris Renna of Lifespan, and a colleague of Ben-Roohi’s, whether a patient has a lot of cartilage or none at all, like Roy, the root of joint pain is from ongoing inflammation. The Regenokine process reduces inflammation. In turn, it sets off a logical sequence of events for an athlete previously hurting athlete: No more inflammation, no more pain, increased workouts, and increased performance.
The procedure costs $9,000 per joint. To Roy, it’s worth millions.
“Right away I noticed a big difference,” Roy said. “I was like, ‘Wow.’ This stuff works.”
end quote
The Carl Icahn rumor is probably BS, like others. But I can't help speculating why Icahn would be involved if it were true.
Icahn is good at unlocking value.
I think the problem with IDCC is finding the key to unlock value. Nortel patents were attractive in part because it was such a clean deal -- no employees, no management structure, no development organization or legal team or finance guys etc.
IDCC's engineers and the rest of it are probably seen as liabilities by most potential buyers. Some may be willing to take them on, but they are a cost center, and not one that fits the biz model of someone who is looking for defensive patents.
If IDCC management sees offers from some suitors for some patents, other suitors for other patents, and maybe someone like Intel wants the developers but not necessarily the rest of the stuff, it becomes a real exercise in patching together a deal.
I assumed that maybe some of the patent troll houses would be involved in picking up some of the assets, but maybe that is not optimal.
Icahn's mind is probably a good one to look at the pieces and advise a profitable path. And maybe he sees an opportunity to pick up some things that he can spin off later at a profit.
Who knows.
I'm sure that a deal will get done, but I am not at all sure that any single buyer will come forward. Even the Nortel deal took several players to put together, and there were no disparate parts to find homes for. You can't really split up the developers and testing groups, and I doubt that either GOOG or AAPL would want to acquire a separate group like that on the east coast. And I doubt that the east coasters would want to move to Silicon Valley at triple the housing costs of PA.
Bottom line, I think there is a role for Icahn to play. Whether he is involved or not is another question altogether.
Another wireless patent play -- VirNetX
Seekingalpha.com has a post on another wireless patent play, this one is mostly about security. Some of the same issues and players. Have a look, I'd appreciate comment from the knowledgable posters here on IDCC:
http://seekingalpha.com/instablog/721196-dustin-moore/91923-virnetx-a-potential-goldmine
text:
VirnetX: A Potential Goldmine? 0 comments
Sep 6, 2010 11:05 PM | about stocks: VHC, CSCO, AAPL, MSFT
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On Friday I commented on the sharp stock increase of VirnetX Holding Corporation (VHC). The stock rose ~13% on 4 times normal volume that day alone. Options looked even more bullish with almost 40 calls per 1 put! Over the past week or so the stock is up over 60%. Investors are clearly seeing value in the company. So what has caused this increase and is it likely to continue? I thought I would provide some analysis on the stock over this holiday weekend. There are several aspects of this company. I limit this to two significant areas for simplicity. The company’s Secure Domain Name Initiative (SDNI) and the current litigation involving the company’s patents.
What is VirnetX?
Per the company website:
VirnetX , an Internet security software and technology company, is engaged in commercializing its patent portfolio, developed from work done for the Central Intelligence Agency, by developing a licensing program as well as developing software products designed to create a secure environment for real-time communication applications such as smartphones, instant messaging, VoIP, eReaders and video conferencing. The Company’s patent portfolio includes over 48 U.S. and international patents and pending applications that were recently declared as essential for 4G security specifications and provide the foundation for the Company’s unique GABRIEL Connection Technology.
I. Secure Domain Name Initiative:
VirnetX has announced that they are in the process of launching a Secure Domain Name Initiative (SDNI) and are in ‘active discussions’ with the leading 4G/LTE companies “to participate in a design pilot this summer for delivering to end-users and consumers of the Internet and mobile devices the needed and necessary security requirements for the next generation 4G/LTE wireless networks.”. The pilot will implement VirnetX’s patented Secure Domain Name and automatic Virtual Private Network technology. These talks include big name tech players in the fields of domain infrastructure, chipset manufacturers (Qualcomm for example), and service providers (AT&T, Verizon, etc.). This announcement is ‘on track’ and will be announced within the next couple of weeks.
