US May Speed Approval of 'Breakthrough' Drugs
Source: Reuters, Anna Yukhananov  (5/9/12)
"Experimental drugs that show a big effect early in development for treating serious or life-threatening diseases would get a faster and cheaper path to U.S. approval under a proposal likely to become law this year." More >

GlaxoSmithKline Goes Hostile in Bid for Human Genome Sciences
Source: Miyanville, Brett Chase  (5/9/12)
"GlaxoSmithKline has launched a hostile bid for Human Genome Sciences, three weeks after the biotech spurned a $2.6B takeover offer." More >

Scientists Discover New Inflammatory Target
Source: ScienceDaily  (5/9/12)
"Scientists from Queen Mary, University of London have found a new therapeutic target to combat inflammation. The findings could lead to potential therapies for millions of people who suffer from arthritis." More >

Taxing Jobs out of Existence: George Will on the Medical Device Tax
Source: Washington Post, George Will  (5/9/12)
"In 2010 Congress, ravenous for revenue to fund Obamacare, imposed a 2.3% tax on gross revenue from U.S. sales of medical devices beginning in 2013. The tax might, however, be repealed." More >

Researchers Tap into the Final Frontier: The Sea
Source: Patricia F. Dimond, Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News  (5/7/12)
"Currently, 13 therapeutic agents with marine origins are in clinical development." More >

Catalysts Move Drug and Medtech Stocks: Michael Hay and Jocelyn August
Source: George S. Mack, The Life Sciences Report   (5/3/12)
When studying stock charts it is not hard to see sharp spikes up and deep nosedives related to development milestones and setbacks in the life cycle of a drug or medtech company. The analysts at San Diego-based Sagient Research Systems have made a science out of following the regulatory and media events that can move stocks. In this exclusive interview with The Life Sciences Report, Sagient Vice President Michael Hay and Senior Analyst Jocelyn August demonstrate their expertise with actionable ideas and provide names of companies through which investors might reap profits. More >

Looking at Small Medtech and Biotech in Canada: Nick Waddell
Source: George S. Mack, The Life Sciences Report  (5/3/12)
Is there a developing Silicon Valley model in Canada? Not quite yet, but Publisher and Founding Editor Nick Waddell of the Vancouver-based Cantech Letter would like to see that happen. Meanwhile, he's looking for—and finding—exciting small- and micro-cap ideas as potential big returners. In this exclusive interview with The Life Sciences Report, Waddell discusses current favorite healthcare names that will surely surprise people who have not been looking North. More >

What is the 'ASCO Effect'?
Source: Deborah Baratz, Money Morning  (5/3/12)
"The ASCO Effect move often starts in April. But there's almost always an additional stretch in May during which oncology stocks experience near-vertical spikes in very short periods." More >

Catastrophically Successful Life Extension
Source: Patrick Cox, The Daily Reckoning  (4/30/12)
"Our lives will be profoundly affected by emerging biotechnologies that will push maximum healthy life spans up much faster and further than ever before." More >

ER Doctors Face Quandary on Painkillers
Source: New York Times, Catherine Saint Louis  (4/30/12)
"The frequent prescription of narcotics in emergency departments for dental pain has been quantified for the first time by research financed by the National Institutes of Health, bringing to light another way opioids get into circulation and contribute to the rampant abuse of painkillers in the United States." More >

Investing in Biotech Stocks: The Buyout Binge Continues
Source: Money Morning  (4/27/12)
"The biotechnology buyout deals just keep coming, meaning those investing in biotech stocks have scored some juicy profits, with more on the way." More >

Tap into Low-Risk Biotech and Specialty Pharma for Growth: Steven Palmer
Source: George S. Mack of The Life Sciences Report  (4/26/12)
The somewhat obscure specialty biotechs and pharmas seek to add value by giving new life to older technologies and molecules. President and Chief Investment Officer Steven Palmer of AlphaNorth Asset Management embraces this strategy to generate exceptional returns while mitigating some of the risks inherent in drug development. In this exclusive interview with The Life Sciences Report, Palmer shares favorite life sciences names that could offer huge returns. More >

