Small Cap Network's  Instablog

Cell Therapeutics, Somaxon Pharmaceuticals, SpongeTech Delivery Systems, BioElectronics Corporation, and Advanced Life Sciences Holdings are the penny stocks worth watching this week.

Last week was certainly a wild week for most penny stocks - for better or worse - and a few if these names provided enough of a reason to keep a very close eye on this week. Those penny stocks were (in no certain order) Cell Therapeutics, Inc. (CTIC), Somaxon Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (SOMX), SpongeTech Delivery Systems, Inc. (SPNG.OB), BioElectronics Corporation (BIEL.PK), and Advanced Life Sciences Holdings, Inc. (ADLS.OB).

Let's take a closer look at each one - maybe we can figure out what the future holds.

Cell Therapeutics, Inc. (CTIC) had yet another big news week, the biggest of which was a fund-raising plan. The company's going to sell about 30 million new shares, and will raise nearly $40 million. Cell Therapeutics still hasn't heard any word yet on Pixantrone, though it's suspected more money will need to be raised before - if they do - Cell Therapeutics actually gets Pixantrone on the market.

As we pointed our in our last update, the surges are getting weaker, and are being made on lower volume; the interest is really fading for CTIC. If support at $1.35 breaks (and it looks like the bears are working on it), this penny stock could be in real trouble.

Somaxon Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (SOMX) shares soared on Thursday, from $1.78 to $3.46. Though the penny stock closed a little lower on Friday, for the week it had gained 156%.

The reason for the buying was almost entirely speculation about Somaxon's insomnia drug Silenor. The advisory committee that will ultimately be making an approval recommendation to the FDA's decision-makers was meeting last week, which mean a decision could have come then. However, though it was the right committee, Silenor isn't slated for discussion until another meeting later in the year.

The meetings and agendas can and do change, but the last official word was that Silenor's PDUFA decision date is December 4th, 2009.

We picked a short-term bottom for SpongeTech Delivery Systems, Inc. (SPNG.OB) back on July 15th, and this penny stock hasn't disappointed. SPNG gained 29% last week. Our target (short-term) was 12/13 cents, where it is now. We suggest you go ahead and take some profits, though the momentum we're seeing unfold now wouldn't be crazy to try and ride.

The news frenzy was strong for the penny stock SPNG too, as usual. The company has authorized a buyback of another 150 million shares (which isn't a guarantee it will happen), and the company's CEO and COO actually bought 18 million shares in the last few months. The product got some good TV time too.

All of it should keep the penny stock headed higher this week..... should.

BioElectronics Corporation (BIEL.PK) will be hosting a conference call on Tuesday of this week to update the penny stock's investors about its FDA filings (510k) for the adjunct of use in palliative treatment of postoperative edema and pain (general surgical recovery) in superficial soft tissue.

BioElectronics already has similar products - or the same products for similar uses - on the market.

The company's gotten a lot of compensated coverage over the last few days, which spurred the 125% gain. BIEL shares are pretty overbought now as a result. However, if the penny stock can pullback and regroup around, say $0.024 or $0.032 (both are important support levels), you might be able to catch the second wave of a buying frenzy.

Advanced Life Sciences Holdings, Inc. (ADLS.OB) may be the best penny stock opportunity we see of the five we're looking at here, as it's just now starting to push off of a key support level ($0.43)... and still has lots of room to recover $1.63). Friday's high volume should get some attention for today and beyond as well.

The reason for the renewed buying is most likely pre-PDUFA speculation stemming from cethromycin's NDA as a treatment of severe CAP.

Some of the FDA's bigger advisory committees met last week and will be meeting this week; ADLS's cethromycin is scheduled to be discussed. So, a decision/announcement could follow. Advanced Life Sciences Holdings' management thinks July 31st will be the decision day.

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