Putting Money Where the Mouse Is: How Animal Studies Lead Medical Research Down Dead Ends
Source: Richard Harris, NPR  (4/8/14)
"If scientists had been more careful with their initial mouse studies, they would have realized that these drugs were never good candidates and that it made no sense to try them in people." More >

How Did High Flyers Turn into Soul Searchers? Maxim Analyst Jason Kolbert on the Highs and Lows of Biotech Valuations
Source: Editors, Streetwise Reports  (4/2/14)
After soaring more than 56% last year, the NASDAQ Biotechnology Index is down almost 15% in March. In this interview with The Life Sciences Report, Jason Kolbert of the Maxim Group points to increased approval rates and a better economic and regulatory environment as the fundamentals behind a revaluation that has occurred in the sector. Kolbert also reflects on recent concerns about pricing and policy changes that have triggered what he considers a normal, healthy correction in an otherwise robust and intact sector. More >

Shining a Light on Overlooked and Underfollowed Biotechs: George Zavoico
Source: George S. Mack of The Life Sciences Report  (3/6/14)
Prospecting for hidden biotech gems makes sense, says H.C. Wainwright & Co. Managing Director George Zavoico, who recently joined the firm's healthcare equity research team. The digging can be hard, but the rewards of successful diligence are huge. In this interview with The Life Sciences Report, Zavoico takes readers on a discovery tour that follows clinical trial data to new ideas that could bring windfalls to portfolios down the road. More >

Specialty Pharma Bulking Up: $100B Boost in 2013 Market Cap Drives Deals in Early 2014
Source: Andrew Forman, EY  (2/25/14)
"Specialty pharma acquirers accounted for roughly 40% of all 2013 M&A by value, with no fewer than seven offshore deals totaling over US$35B. All of these deals resulted in increased 2014 guidance." More >

Big Pharma Will Find Good Hunting Among Early-Stage Biotechs: Dhesh Govender
Source: Tracy Salcedo-Chourré of The Life Sciences Report  (2/13/14)
Dhesh Govender, manager of the life sciences portfolio for Cedar Lane Enterprises Inc., has the inside track when it comes to identifying the hottest biotech trends. In this interview with The Life Sciences Report, Govender explains why he thinks plenty of upside remains in the life sciences sector, and reveals trade secrets that every investor should consider when building a successful investment strategy. More >

Regenerative Medicine Finally Gets Some Respect: Reni Benjamin
Source: JT Long of The Life Sciences Report  (2/11/14)
Of the many themes that propelled the biotech sector to record returns in 2013, regenerative medicine and therapeutics targeting cancer were front and center. In this interview with The Life Sciences Report, Reni Benjamin, managing director and equity research analyst at H.C. Wainwright & Co., talks about two companies with impending catalysts that play on these themes, and offers his take on the prospects for the regenerative medicine sector going forward. More >

The Last Word: Place Your Biotech Bets on Solid Management and Hot Therapy Areas
Source: Tracy Salcedo-Chourré of The Life Sciences Report  (1/23/14)
Who got the last word at the 2014 Biotech Showcase? A portfolio manager specializing in healthcare, an award-winning analyst, and a pair of venture capitalists with global viewpoints and a focus on clinical-stage companies. In the closing event of the showcase, cohosted by The Life Sciences Report, this panel of experts offered insights into trends that will influence the biotech universe in 2014. More >

Biotech Watchlist 2014: Sound Science, Innovative Ideas and a Sprinkle of Pixie Dust
Source: Tracy Salcedo-Chourré of The Life Sciences Report  (1/15/14)
2013 was a banner year for the life sciences sector, with biotech, pharmaceutical and medtech companies buoyed by advances in therapeutic techniques, a friendly regulatory environment, lucrative partnerships and the overall market upswing. The 2013 Biotech Watchlist, which was released at the Biotech Showcase in San Francisco, reflected this robustness, boasting a year-to-date return that blew past those posted by the major indices. Credit the basket of stocks picked by industry experts, weighted heavily with winners. Can our panel of experts pick another winning portfolio in 2014? Find out which companies they've chosen for the 2014 Watchlist in this exclusive from The Life Sciences Report
and Sagient Research. More >

