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    • Fannie, Freddie: What Paulson Learned From the Pentagon [view article]
      The good news: both Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and his FED friend Chairman Bernanke will be out off job very shortly regardless of who will be the new President.

      However, American people will be too busy fighting poverty.       Aug 24 04:27 PM
    • Witnessing the Biggest Transfer of Wealth in History [view article]
      Regardless of what the Fed and the Treasury do, one thing is certain: the US economy will crash and crash very hard.

      Yes, there will be a major transfer of public wealth into private hands and back to the government. To protect this grand robbery, the new administration and political parties will have to abolish most of so cherished democracy principles.

      Finally, the paradox is that America is moving to socialism. Socialism has nothing to do with public justice and equality. No, it is a immense power of bureaucracy.       Aug 24 04:10 PM
    • Schlumberger: The Switzerland of Oil [view article]
      Good review. Aug 24 02:58 PM
    • 5 Potential Buyout Targets in Biotech - Barron's [view article]
      Unfortunately, American Big Pharma companies became more marketing organizations rather than new drug development companies.

      It appears that, at the time when companies like ImClone are developing new super-drugs like Erbitux capable of savings thousands of lives, the Wall Street green-mailers, speculators, extortionists and biotech companies stock price manipulations greatly endanger new drugs development process doing great disservice to people all around world.

      The above article is discussing how Big Pharma, with their zillion-dollars executives compensation packages, has failed in development of drugs and now is in a process of ripping off the most innovative and successful biotech companies and its shareholders.

      These Big Pharma acquisition activities add nothing to new drug development but greatly endanger so many lives that could be saved by new drugs.

      Aug 17 05:35 PM
    • Updates on the Healthcare/Biotech Mergers [view article]
      Mike Huckman,

      Your incompetence and ignorance are on par with your stupidity.

      You are doing great disservice to both retail investment and patients communities. Thanks to you and you alike, good many patients do not get the right medical treatment they so badly need.

      Your promotion of Genentech's Avastin is just disgusting. This highly expensive and highly ineffective drug does not offer any survival benefits to colorectal, lung and breast cancer patients when used with the latest chemotherapy.

      At the same, ImClone's Erbitux has shown substantial survival benefits in many settings:
      - 3rd-line metastatic colorectal cancer survival benefits were increased by 5 months in wild-Kras patient population
      - Head & Neck cancer patients saw their survival benefits increased by 2 years being treated by Erbitux combined with radiation
      - Non-small cell lung cancer patients survival benefits were increased by 8 weeks for very diverse and difficult to treat Caucasian patient population.

      Very fortunately for American cancer patients, American oncology community pays close to no attention to your highly inaccurate, biased and quite often dishonest commentaries.

      To call ImClone Phase III clinical trials to develop so much needed treatments capable of helping to women with breast cancer "a not-so-veiled negotiating tactic" is just outright disgusting.       Aug 16 09:43 PM
    • Novartis Example: Why Drug Discovery / Development Is Hard [view article]
      One only can wonder why Big Pharma is not in any hurry to buy companies with great working pipelines like ImClone?

      The second wonder is that biotech companies are valued by the Wall Street analysts without any understanding of biologics development and/or it potential.       Aug 15 07:53 AM
    • Big Pharma’s Healthy Appetite for Acquisitions [view article]
      Why should Carl Icahn accept Bristol's offer at $60? There are no reasons for it at all.

      18 months ago, Icahn has blocked ImClone sale to Sanofi for $36. Now, Bristol offers $60.

      Icahn has a strong hand. He can tell to major ImClone shareholders: a $60-offer is not good but, in another 12-18 months, I might be able to get a new offer twice as big.

      As Imclone's shareholder, I will go for it!
      Aug 12 10:38 AM
    • Imclone Systems: No Shame, No Gain [view article]
      In spite of the media and some analysts claim that Carl must sell IMCL now, it is not true. Why in world will Carl sell IMCL for $60 thinking he can get much more later?

      1.5 yrs ago, Carl was accused of preventing a sale of ImClone to Sanofi for $36. Now, Carl gets a new offer from BMY for $60.

      Again Carl can successfully claim the BMY offer is not adequate as it was 1.5 yrs ago. Therefore, Carl has a strong hand in this game.

      Speaking about Merck KGaA.
      One year ago, Merck lost 11F8 arbitration to ImClone. 11F8 is a fully-human, second-generation EGFr-drug, potentially more superior to Erbitux. Merck has no claims to it in its territory. Presently, Merck pays 9.5% of Erbitux revenues to ImClone and expect Erbitux revenues in excess of $2B in just 2 years.

      If Merck alone or together with BMY participates in a hostile takeover of ImClone then chances for a future kiss up with ImClone are zero.

      Now about BMY.
      BMY is a loser. Its stock lost a half of its value in the last 12 months. Two weeks ago, BMY and Sanofi lost Plavix's patent in EU. Consequently, BMY might go to low teens. So, nobody wants BMY stock. BMY has $4.4B in cash following selling some of its assets. It is all what BMY can afford to spend on buying IMCL.

      What is ImClone real value? Nobody really knows before seeing Crystal, OPUS, 099 as well as pipeline clinical trials to be available in the next 4-8 months.

