This is worth reading...From a post last year:
EscapedLabRat0
6/6/2008 1:06:15 PM | | 278 reads | Post #23428071
I have just recently happened upon this bulletin board and have read many of the posts. Frankly, I'm astonished that few contributors seem to have done their homework on this company. As one with a scientific background, I have been a biotech investor for years. I can say that I have made money in biotech but rarely in other fields such as high tech and mining. I've had some tremendous winners. Having said that, biotech is extremely tricky to negotiate even for the well informed. This is not an area to tread blindly. Fortunes of many companies have changed over and over through the years. Take a look at several established Candian biotechs - Biomira, Isotechnica, Conjuchem, Thera Technologies, QLT and Neurochem just to name a few. These are all well-known biotechs that have seen their stock run to unbelievable highs, fall back to pennies, run up again, fall back again, run back up and so on and so on. Many, many average non scientific people have made a lot of money on these companies. NB. Getting in early is the way to go.
I've been following the Pharmagap story (along with others) for a while. I would not have touched GAP until the last little while. However, with today's news and the last 2-3 releases, the picture is starting to change and I think this is one of the best early stage companies in Canada right now. What I find impressive, is the following:
1. Management Team - they have a serious, well connected Chairman in Bryden (formerly Systemhouse, WorldHeart, Ottawa Senators). This man doesn't blink and he does not suffer fools lightly. He undoubtedly hired the top scientists in Canada to do his due diligence and advise him before taking on GAP. He did not abandon the company even when the stock was a nickel.
2. Science Team-they have founding scientists with excellent reputations internationally (see for yourself - do a citation search!)
3. History - The program came out of the National Research Council which most recently gave us the best vaccine in the world to treat meningococcal infections in humans worldwide and the first to be safely used in babies. This vaccine has made hundreds of millions of $.
4. Longevity - They've been around for at least 5 years and getting stronger as the news indicates.
5. Strength in Biology - The company is exploring a unique biology that may have huge ramifications not only in cancer but in other dieases and applications including drug delivery and combination therapies. They can stick to cancer and probably start licensing other applications to big pharma creating a potential revenue and royalty stream.
6. Chemistry - Chemistry is the lifeblood of the pharmaceutical industry. Other biotech companies may understand their biology niche but haven't found a lead molecule to take to the clinic. There are too many companies like that to count and I would never buy into these companies. However, GAP is not only making inroads to understanding the biology, they appear able to manipulate the biology. GAP has modelled the relevant proteins and has generated and tested in all likelihood many, many molecules until it found one that works particularly well. It now has a lead molecule to move into the clinic as a drug. So they have the biology and the chemistry. This is rare in a biotech.
7. Future Merger or Acquisition? They've got biology, they've got the modelling, they've got chemistry, they've got a molecule, once they have a successful clinical trial under their belt, they will be acquired by someone with very deep pockets.
8. International Stature - they have gone international. They have the best collaborators, including Sloan-Kettering, in cancer today.
A word on Sloan-Kettering. Everyone trying to develop a cancer treatment, be it vaccine or drug wants to work with Sloan-Kettering. However, you do not choose Sloan-Kettering...Sloan-Kettering chooses you. Sloan-Kettering is arguably the most esteemed cancer center in the U.S. today. The scientists are among the very best worldwide working in cancer. The center fields hundreds of potential projects and collaborations each year. They cannot possibly accept them all, but only a fraction of them. Sloan-Kettering has a reputation to uphold. They only pick the best scientists/companies with the best science and projects to work with. Sloan-Kettering picks the projects with the highest potential for success. They have picked Pharmagap and their sceintists to work with. Scientists, more than any one else, want to be winners and be associated with winners. This pretty much says everything we need to know at this stage of the company's growth and is enough for a knowledgable person to start accumulating the stock.
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