The Biological iPhone
Source: Ray Blanco, The Daily Reckoning  (1/3/14)
"The next Steve Jobs might be tinkering with DNA molecules instead of circuit boards." More >

Coming of Age: Experts Reflect on the Extraordinary Promise of the Cell Therapy Sector
Source: Tracy Salcedo-Chourré of The Life Sciences Report  (12/26/13)
Without innovation and risk-taking, modern medicine would be missing staples of the physician's armamentarium: antibiotics, radiation therapies, vaccines. The idea of taking a tonic to cure what ails you is thousands of years old, but the science behind that tonic may be revolutionary. Enter stem cell technologies. Given the promise backing the science—and the sector's position on the cusp of breaking out—companies with cell therapies got plenty of attention from investment analysts and experts in 2013. Read what those experts, including George Zavoico of MLV & Co., Steve Brozak of WBB Securities, Jason Kolbert of the Maxim Group, and Kevin DeGeeter of Ladenberg Thalmann & Co., had to say about prospects for stem cell companies in this special retrospective article from The Life Sciences Report. More >

The New Year Heralds a Transition in Stem Cell Development: Jason Kolbert
Source: George S. Mack of The Life Sciences Report   (12/17/13)
The cell therapy industry has been mired in phase 1 and 2 studies for what seems like a lifetime. But 2014 is shaping up to be a banner year for share-moving phase 2 data and pivotal phase 3 activity. Jason Kolbert, managing director for biotechnology research at Maxim Group, leverages his deep understanding of the stem cell space to uncover viable therapies that double as excellent business models. In this interview with The Life Sciences Report, Kolbert guides investors to regenerative medicine companies that have evolved beyond great science projects into businesses capable of generating huge margins and disrupting the paradigm of medical practice. More >

Eight Catalyst-Driven Biotechs Ready to Advance: Michael Hay and Jocelyn August
Source: George S. Mack of The Life Sciences Report   (11/26/13)
Investors are attracted to small- and micro-cap biotech stocks because their life cycles are filled with share-moving milestones. Michael Hay and Jocelyn August of Sagient Research handicap those milestones and calculate the probabilities that drugs in development will be approved and successful in the marketplace. In this interview with The Life Sciences Report, Hay and August set a table investors can be thankful for, naming companies with upcoming catalysts and real potential for upside. More >

The Stunning Potential of Gene Silencing: Nobel Laureate Craig C. Mello
Source: George S. Mack of The Life Sciences Report  (11/21/13)
The era of gene regulation has begun in earnest. Craig Mello and Andrew Fire won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2006 for discovering RNA interference, which can stop genes in their tracks. Drug therapy traditionally has been about finding a molecule that would bind to a protein and short-circuit the reaction pathway that led to disease. Thanks to Mello and Fire, it is now possible to prevent synthesis of the protein itself. In this interview with The Life Sciences Report, Craig Mello, professor at the University of Massachusetts Medical School and investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, discusses the stunningly disruptive potential of technologies that can silence genes. He also mentions some interesting companies in the field. More >

Seven Investments on Biotech's Cutting Edge: Joseph Pantginis
Source: George S. Mack of The Life Sciences Report   (11/14/13)
Phase 1 and phase 2 biotech companies offer great upside for investors who understand the risks and the critical need for diversification. ROTH Capital Partners Senior Research Analyst Joseph Pantginis has staked out a basket of small-cap oncology biotech names with cutting-edge technology platforms that have realistic opportunities for success. In this interview with The Life Sciences Report, Pantginis makes meticulous arguments for seven names that offer huge upside. More >

2013 Biotech Watchlist Update: Companies Climb and Crumble on Catalysts
Source: George S. Mack of The Life Sciences Report   (10/31/13)
The Life Sciences Report's Biotech Watchlist, introduced in January 2013, is composed of 17 companies that industry analysts felt showed promise for the coming year—companies with productive pipelines, good management and stock-moving catalysts on the horizon. The new year presented legitimate prospects for portfolio growth and, indeed, that has been the case. In this update, we summarize the current status of Watchlist companies and introduce our Portfolio Tracker, showing the status of each company in real time. More >

