John R.

Peregrine Pharmaceuticals May Be On To Something

Ohad Hammer wrote quite an interesting piece in today's Seeking Alpha.
However, I found one inaccuracy which I feel needs further clarification.

In discussing the Ib trial of 12 patients in India, Hammer wrote...'First and foremost, the combination of bavituximab with chemotherapy agents was verified as safe, as no substantial increase in side effects was observed. When patients were evaluated for efficacy, response rate was 50%, hence, 50% of patients demonstrated some sort of measurable clinical response. This trial was not a comparative trial, which means that we don’t have any idea what was bavituximab’s contribution to these responses. Basically, the clinical effect may be the outcome of the chemotherapy treatments alone. A final answer to this question may come only several years from now, after a large comparative phase III trial is conducted.'

Stating that this trial was NOT a comparative one and cannot determine bavituximab's contribution to the overall outcome is inaccurate.
It is public knowledge that these 12 patients failed to respond to chemotherapy in previous treatment.. They were non responsive to chemotherapy and a conclusion must be drawn that bavituximab was the reason for their positive response in the study!

Omrix's Secondary May Make It A Buy

Omrix certainly has been a winner of late. However, there seems some cause for concern as VP Phillipe Romanogli sold 67,394 shares on 12/20 and CEO Robert Taub sold 682,606 shares the same day. Are these sales an indicator of a top? Time will tell.