BlacknGold (37.33)

Battle Royale: Pharma Style

October 08, 2010 – Comments (0) | RELATED TICKERS: KERX , IMGN , ATHX

       Hello Fools! For some strange reason the DOW is above 11,000 - even with the flood of bad economic data. If there is a significant pullback in the market as a whole, you could be presented with a great opportunity to steal some of these stocks. If you haven't been watching these already I really suggest that you start. These pharmaceutical stocks have some pretty insane potential. Thoughts and feedback are welcomed!

Keryx Biopharmaceuticals (KERX) is expected to have updated results on its Phase 3 trials for perifosine (KRX-0401) in December, specifically for the treatment of both refractory advanced colorectal cancer and multiple myeloma. It also has Phase 1 and 2 clinical development for several other tumor types as well as a Phase 3 trial for Zerenex (ferric citrate), which treats hyperphosphatemia ($750 million market in US in 2009). The stock price is at $5 on recent heavy volume and anticipation for the December results. I expect the price to pullback slightly, perhaps to $4.5 or lower.

ImmunoGen Inc (IMGN) was floating between $9-$10 before it was denied accelerated approval for the cancer drug T-DM1, being developed with Genetech, and sank all the way to $5. The reason the FDA denied the case for accelerated approval was simply based on the fact that "all available treatment choices approved for metastatic breast cancer, regardless of HER2 status, had not been exhausted in the study population". Nothing was wrong with the drug itself. In fact, it was presented as part of the presidential symposium at ESMO. Numbers were encouraging against the current 1st line treatment Herceptin (http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/news/article.aspx?Feed=BW&Date=20101008&ID=12130384&Symbol=IMGN). Submission for approval is slated for mid-2012.

Athersys (ATHX) is developing MultiStem, a multipotent adult progenitor stem cell therapy for many differnet applications. It was recently granted orphan drug status for after successful Phase 1 results. MultiStem is often touted as the device that could put stem cell therapy on the map, since the mechanism for the device can operate from just one adult's cells. This means the device could work much like O-type blood, since millions of treatments could be the result (grown) of just one patient. It is partnered with Angiotech (ANPI) and Pfizer (PZE), each for different applications.

Just a thought....I know everyone hates Generex (GNBT) but hear me out. It's Oral-lyn Insulin spray will, most likely, get shot down by the FDA for several reasons. The biggest one being that it did not conduct its Phase trials with the FDA. Another, simpler reason is the insanely small patient population size. HOWEVER, Oral-lyn was the first insulin drug to be granted an FDA Treatment IND and all drugs that have received such status have gone on to gain full approval from the FDA. Regardless, their AE37 cancer drug may be the drug that puts Generex on top. It is years out, but it targets patients for which there is only one other drug (and that drug rakes in $3+ billion annually).

All of these drugs are definately worth keeping an eye on. I have real money in KERX and IMGN currently. I'm looking for ATHX to go down to around $2.75ish before I buy in, but I have years to accumulate shares and realize gains. I recently sold my shares of GNBT at $0.55 a share after getting in at $0.39, so there is always money to be made. I really look forward to your comments. Stay Foolish!

                                       BlacknGold