Personal Gene Mapping Has Its Limits
Source: HealthDay, Amanda Gardner  (4/2/12)
"The costs of whole genome sequencing are plummeting, making the test more accessible to more people, yet the ability of the test to provide useful information to patients has not been studied quantitatively." More >

Chasing Cheaper Cancer Drugs
Source: Reuters, Ben Hirschler  (4/2/12)
"A new model that takes advantage of the highly specific nature of modern targeted therapies could slash drug development timelines and costs." More >

Orphan Drugs: Small Is the New Big
Source: Medical Marketing & Media Deborah Weinstein  (4/1/12)
"Big Pharma is used to thinking big, but more and more companies are turning to the rare diseases category and to conditions that affect patient groups with populations less than than some small towns." More >

FDA Issues New Guidance Considerations for Medical Device Approval Decisions
Source: Infection Control Today  (3/30/12)
"The Food and Drug Administration has published first-of-kind guidance for medical device manufacturers, describing how the benefits and risks of certain medical devices are considered during pre-market review." More >

Sharpen Your Medtech Investing Edge with Genomics, Imaging and Diversified Supplies: Junaid Husain
Source: George S. Mack of The Life Sciences Report  (3/29/12)
Medical supplies and diagnostics may not sound exciting, but recurring revenue is key to restful nights and steady growth. Dougherty & Company Vice President and Senior Medical Technology Analyst Junaid Husain has a rule-based approach for selecting winners. In this exclusive interview with The Life Sciences Report, he offers his best ideas and the logic behind them. More >

The Medical Device Tax? No Big Deal.
Source: Medical Device +Diagnostics Industry, Brian Buntz  (3/29/12)
"There is a lot of price pressure in the medical device sector, acknowledged Pivot Medical's Julian Nikolchev at the Bay Area Biomedical Device Conference. 'But we have more than enough leeway.'" More >

Great Values Among Battered Medical Technology Stocks
Source: George S. Mack, The Life Sciences Report  (3/29/12)
No industry in the healthcare sector has been shrouded with more pessimism than medical technology. It would be easy to check off all the boxes on your list of gloomy headwinds, dust off your hands and find another story for your investible dollars. Starting in 2013 the medical device tax is slated to empty $20 billion (B) from the pockets of medtechs over 10 years, and there seems to be no respite from FDA's prolonged approval times and ever-increasing demands for additional data. Combine these annoyances with a recession hangover, and you've got a classic case of malaise. Senior Medical Technology Analyst Junaid Husain of Minneapolis-based investment bank Dougherty & Company told me all the news isn't bad, however. In fact, if you know what you're looking for, there are real actionable ideas on the table.. . More >

The Supreme Court, the Affordable Care Act, and the Economy
Source: Tara Clarke, Money Morning  (3/26/12)
"The biggest issue is whether or not Congress has the constitutional power to require nearly every American to obtain health insurance or risk paying a penalty." More >

Big Returns Come from Small-Cap Medical Technology
Source: George S. Mack, The Life Sciences Report  (3/26/12)
A decade ago medtech was in its heyday. Baby boomers were already feeling the discomforts of osteoarthritis and other age-related diseases, and they wanted to be active longer. Device and instrument developers could innovate and get products through the FDA and market them in the U.S. where dynamic pricing power would expand margins and bottom lines. Newer technologies such as minimally invasive surgical procedures were fueling more orthopedic surgeries, because smaller wounds mean lower rates of infection, less discomfort and quicker rehab. The winds of recovery following the dot-com bust were about to carry smaller health-related stocks higher. . . More >

Shiny New Tool for Imaging Biomolecules
Source: ScienceDaily   (3/23/12)
"The ability to observe signaling spatial patterns in the immune and other cellular systems would be a critical tool in the fight against immunological and other disorders that lead to a broad range of health problems, including cancer. Such a tool is now at hand." More >

Looking for Innovative Small-Cap Biotech Companies: George Zavoico
Source: George S. Mack of The Life Sciences Report  (3/22/12)
High-quality science underlies successful drug development companies, even those that turn one company's discarded junk into biotech treasure. That's an example of one compelling investment strategy being employed by Senior Analyst and Managing Director George Zavoico of MLV & Co. In this exclusive interview with The Life Sciences Report, Zavoico lays out a number of solid ideas predicated on good science that growth seekers can leverage for real gains. More >

A Scientist Finds Treasure Researching Oncology Drugs
Source: George S. Mack, The Life Sciences Report  (3/22/12)
I love finding out how people move from point A to point B in their careers. It was an incremental process for George Zavoico, who is today a senior equity analyst at New York City-based MLV & Co., a boutique investment bank focusing on the small cap space. Armed with his doctorate in physiology, Zavoico loves the research model, in both science and finance, and he wants to get as close as possible to the drugs and their targets inside the companies he covers. His current small company niche seems to suit his trained curiosity just perfectly. "I find that I can approach the science, the investigators and the academic researchers developing innovative drugs mainly through smaller-cap companies," he told me in a telephone conversation. . . More >

Choose Medical Technology Stocks Carefully: William Plovanic
Source: George S. Mack of The Life Sciences Report  (3/15/12)
The dart board will not help in picking medical technology stocks. Analyst and Managing Director William Plovanic of Canaccord Genuity focuses on the musculoskeletal/orthopedic sector, which is sensitive to factors beyond just the unmet needs of patients. Economic and regulatory dynamics make it difficult to predict growth in medtech, but in this exclusive interview with The Life Sciences Report, veteran analyst Plovanic delivers both ideas and names that could generate excellent returns for investors. More >