      If the results are good, IMCL's market cap will be well North from $10B or well over $120+ PPS.

      I am ready to wait. What will Carl do? I don't know but he has a lot of these clinical data already!       Aug 08 11:45 PM
    • Imclone Systems: No Shame, No Gain [view article]
      "IMCL still needs BMY more than BMY needs IMCL." Why? What for? Merck KGaA tells everybody that they were and are ready to buyout Erbitux franchise from BMY at any time.

      For the last 6 yrs, BMY did not execute any single Erbitux registration quality clinical trial. None. All Erbitux high quality clinical trial were executed by Merck KGaA.

      BMY's marketing of Erbitux is a total disgrace:
      - It highly overpriced Erbitux following its approval in America. Merck KGaA priced Erbitux at half of BMY price and sells much more Erbitux than BMY. Merck KGaA expects that its Erbitux sale in two years will exceed $2B.
      - IMCL had to create and engage its own sale force to move Erbitux sale.
      - The latest clinical trials indicate that Erbitux efficacy in wild-Kras metastatic colorectal patients is much more superior to Avastin but BMY has done nothing to bring this message to medical and patients communities.

      IMCL likes to get rid off BMY. Hopefully, it will happen soon.       Aug 08 01:06 AM
    • ImClone: Non-Justifiable Scientific Downgrades Refuted [view article]
      Jack,

      You are absolutely correct. It appears that these analysts are just paid spin-artists with the deliberate agenda and/or intensions to spread misleading, false and unsubstantiated rumors and innuendoes regarding to ImClome Systems and its lead drug Erbitux. By doing so, these analysts doing great disservice to investment public and cancer patients who could, otherwise, be treated with Erbitux capable of not only prolong their lives but also offer some patients cancer-free survival through surgical resections and complete responses.

      I am really impressed by Morgan Stanley analyst Harr. Prior to and after ASCO 2008 conference, Harr issued numerous "research" papers stating Cairo II clinical trial was a failure on par with PACCE trial.

      Let me remind to readers that PACCE trial tested a combinations of chemotherapy+Avastin+/... Vertibix in 1st-line metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) patients. This trial has been stopped very early due to safety issues since the death rate for patients in the Vertibix added arm was significantly higher than in a control arm that did not have Vertibix.

      At the same, Cairo II trial that tested the same patients population with the same chemo regiment+Avastin +/- Erbitux has been completed. No serious safety issues were identified with addition of Erbitux to the chemo regiment plus Avastin. Unfortunately, for wild-Kras patient population [these are only mCRC patients benefiting from EGFr-drugs like Erbitux and Vertibix], Cairo II clinical results regarding to Progression Free Survival (PFS) and Overall Survival (OS) were the same for both control and Erbitux arm.

      Consequently, addition of Erbitux to the chemo regiment plus Avastin did not offer any additional benefits to cancer patients but also did not create any serious safety issues that led to PACCE trial early termination.

      In spite of all this, Mr. Harr "research" trying to equate PACCE and Cairo II clinical trials results is just preposterous.

      I would not be surprised if these "analysts" are somehow connected to the highly low Bristol-Myers takeover bid for ImClone. I will not be surprised to learn that the investment houses these analysts are working for are like "to do business" with Bristol-Myers.

      These misleading and false "research" reports regarding to oncology drugs and specifically to Erbitux MUST stop. These reports harm both investment public, medical community and cancer patient population.

      The harm is too great to be allowed to continue!       Aug 06 04:22 PM
    • Amgen, Inc. Q2 2008 Earnings Call Transcript [view article]
      It was "Cairo II" clinical trial instead of "Kyowa II." Jul 28 11:33 PM
    • Contact Your Senators to Protest Government Bailouts [view article]
      Our elected officials are very smart. They know that under their stewardship US economy will collapse, therefore, they are preparing the country to a totalitarian control.

      Just think. The US government and Congress did not create Super Powerful Enforcement Agency (Home Security Agency) with Zillions dollars to spend just to protect American people against a few hundreds terrorists hiding somewhere in Afghanistan.       Jul 28 10:29 AM
    • Stagflation and Peak Oil: How Related Are They? (Part II) [view article]
      Real Estate? Larry, how much did they pay you for this nonsense.

      Finally, there will be no Stagflation. Hyperinflation leading to a depression is more likely.       Jul 28 09:47 AM
    • Ten Reasons Why I'm Waiting to Buy PotashCorp [view article]
      POT is a commodity play. If US$ is going down, and it will, commodities prices will rise.

      The US economy is in a toilet but certain segments of it are doing very well. With falling US$, the best US companies are becoming a takeover play by EU and Japanese companies. China will do the same shortly.       Jul 27 11:23 AM
    • Ten Bear Market Phases, Current Edition [view article]
      Michael Shedlock,

      Thank you for a good article.

      It is an election year, and politicians like to keep things "nice". This housing bill will make the present bad situation much worse.

      I read that people with an annual income below $10,000 were getting $1,000,000-mortgages. Poor souls. How cruel to force these poor people out of their mansions. The society must help them keeping these mansions and also providing money for servants and gardeners, etc.,

      It reminds me a bank-robber being caught with a $1M-loot and convicted to pay back $100K out off his loot.

      In any case, we are living in a great country.       Jul 26 03:10 PM
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