The RegMed Daily Dialogue, Tuesday, 5/17/11, skepticism and some momentum
May 17, 2011 12:32 PM ET
Henry McCusker's Blog
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The 6 W’s: Who, what, where, when, why and what of it…
Regenerative medicine/stem cell universe stocks are down in mid-day trading on Tuesday (5/17/11). The NASDAQ is down -14.41 (-0.52%) to 2767.90. The Dow is also down -110.87 (-0.88%) to 12,437.50. What’s driving the regenerative medicine – stem cell market today …
More concerns about the softening of the momentum behind the recovery.US stocks extended losses into a 3rd straight session Tuesday, after disappointing housing data and a lowered forecast from HP signaled the economy still faced a tough path to full recovery.
AMEX: NBS, ASTM, BCLI.OB, BMTI, IMUC.OB, KOOL, OPXA, OSIR, PSTI are up!
NeoStem Agreement with Nankai Hospital in Tianjin to Offer Orthopedic Technology
AMEX: NBS’s affiliated entity has entered into an agreement with Tianjin Nankai Hospital in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to offer licensed treatments for orthopedic applications. In 12/10, NBS announced an agreement with Shijiazhuang Third Hospital in Hebei Province. This new agreement with Tianjin Nankai Hospital adds another location where Chinese citizens can receive adult stem cell treatments for arthritis and orthopedic conditions based on technology exclusively licensed by NBS for Asia. The bottom line, Tianjin Nankai Hospital has approximately 1,100 patient beds, of which approximately 88 are dedicated to orthopedics. Following the completion of its planned new hospital building, orthopedic beds are expected to be expanded to approximately 1,000 beds.
Aastrom Biosciences (ASTM) Q1/11 Results: Q1/11 net loss of $5M or $0.13 per share. As of 3/31/11, ASTM had $24.6M in cash and cash equivalents. The bottom line, spending is high as it prepares for trials with a burn rate of $6.6M per quarter, loss per share increased with expenses up in all areas with trial expenses yet to come on top of this.
NeoStem (AMEX: NBS) Q1/11 Results: Q1/11 net loss of $9.69 M or $0.14 per share. Revenue was $19.64M; cost of revenue was $14.29 for a gross profit of $5.34M. R&D was $2.91M while SG&A logged in at $10.4M. Other loss expense was $1.11M with an operating loss of $7.99M. Q1/11 operating expenses totaled $13.33M compared to $7.58M for Q1/10 representing an increase of $5.7M or 75.7%. Weighted average common shares outstanding were 73.654M.As of 3/31/11, AMEX: NBS had cash of 9.41M. The bottom line, revenues were up; SG&A was up with operating losses up also, but balanced.
Cytori Therapeutics (CYTX) independent clinical study results in ADRC breast reconstruction indicate 82% of patients reported good to excellent results: Surgeons from North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust have presented clinical outcomes using Adipose-Derived Regenerative Cell fat grafting in reconstructive breast surgery. The results showed 82% of patients reported good to excellent results with a mean satisfaction score of 5.1. The bottom line, results further showed a high level of investigator satisfaction with a mean satisfaction score of 4.3. Study findings demonstrated a low complication rate. Overall, the study results suggest the RESTORE procedure is a viable option for breast reconstruction with no safety concerns.
Opexa Therapeutics (OPXA) agreement with the American Red Cross: to provide blood procurement services to support Opexa’s upcoming Phase III study of Tovaxin in patients with Relapsing-Remitting MS. The bottom line, access to the American Red Cross centers across the US will provide OPXA with a strong network of procurement locations nationwide, enhancing the efficiency of its P3 pivotal study and improving patient convenience.
BrainStorm Therapeutics approval from Israel’s Health Ministry for a clinical trial for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS): BCLI.OB expects to begin treating patients in the coming weeks and will work with Jerusalem’s Hadassah Medical Center. The US FDA in 2/11 granted orphan drug designation to the company’s NurOwn adult stem cell product for the treatment of ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. The bottom line, initial phase of the study is designed to establish the safety of NurOwn which will (later) be expanded to assess efficacy.
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