The Life Sciences Report

How to Beat the Herd Mentality: Highline's Michael Higgins
Source: George S. Mack of The Life Sciences Report  (2/25/15)
Michael Higgins of Highline Research Advisors believes it is absolutely vital for a sellside biotech analyst to understand what's going on outside the sector, because no stock lives on an island. The most fabulous fundamentals in the world won't propel a stock against powerful global or industry-wide headwinds. In this interview with The Life Sciences Report, Higgins, an industry veteran, discusses his methods of finding winning plays in the biotech space, and selects three names that could spike the punch in your portfolio. More >

CEL-SCI Corp.'s Novel Immunotherapies Set Sights on Cancer, Autoimmune Disorders and Infectious Diseases
Source: Dan Levy of The Life Sciences Report  (2/19/15)
Control and manipulation of the immune system is the underlying basis behind vaccinations in the fight against dangerous infectious diseases, but using immunotherapies to treat cancers and autoimmune disorders has been limited. That paradigm is changing, and CEL-SCI Corp. is among the companies poised to bring immunotherapy into these disease spaces. In this interview with The Life Sciences Report, Geert Kersten, CEL-SCI's CEO, describes how his company's Multikine and L.E.A.P.S. platforms can be deployed, and how investors can turn an immunotherapeutic win into profit. More >

Immuno-Oncology Promises Continued Wealth and Health: LifeTech Capital's Stephen Dunn
Source: Staff of The Life Sciences Report  (2/19/15)
Immuno-oncology—disabling cancer's defenses so that a patient's own immune system can seek it out and destroy it—took center stage in the drug development world in 2014. Stephen Dunn of LifeTech Capital believes that preeminence will continue in 2015, bolstered by new drug approvals, new targets and new combination immunotherapies that increase potency. In this interview with The Life Sciences Report, Dunn outlines how companies large and small are leveraging these therapies, and where investors should look for opportunity in the sector. More >

Bloom Burton's David Martin Zeroes In on Under-the-Radar Biotech
Source: George S. Mack of The Life Sciences Report  (2/12/15)
Biotechnology indices have been on a rapid ascent for three years, and 2015 appears to be off to the races as well. Bloom Burton & Co.'s David Martin has taken his seat in the grandstands, betting on specialty pharma and biotech companies based in Canada, where resource stocks have absorbed so much investment capital that many healthcare names have remained hidden and undervalued. In this interview with The Life Sciences Report, Martin highlights a group of companies with superior growth prospects and room to run. More >

Capture Growth with Baskets of Biotechs: LifeSci Advisors' Andrew McDonald
Source: George S. Mack of The Life Sciences Report  (2/5/15)
Andrew McDonald believes investors fundamentally underestimate the risk of investing in companies with drugs in development. To address the inherent hazards, McDonald cofounded LifeSci Advisors, which created the BioShares Biotechnology Clinical Trials and BioShares Biotechnology Products exchange-traded funds to limit risk. In this interview with The Life Sciences Report, McDonald describes how funds can be designed to grow on product sales and data generated via milestones in clinical development, and also names four companies he's included in the two portfolios. More >

The Diabetes Economy: Miraculins Scouts for Worldwide Markets
Source: Taylor Thoen, BTV/The Life Sciences Report   (2/4/15)
While other diseases catch headlines and media attention, diabetes has crept quietly into a full-blown, worldwide pandemic. With the Scout DS^®, Winnipeg-based Miraculins Inc. is on the leading edge of medical innovation with the world's first noninvasive retail screening test for diabetes. In this interview with The Life Sciences Report, Miraculins President and CEO Christopher Moreau explains how the company is poised to expand into multiple markets to meet a desperate need for diabetes screening in North America and around the world. More >

Watchlist Analysts Forecast Continued Blue Sky for Biotech Industry
Source: Tracy Salcedo-Chourré of The Life Sciences Report  (1/29/15)
For the last two years the biotech sector has experienced market-beating gains, even taking into account the industry-wide hiccup in early 2014. Can this trend continue? The five analysts who selected names for The Life Sciences Report's 2015 Small-Cap Biotech Watchlist spend their days considering this question; it comes into play with every recommendation they make. The topic came up in various contexts during the Watchlist panel at the 2015 Biotech Showcase: Here are four factors investors should consider as they move into 2015. More >

The Small-Cap Biotech Watchlist 2015 Unwrapped: Who Are These Guys? And Why Are They Here?
Source: Tracy Salcedo-Chourré of The Life Sciences Report  (1/27/15)
At the Biotech Showcase 2015 in San Francisco, five biotech analysts examined the burgeoning small-cap life sciences marketplace and found every reason to believe its good health would continue into 2015 and beyond. The experts also sent investors who attended the panel discussion of The Life Sciences Report's 2015 Small-Cap Biotech Watchlist home with a bundle of robust investment opportunities, including a few new names. Read on to see which companies made the list, and why. More >