Know Your Medtech Growth Drivers: Joanne Wuensch
Source: George S. Mack of The Life Sciences Report   (3/8/12)
Medical technology has been stalled in a quagmire of regulation, lowered usage and a more tight-fisted health insurance environment, but Analyst and Managing Director Joanne Wuensch of BMO Capital Markets has identified a few ground-breaking technologies that will drive increasing cash flows in particular companies. In this exclusive interview with The Life Sciences Report, Wuensch delivers the names that will provide essential diversification while they return growth for investors. More >

MedTech Industry Stock Outlook
Source: Zacks Equity Research  (3/6/12)
"Although still saddled with an unfavorable macro environment, the medtech indyustry is expected to fare better in 2012 thanks to attractive growth opportunities and healthy tailwinds including improving hospital spending, emerging markets and pent-up demand." More >

Looking for Solid Science in Biotech
Source: George S. Mack, The Life Sciences Report  (3/5/12)
Solid ideas in biotech come from solid research. I first spoke with analyst Carol Werther in early 1999 when I was preparing to write about Immunex, which had developed Enbrel (etanercept) for rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The product had just been approved by the FDA in November 1998, and it held the distinction of being the first in a new class of anti-tumor necrosis factor (TNF) agents that would treat autoimmune disorders, not just symptomatically but truly as a disease-modifying agent. Along would come others in this innovative category of anti-TNFs that now total approximately $15 billion (B) in annual sales and include the familiar names Remicade (infliximab) and Humira (adalimumab). . . More >

Being Selective in Biotech: Carol Werther
Source: George S. Mack of The Life Sciences Report  (3/1/12)
In an industry steeped in complex research and speculative drug development, successful biotech investing requires real sophistication. Senior Biotechnology Analyst Carol Werther of Boston-based Summer Street Research Partners brings her experience to bear on the trinity of unmet needs, reimbursement and what physicians are willing to support with their prescription pads. In this exclusive interview with The Life Sciences Report, Werther shares her high-percentage picks that present opportunities for significant returns. More >

Biotech Platform Technologies Make Big Promises
Source: George S. Mack, The Life Sciences Report  (2/28/12)
Words to Invest By: Make sure you see a lead development product that big pharma is willing to bet on. I love the idea of a smart technology platform that could feed multiple product candidates into a biotech pipeline. The notion is exhilarating because that's where those rare 10- and 20-baggers come from. . . More >

Biotech Stocks Start Strong in 2012: John McCamant
Source: George S. Mack of The Life Sciences Report  (2/23/12)
After a three-and-one-half year slide, biotechnology stocks started 2012 with a powerful move to the upside. Is this an arms-acquisition race for products in development, or is it about excellent fundamentals that are just getting noticed? Medical Technology Stock Letter Editor John McCamant sees a bit of both, and in this exclusive interview with The Life Sciences Report, he has selected a few names that he believes will rise to the top. More >

Infectious Disease Technologies Could Open Investment Opportunities in 2012: Stephen Dunn
Source: George S. Mack of The Life Sciences Report  (2/16/12)
Investors have avoided infectious disease companies like the plague, but LifeTech Capital President and Senior Managing Director of Research Stephen Dunn doesn't agree, and he has staked out some ideas in this space that could make you financially better off. In this exclusive interview with The Life Sciences Report, Dunn explains the rationale and delivers the names of bug-fighting companies that use the newest technologies to overcome old barriers to success. More >

Platform Technologies Promise Big Payoffs: Juan Sanchez
Source: George S. Mack of The Life Sciences Report  (2/10/12)
Platform technologies promise big payoffs because they offer the prospect of nearly unlimited assets that might be developed to combat disease, but they make investors very nervous because of their propensity to burn cash in a hurry. In this exclusive interview with The Life Sciences Report, Ladenburg Thalmann & Co. Vice President and Senior Analyst Juan Sanchez makes his case for a few companies that could produce numerous products from their technology-rich pipelines. More >

Hepatitis C and Orphan Diseases Driving Big Biotech Potential: Geoff Meacham
Source: George S. Mack of The Life Sciences Report   (1/31/12)
It may seem counterintuitive that rare diseases might actually be biotech growth drivers, but Senior Analyst and Managing Director Geoff Meacham of JPMorgan Chase makes just that case. In this exclusive interview with The Life Sciences Report, Meacham lays out his premise that hepatitis C and orphan disease drugs can cure the woes of growth-starved investors. More >

Driving Value for Pharma and Biotech Companies: Insights from Biotech Showcase 2012
Source: The Life Sciences Report Editors  (1/20/12)
The 2012 Biotech Showcase investor conference in San Francisco drew a record number of life science interests from all over the world. More >

Five Biotechs to Consider: Mara Goldstein
Source: George S. Mack of The Life Sciences Report
The complexity of the mammalian immune system is daunting for molecular biologists and drug developers, but incremental progress has brought biotech and biopharma to the point where small molecules and biologics are being developed with some predictability and with some real successes. Clearly, the advantage of leveraging the immune system is that it can apply broadly to so many different systems, organs and disease indications ranging from mild skin disease to brain tumors. For a recent Life Sciences Report interview, I spoke with Cantor Fitzgerald & Co. Senior Biotechnology Analyst Mara Goldstein, who has chosen to follow companies developing immunotherapeutics to treat cancers. In a nutshell, she decided on immunotherapy because she believes it is underappreciated by investors, and she opted to follow oncology because the market is huge. More >