A Compulsion for Brain Science: Zack Lynch
Source: George S. Mack of The Life Sciences Report  (10/17/13)
Roughly a third of the world's population feels the burden of some type of brain, spinal cord or peripheral nerve disease: dementia, depression, compulsion, infection, trauma. Understanding the need for investment, awareness and public policy advocacy in finding solutions for these afflictions, Zack Lynch founded the Neurotechnology Industry Organization in 2006, and serves as its executive director. In this interview with The Life Sciences Report, Lynch makes a bullish case for a growing industry and discusses how he proposes to increase funding for neuroscience from both private and public sources, thereby increasing options for patients and opportunities for investors. More >

Biotech Companies Record Another Positive Quarter
Source: Peter Winter, BioWorld  (10/7/13)
"In all there were 27 public offering transactions generating $1.26 billion in the third quarter, with companies continuing to take advantage of their higher stock valuations and welcoming capital markets to raise funds for their operations." More >

Not All Stem Cells Are Created Equal: Vernon Bernardino
Source: Peter Byrne of The Life Sciences Report  (10/3/13)
Biotech companies are fiercely competing to create the newest and best miracle drugs using stem cell technologies. How can an investor spot the potentially victorious outliers amid the chaos of rival scientific claims? The failure rate of new product development in the only recently understood cell space is terrifying, but in this interview with The Life Sciences Report, analyst Vernon Bernardino of MLV & Co. reveals his formula for evaluating the strongest contenders. Bernardino also names five companies with products that may succeed in this new and competitive space. More >

Hidden Finds in Regenerative and Medical Technology: Jeff Cohen
Source: Peter Byrne of The Life Sciences Report  (9/12/13)
Ladenburg Thalmann & Co. Inc.'s Jeff Cohen regularly explores the frontiers of regenerative and medical technology looking for solid investment opportunities. In this interview with The Life Sciences Report, Cohen reveals promising finds in one of the world's fastest-growing business sectors. From robotics to skin grafts, Cohen knows his science and his market. More >

Medical Conference Schedule Sept. 2013 through March 2014
Source: Michael King, JP Morgan  (9/5/13)
More >

Breakthrough Therapy Designation Speeds Up Drug Approvals
Source: Patricia Dimond, Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology News  (9/4/13)
"The FDA's new development path is specifically designed for experimental agents that produce large and unprecedented treatment effects in early clinical trials. If a drug is designated a breakthrough therapy, the FDA says it will expedite the development and review of the drug." More >

Spot Tenbagger Discovery Potential in Biotech: Michael Berry
Source: George S. Mack of The Life Sciences Report  (8/22/13)
How do the best investors detect life science companies with the potential to generate significant wealth? Michael Berry, publisher of Morning Notes, found that traditional growth and value models didn't measure up, so he developed his own "discovery" strategy. He looks at companies that haven't gone public yet. He's not afraid of the penny stock. Find out more about Berry's technique, and about five companies that fit his profit-generating profile, in this interview with The Life Sciences Report. More >

Our Worry-Free Way of Investing in Biotech
Source: Greg Madison, Money Morning  (8/2/13)
"We are on the cusp of some truly amazing discoveries. There is a tier of biotech companies working around the clock on products with amazing potential." More >

Mesoblast Ltd. Targets Success in the Degenerative Disc Space
Source: George S. Mack of The Life Sciences Report  (7/25/13)
The biggest challenge in the treatment of degenerative disc disease lies in the inhospitable nature of the intervertebral space, where the blood flow and nutrients necessary to cell survival are in short supply. Mesoblast Ltd. has developed a cell therapy that addresses that challenge, triggering the regenerative qualities of surrounding cells to promote healing. In this interview with The Life Sciences Report, Mesoblast Founder, CEO and Managing Director Silviu Itescu describes the science that promises relief to millions of back pain sufferers. More >

BioRestorative Therapies Inc. Develops Plug-and-Play Therapy for Bulging/Herniated Disc Disease
Source: George S. Mack of The Life Sciences Report  (7/25/13)

Millions of people suffer back pain caused by herniated and bulging disc disease. When conventional medical therapies fail they often resort to surgery for relief, a costly and time-consuming solution for both patients and the medical system. In this interview with The Life Sciences Report, Mark Weinreb, president, CEO and chairman of BioRestorative Therapies Inc., describes how his company's cell therapy process could keep disc disease treatment out of the operating theater.