RegMed Daily Dialogue, 7/5/11, the best offense is a good defense
The 6 W’s: Who, what, where, when, why and what of it…
Stocks provided pre-4th of July fireworks when the NASDAQ gained 6.15% and the Dow added 5.43%, a lot of heights and star bursts!
US stocks opened mostly lower Tuesday (7/5/11) ahead of a report on factory orders. Wall Street’s pullback follows a 5 session winning stretch on Friday. On the opening, the Dow Jones fell 19.19 points to 12,563.58. The Nasdaq Composite Index fell nearly 1 point to 2,815.33. Equity futures were trading above fair value after the US July 4th holiday. Stocks were little changed in Asia as relief over a potential Greek crisis was overshadowed by a Moody’s report saying Chinese bank debt was worse than feared as well as more interest rate hikes as whisper numbers of a high CPI print made their way through the market.
SO … after the market and fireworks boom with … oh…s and ah…s … that lighted-up the skies, portfolio or analogously the market … it ENDED …and the remnants (market) FELL BACK to earth.
Regenerative medicine/stem cell universe is “WOBBLING” on Tuesday (7/5/11) … The NASDAQ is UP +6.63 (0.24%) to 2,822.66 and ”snailing” up. The Dow is DOWN -0.76 (-0.01%) to 12,582.01.
Bellweathers: Cytori (CYTX) <+$0.43 to $5.37>, Osiris (OSIR) <+$0.36 to $7.96> are UP … TOLD YOU SO … followed by: Brainstorm (BCLI.OB), Neuralstem (AMEX: CUR), ThermoGenesis (KOOL), Pluristem (PSTI)
Today’s Sermon: Last week we … had a clean sweep of 5 straight days in positive territory as the Dow fattened up by 648 points. What was the cause? Soft economic data from May and early June significantly lowered investor expectations. Then we got a slate of economic data that was above the now lowered view and the result was stocks zooming to within 2% of the previous highs.
Volume is expected to be limited due to a holiday shortened week with volatility expected.
What’s … next? For starters, don’t expect any repeats … Stocks will probably go sideways to slightly down until the monthly jobs data comes out Wednesday {ADP} and Friday (government #s). …. If they are as pitiful as last month, then we should see a … pullback!
What’s driving the regenerative medicine – stem cell market?
California‘s stem cell research agency says it needs billions more taxpayer dollars to deliver on promised cures to major diseases. Yet at a time when other departments are cutting back spending, the agency recently agreed to pay its new boss one of the highest salaries in state government. The 50-person grant-making body will pay a Los Angeles investment banker $400K to serve as its new “part-time” board chairman, pushing the combined salaries of its two top officials to nearly $1M per year. More than $1B has already been awarded as grants or spent on agency operations but, possible cures are years if not decades away. The bottom line, Institute officials acknowledge that they plan to ask voters for at least another $3B in the next few years to keep the agency going. The institute’s operating expenses is capped at 6% of its total funding. For 2010-11, it earmarked $16M for operating expenses, according to budget reports. Critics say lavish spending on salaries, including last month’s generous deal with Thomas, could work against the agency in a future ballot campaign.
Lawmaker introduces embryonic stem cell research bill: Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Colo., has introduced the Stem Cell Research Advancement Act of 2011, which would systematize the NIH guidelines for conducting embryonic stem cell studies and require the agency to assess and make necessary changes to the guidelines every 3 years. The bottom line, this bill would codify the NIH’s guidelines for carrying out all stem-cell research, require the NIH to review its guidelines every 3 years and make updates as science warrants. DeGette got legislation passed in the House and Senate in 2006 and 2007 that was similar to the Research Advancement Act of 2011. Both bills were vetoed by President George W. Bush .Her legislation served as the framework for President Barack Obama’s 2009 executive order that overturned the Bush administration’s ban on funding for stem-cell research. What it will do once and for all is ensure that this lifesaving research will be conducted, uninterrupted and impeded by political interference.
ReNeuron has inked a new deal to outsource stem cell GMP production services: Angel is providing manufacturing services in support of LSE: RENE.L’s ReN001 stem cell therapy for stroke through to mid-2012. Both companies highlighted the contract’s work schedule flexibility, which is designed to quickly respond as manufacturing needs shift. The bottom line, the value of the contract is private but Gordon Sheriff, chief operating officer at Angel, welcomed the “longer term contract”. RENE has frequently outsourced work to Angel in recent years. In 1/05 a consortium, including ReNeuron and Angel, was awarded a £2.2m bio processing grant by the UK Department of Trade and Industry. Since then publically known deals have been signed in 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010 and now 2011. Earlier this year business with ReNeuron helped Angel double its revenues and make a profit for the first time.
Medical College of Wisconsin and Cellular Dynamics (CDI) awarded NHLBI Grant using iPSCs: CDI will generate 250 Stem Cell Lines that could differentiate into Heart Cells to investigate Mechanisms Underlying High Blood Pressure. A research grant was award from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) to Left Ventricular Hypertrophy. The MCW and CDI will use the grant funds, totaling $6.255M over 5 years; to generate 250 induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) lines from blood samples drawn from Caucasian and African-American families in the Hypertension Genetic Epidemiology Network (HyperGEN). The bottom line, this grant builds on years of research to identify genes for this disease. Funding of this grant will enable CDI to generate an unprecedented 250 human iPSC lines as well as heart cells derived from those lines. Until now, functional studies for left ventricular hypertrophy have been limited because human primary cardiomyocytes, or heart cells taken from living tissue, were not available for functional analysis. Human iPSC technology provides a solution to this problem. iPSCs are created from adult cells, such as blood or skin, which are reverse engineered to a stem cell state, from which point they can turn into any cell type in the body. iPSCs can be made from any individual and avoid the political and ethical issues surrounding embryonic stem cells CDI’s human iPSC-derived heart cells, iCell® Cardiomyocytes, exhibit properties highly similar to human primary cells and thus are a relevant model system for the required functional analysis.