Convert Catalysts into Profits: Sagient Research's Edward Stopke
Source: Peter Byrne of The Life Sciences Report  (1/22/15)
The biotech sector is teeming with companies racing to bring the hot new drug or therapy to the marketplace. But realistically assessing the therapeutic potential of pipeline products is the healthy approach for selecting a winner. In this interview with The Life Sciences Report, Edward Stopke of Sagient Research unveils his list of companies with catalytic moments in the making. More >

The Outpatient Surgery Business Rains Cash: Nobilis Health's Harry Fleming
Source: Peter Byrne of The Life Sciences Report  (1/22/15)
Nobilis Health Corp. has invented a genuine recipe for success: Provide outpatient surgical services with high profit margins and saturate a local consumer health market with advertising. In this interview with The Life Sciences Report, Nobilis' president Harry Fleming explains exactly how his booming firm's business model works—and why investors should take note of the new kid on the block. More >

Oppenheimer Analyst Rohit Vanjani's 2015 Pipeline: Pot, Pain, and Babies
Source: Peter Byrne of The Life Sciences Report  (1/15/15)
Building on another blockbuster year in specialty pharmacy and generics, Rohit Vanjani, a senior analyst at Oppenheimer & Co., has reason to be excited for 2015. Vanjani specializes in nurturing firms developing novel ways to treat some of humanity's most persistent medical problems, and in this interview with The Life Sciences Report, he describes some of the most promising therapies, and companies, in the life sciences sector. More >

Where Do Cures Reside? Morrie Ruffin and Michael Werner of the Alliance for Regenerative Medicine Think the Answer Is in Regenerative Medicine
Source: George S. Mack of The Life Sciences Report  (1/8/15)
The practice of medicine is being transformed. The journey has been arduous, but revolutionary stem cell, gene and immunocellular therapies are rapidly moving toward pivotal milestones—and investors in the space should strap in for a rewarding joy ride. In this interview with The Life Sciences Report, Alliance for Regenerative Medicine cofounders Morrie Ruffin and Michael Werner consider how new federal guidance might enable new standards of care in cardiovascular, neurologic and oncologic medicine, and offer a preview of next week's Biotech Showcase in San Francisco. More >

Medical Marijuana Goes to Market: Daniel Pearlstein of M Partners
Source: George S. Mack of The Life Sciences Report  (1/7/15)
Life sciences analyst Daniel Pearlstein of Toronto-based M Partners brings knowledge of the biotech sector and hands-on experience in the startup realm to understanding value and growth in small- and micro-cap life sciences companies. In this interview with The Life Sciences Report, Pearlstein offers his perspectives on six Canadian biotech and specialty pharma names with different value propositions and the capacity to grow multiples of invested capital, including one company in the budding medical marijuana field.
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Will Biotech Fire on All Cylinders in 2015?
Source: Tracy Salcedo-Chourré of The Life Sciences Report  (12/30/14)
Making predictions for the New Year may feel as productive as peering into a crystal ball. But in the life sciences, hard science and long experience back prognostication. The biotech market enjoyed a stellar 2013 and withstood a solid check in early 2014 before rebounding, essentially following the upward trend that most experts forecast. What is in store for 2015? The Life Sciences Report turned to newsletter writer John McCamant and WBB Securities' Steve Brozak for insight. More >

Cell Therapy 2015: With Maturity Comes Promise
Source: Tracy Salcedo-Chourré of The Life Sciences Report  (12/23/14)
A number of new and innovative medical paradigms are being explored by companies in the life sciences sector, with one of the front-runners being cell therapy—a disruptive technology that has, in the past few years, progressed out of preclinical studies and into clinical development. To learn more about the transformative promise of regenerative medicine, and what investors might expect from companies working in the sector in 2015, The Life Sciences Report asked analysts Jason Kolbert of Maxim Group and Dr. Christopher James of Brinson Patrick to discuss the advances that could generate robust returns on investment in coming years. More >

The Best Biotech Stocks to Buy in 2015
Source: Kyle Anderson, Money Morning  (12/22/14)
Market corrections are always a possibility – especially in biotech, which is one of the more volatile sectors. That's why the most important thing for investors in 2015 is finding companies with real value. Biotech companies that make good drugs that meet critical needs will be the sector's best profit opportunities. More >

2015 Small-Cap Biotech Watchlist Announced
Source: Staff of The Life Sciences Report  (12/18/14)
In its third year, The Life Sciences Report's 2015 Small-Cap Biotech Watchlist currently includes 12 drug development companies selected by leading analysts in the sector. With catalysts on the horizon and pipelines that encompass a variety of indications and innovative platforms, these biotechs are primed to return multiples on investment. More >