Pharma & Biotech Stock Outlook
Source: Zacks Investment Research  (4/26/12)
"With most of the big pharma companies already facing or likely to face patent challenges for their blockbuster products, the companies have been looking toward M&A and in-licensing activities to make up for the loss of revenues that will arise with key products losing patent exclusivity." More >

Computing the Best High-Resolution 3-D Tissue Images
Source: ScienceDaily  (4/25/12)
"Real-time, 3-D microscopic tissue imaging could be a revolution for medical fields such as cancer diagnosis, minimally invasive surgery and ophthalmology." More >

Amgen Kicks Off Week of Big Biotech Earnings
Source: Minyanville, Brett Chase  (4/24/12)
"It's imperative that each company meets sales and profit targets for the past quarter, but investors are particularly interested in updates on drugs being developed as they represent future growth." More >

AstraZeneca's Big Drug Deal
Source: Diallah Haidar, Wall St. Cheat Sheet  (4/23/12)
"The acquisition will give the company access to a number of promising drugs, including a developing treatment for gout, a condition that causes joint inflammation." More >

Select Biotech Winners in Advance of ASCO Conference
Source: Ian Cooper, Wealth Daily  (4/20/12)
"Any time a company is expected to present healthy data at ASCO, the speculation over FDA approval, buyout, and game-changing findings can jet stock prices going into the conference." More >

Electrifying Biotechnology: A Shot at Shocking Profits
Source: Patrick Cox, Penny Sleuth  (4/20/12)
"The discovery of reversible electroporation revolutionized biotechnology research. Cracking open a cell's pores allows researchers to get stuff into cells they weren't able to before." More >

Gilead Sciences' Hepatitis Drug in Spotlight
Source: Minyanville, Brett Chase  (4/20/12)
"Both medical and investor communities will scrutinize results from an experimental, next-generation treatment for the liver-destroying virus hepatitis C." More >

Deep Value Found in Small Medtech: Jason Mills
Source: George S. Mack, The Life Sciences Report  (4/19/12)
Medical device companies need to demonstrate four qualities to be good investment ideas, according to Senior Medical Devices Analyst and Managing Director Jason Mills of Canaccord Genuity. In this exclusive interview with The Life Sciences Report, Mills shares his precise criteria and pinpoints specific growth names that are trading at value levels. More >

Five Ways to Play Heart Health
Source: George S. Mack, The Life Sciences Report  (4/19/12)
You almost never hear an analyst say his sector is trading at a significant discount across all market caps. But when I interviewed Senior Analyst and Managing Director Jason Mills of Canaccord Genuity for The Life Sciences Report, that was his evaluation of the cardiovascular space in medtech. A negative environment can certainly create opportunity, and Mills says specific medtech stocks are trading at "trough levels" not seen since the technology meltdown of 2001–2002. More >

Will Illumina Reject Roche's Raised Takeover Bid?
Source: Aabha Rathee, Wall St. Cheat Sheet  (4/17/12)
"Shareholders of the San-Diego based Illumina seem to be collectively siding with their board, which has already rejected two bids from Roche." More >

Superior Biotechnology Leads to Superior Drugs
Source: Ray Blanco, Penny Sleuth  (4/17/12)
"Revolutions in our understanding of the genome and proteome are opening up new pathways toward vanquishing the cancer foe." More >

The Wireless Revolution Hits Medicine
Source: The Wall Street Journal, Ron Winslow  (4/16/12)
"The digital world has been in a separate orbit from our medical cocoon, and it's time the boundaries be taken down." More >

Treating Depression with Electrodes Inside the Brain
Source: CNN Health, Sanjay Gupta and Andy Segal  (4/14/12)
"The procedure, called deep brain stimulation, targets a small brain structure known as Area 25, the 'ringleader' for the brain circuits that control our moods." More >