The company believes that they hold the majority of 4G security patents, and more significantly, the most important ones. There are literally hundreds of companies (there words not mine) that could/will likely license with them on this front. Furthermore, they see this upcoming SDNI pilot with be the first of many licenses to the “Titans” of the tech industry. The pilot is expected to move into production in 2011.
Secure domain names are an integral part of securing 4G/LTE wireless networks. All 4G mobile devices will require their own individual secure domain name and become part of a secure domain name registry. Here is the key: VirnetX owns the rights to the key fundamental mechanisms for providing these secure automated communications across the Internet using VirnetX’s proprietary Secure Domain Names and Secure Domain Name Registry service!
II. Litigation Background:
VirnetX is also involved in litigation involving some of their core patents. Earlier this spring, VirnetX settled a patent dispute with Microsoft involving 2 patents, patent numbers '135 and '181. These patents essentially detail methods of setting up virtual private networks. This settlement was reached after a jury awarded VirnetX $106 million dollars. The judge would have likely trebled that number. In the end, the settlement with Microsoft included a $200 million license VirnetX's VPN technology.
To add credibility to these patents, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office re-confirmed these two key patents following the settlement (after Microsoft requested they be inspected further for validity) . Thus, these patents were confirmed by a jury, confirmed and re-confirmed by the USPTO, and were licensed by tech giant Microsoft -- very solid ground to stand on for future litigation.
What makes this more exciting is that on August 11, 2010, VirnetX filed a new lawsuit against Apple, Cisco Systems, Aastra, NEC Corporation. This new lawsuit involves 5 of the company’s patents, the two same patents from the Microsoft trial ('135 & '181), as well as patent numbers '759, '504, and '151.
It is important to remember that the new case is much, much larger than the Microsoft case, involving billions of more dollars more in products sold. This fact, combined with a solid precedent and a large cash arsenal, makes it much more likely that this case settles for much higher dollar amount than Microsoft forked up. With the plethora of products Cisco is accused of infringing in addition to the lucrative iPod, iPad, and iPhone, I cannot see a settlement below $500 million total between just these two companies -- and that is a very conservative estimate. That alone is an additional $10/share, of course without lawyer fees taken out. But it is very clear that any settlement would send shares substantially higher than they stand today. And it is my opinion, from the evidence that I am able to find, that the company is well prepared and positioned on the litigation front. Even more exciting is the fact that it is apparent that many, many more multibillion dollar companies are infringing and would need to license from the company. Possible licensees include Intel, Sprint, Deloitte & Touche, Google, HP, Motorola, CSCO, Verisign, RIMM, Merrill Lynch, Nokia, Verizon, Avaya, Juniper, AT&T, Seimens, NEC, Nortel, Ericsson, Vodaphone, U.S. Government. I could list more, but I think you get the picture. Potential goldmine here.
III. Summary: What the company has going for it:
-A 4G/LTE pilot program to be announced very soon with many leading technology companies.
-The growth of 4G will make mobile devices the fastest growing segment in the world economy, and VirnetX may be very well positioned to be in the center of this exciting area of growth.
-A smoking hot M&A environment with high premiums for security/cloud computing companies.
-Lots of cash.
-VirnetX's previous litigation achievements provide a very concrete foundation for litigation and create a very tough situation for Apple and Cisco. What do they do? 1.) Fight an uphill battle in court and face possibly triple damages 2.) Settle for a better deal, or possibly, 3.) Buyout?
-Great leadership and vision.
The company has indicated an announcement of the SDNI pilot program will occur this month. In my opinion, it could be released this week, but next week appears just as likely. Either way, this alone will push the stock between $10-$11 fairly easily in the short-run. Given this seemingly imminent news, the company is clearly a steal at these price levels. I see the recent price movement as a sign that the world is beginning to see the potential of this company. And if they are correct, this is only the beginning. Buy the dips my friends.