Doug Loe: Canada Has Earned Its Spot in the Biotech All-Star Team Photo
Source: George S. Mack of The Life Sciences Report  (12/18/14)
Biotech investors in the United States who overlook investment opportunities across the borders are missing out on huge opportunities, says Douglas Loe, healthcare equity analyst with Euro Pacific Canada. In this interview with The Life Sciences Report, Loe gives the Canadian life sciences industry an upbeat prognosis, and offers ideas on companies that could realize generous returns in the sector in 2015. More >

Wedbush Securities' David Nierengarten on Genetic Cures for Disease: Impossible Dream Come True?
Source: George S. Mack of The Life Sciences Report  (12/11/14)
Clinicians like to speak in terms of "managing" disease. That term of art is an admission that, in most cases, they can't cure the serious problems confronting patients. In this interview with The Life Sciences Report, David Nierengarten of Wedbush Securities explores gene therapies that actually correct an inborn mutation in human DNA, creating permanent change, actual cures and better lives for patients. It sounds beyond the reach of medicine. . .and therein lies the opportunity: Investors in gene therapy companies may capture serious returns on risk capital when the cure is attained. More >

Brinson Patrick's Christopher S. James: All Catalysts Are Not Created Equal
Source: George S. Mack of The Life Sciences Report  (12/4/14)
Why do some good-news milestones cause stocks to languish, or even fall? Neurosurgeon Christopher James, managing director and senior biotechnology analyst at Brinson Patrick Securities, performs due diligence on stocks, in part, by connecting his clinical experience to the readiness of physicians and patients to adopt new therapies. In this interview with The Life Sciences Report, James gives real-life examples of catalysts and their effects, and highlights three strong biotech plays that could return multiples of invested capital. More >

Rolling with Biotech's Regulatory Punches: Chen Lin
Source: Peter Byrne of The Life Sciences Report  (11/25/14)
Being temporarily burned by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration can be a mixed blessing for a biotech with a good product in the pipeline. In an interview with The Life Sciences Report, Chen Lin, publisher of the investor newsletter What is Chen Buying? What is Chen Selling?, explains how to make money on biotech trades in sync with both the good regulatory news and the bad. More >

Investment Banker Dick Huebner on How to Uncover Micro-Cap Biotechs that Deliver on Promises
Source: George S. Mack of The Life Sciences Report  (11/20/14)
Micro-cap stocks suffer from all sorts of ills. They are often illiquid, and companies can be unable to raise new funds under reasonable terms, if at all. Investing in these equities requires extraordinary expertise and experience, and that is where micro-cap investment banker Richard "Dick" Huebner excels. In this interview with The Life Sciences Report, Huebner, a senior managing partner with Denver-based GVC Capital, discusses the downside and the upside of micro-cap biotech investment, and the desirable characteristics risk takers should be looking for in very small companies. More >

Thinking Differently About Ebola Virus Disease: WBB Securities' Steve Brozak
Source: George S. Mack of The Life Sciences Report  (11/13/14)
What do you get when you combine a top-ranked industry analyst with a retired lieutenant colonel from the U.S. Marine Corp.? You get Steve Brozak, who brings his one-of-a kind perspective on the intricacies of Ebola virus disease to this interview with The Life Sciences Report. His military background, combined with 20 years as a biotech and medtech analyst, has allowed the WBB Securities cofounder to develop a reasoned perspective on how West Africa's Ebola epidemic might be humanely halted. Brozak also mentions small-cap names that could considerably enhance investors' portfolios. More >

Ebola's Silver Lining: MLV & Co.'s George Zavoico
Source: George S. Mack of The Life Sciences Report  (11/12/14)
A working knowledge of molecular biology is essential for a biotech investor, but it helps when someone with deep knowledge of science and medicine can bring understanding to the people who commit capital to growth ideas. George Zavoico of MLV & Co. has that advantage, having been a senior investigator at a large pharma before moving on to research at smaller, pure biotech firms. In this interview with The Life Sciences Report, Zavoico brings a wealth of experience to bear on the valuations of smaller companies with phenomenal growth prospects, and discusses how the quest for a cure for Ebola could disrupt—and improve—our approach to medical crises. More >

Biotech Watchlist Update: Small-Cap Biotechs Struggle to Rebound
Source: Tracy Salcedo-Chourré of The Life Sciences Report  (11/6/14)
When the biotechnology market hit a speed bump in early 2014, every stock in the sector was jolted. Large-cap biotech and big pharma have largely recovered, but small- and micro-cap companies haven't yet entirely recouped the losses. The performance of Streetwise Reports' Biotechnology Watchlist to date reflects this trend: The portfolio lingered in negative territory after the late-winter punch, and hovers near breakeven as of Nov. 3. To get a handle on the drivers of small-cap stock price volatility, The Life Sciences Report turned to a pair of the analysts who selected companies for the 2014 Watchlist, John McCamant of the Medical Technology Stock Letter and George Zavoico of MLV & Co. In this recap, the two experts offer updates on the companies they selected for the portfolio. More >