Scimitar Equity Blog

        The 6 W’s: Who, what, where, when, why and what of it…

US stocks opened sharply higher on Tuesday, a day after strong quarterly results from Dow component IBM. A sharp rise in housing starts also supported investor optimism a day after a rout on Wall Street. The Dow Jones rose +0.95% or 116.86 points to 12,502.02. The NASDAQ rose +1.52% advanced 38.17 points to 2,803.28.  

US stocks are rallying as the list of positive earnings surprises is growing nicely, with revenues and adjusted earnings for the most recent quarter topping forecasts.

Regenerative medicine/stem cell universe is “on hold” on 7/19/11 … The NASDAQ is UP  +43.28 (1.57%) to 2,806.18. The Dow is also Up +111.75 (0.90%) to 12,496.91. 

 Aastrom (ASTM), Advanced Cell Technology (ACTC.OB), Brainstorm (BCLI.OB), Cytori (CYTX), Geron (GERN), ImmunoCellular (IMUC.OB), Osiris (OSIR) … are up …

 Today’s Sermon: Momentum is slow … but, spotty….

 What’s driving the RegMed market … Still on a semi-vacation but, US stocks rose sharply on Tuesday; maybe I should be gone more often!

Israel‘s Brainstorm Signs MoU for ALS Trials: BCLI.OB signed a memorandum of understanding with the University of Massachusetts Medical School and a hospital in the US state to cooperate in further clinical trials for its amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) treatment. The bottom line, according to the preliminary agreement, BCLI.OB will carry out trials at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston and work with members of the medical school’s teaching and research faculty.  

NeoStem (Amex: NBS) Public Offering of Common Stock: Lazard Capital Markets, LLC and JMP Securities are acting as joint book-runners of the offering.  Morgan Joseph TriArtisan LLC, Maxim Group LLC and National Securities Corporation are acting as co-managers of the offering. The bottom line, it was expected. The pricing is 13,750,000 units at $1.20 per unit. Each unit consists of 1 share of common stock and a warrant to purchase 0.75 of a share of common stock with a per share exercise price of $1.45.  Shares had plunged 26% to $1.04 but settled down $0.25 or 18.94% to $1.07 on Tuesday after it priced a stock offering below Monday’s, 7/18/11 closing price of $1.32. NBS sold 13.75M security units at $1.20 a unit. NBS hopes to gross $16.5M from the transaction, which is expected to close around July 22.

BrainStorm enters partnership to test stem cell therapy for ALS: The bottom line, BCLI.OB will work with the University of Massachusetts Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital to conduct clinical trials of its adult stem cell-based treatment for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig’s disease, under a memorandum of understanding.

BioTime (AMEX: BTX) 2nd issuance of US Glycosan Hydrogel Patent: Patent for compositions useful in the formulation of stem cell therapies. NYSE Amex: BTX was issued US patent number# 7,981,871 titled “Modified Macromolecules and Associated Methods of Synthesis and Use,” covering aspects of the composition of Glycosan hydrogels. The patent and related patent family members, assigned to the University of Utah, are licensed to BTX’s subsidiary OrthoCyte Corporation for the manufacture of research products and for therapeutic uses when combined with human cells by BTX or its subsidiaries. The bottom line, the patent is of strategic value to the BTX family of companies, as it provides protection for the formulation of a number of adult and embryonic stem cell-based cellular therapies that may be developed using Glycosan hydrogels, as well as for a stand-alone medical device, HyStem^®-Rx, that is currently under development by BTX. The new patent protects compositions related to the products HyStem and Extracel, both of which are cross-linked scaffolds of 2 molecules crucial to connective tissues, collagen and hyaluronic acid. Together with the previously issued US patent# 7,928,069, which protects the composition of certain chemical modifications of the extracellular matrix proteins and gelatin, this patent covers the complete composition of HyStem^®-Rx products.The allowed claims include 3-D cell culture, as well as pharmaceutical compositions that combine the products with human cells of all types. 

 Protein-equipped human stem cells fix heart damage in mice:  Human cardiac stem cells can be genetically engineered to express a naturally occurring protein, Pim-1, proved more effective than non-modified cells in repairing damaged hearts and improving cardiac function 10 weeks after implantation in mice that were induced to suffer a heart attack. The bottom line, this study brings us one step closer to a clinical application for stem cell therapy.  

Researchers devise method for creating blood cells from stem cells: Researchers at the Salk Institute Laboratory of Genetics in La Jolla, Calif., have developed a method that allows for the transformation of induced pluripotent stem cells into hematopoietic stem cells in the womb. The bottom line, this technique involved using a combination of growth factors and chemical compounds to trigger blood-specific markers on the iPSCs and embryonic stem cells that the researchers used. The best combination of growth factors and compounds induced blood-specific markers on 84% of the cells after 3 weeks, the researchers said.