Apr 28, 2016 | Biotechnology
Many of the biotech firms we have focused on so far in this series have, as their primary goal, alleviating the symptoms of, or finding cures for, certain diseases and conditions. This week’s biotech focus, however, takes a different perspective: the idea of disease prevention through specific vaccination. The idea of vaccination is, of course, well-known and not particularly novel—the extent to which Novavax (NVAX) implements it, however, may prove to be. Most of us can remember the time when our pediatrician first placed a needle in us. First the cotton swab, then the irritable prickling sensation, then the small plastic toy or candy that followed up the doctor’s visit. Those vaccines, however, have saved lives by helping human immune systems acquire a “taste” for diseases since Louis Pasteur developed the technique in the 19thcentury. The purpose was simple: to prevent maladies before they occur. This is what Novavax hopes to do with their products. Novavax Novavax Incorporated is a “clinical-stage vaccine company committed to delivering novel products to prevent a broad range of infectious diseases,” according to their self-description. The first step in studying such a company is to ask the question: what diseases? Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) RSV attacks the lower respiratory tract in individuals of all ages, especially at the extreme ranges of the age spectrum. Infants and older adults especially, in light of their undeveloped or aging immune systems. According to the US National Library of Medicine, RSV is the “most common germ that causes lung and airway infections in infants and young children. Most infants have this infection by age 2.” This is an...
Apr 14, 2016 | Biotechnology
A few months ago, we briefly discussed new developments in the use of programmed cell death (or cell apoptosis) to combat cancer. Today we are going to take an in-depth look at one of the biotech companies involved in this fascinating realm, examine some of its prospects and probabilities for success, and offer a better understanding of just what it entails to convince a cancerous cell to shut itself down. The company is Soligenix (SNGX), and its pipeline specializes in cures for what are known as “rare and orphan” diseases, that, is diseases, including forms of cancer, that do not afflict large groups of people (relatively speaking) and thus are often difficult to find funding to cure. While this would limit Soligenix’s market if it were only focusing on a handful of specific orphan diseases, the fact that the company has a novel treatment idea for battling cancer—the focus of this week’s biotech digest—makes Soligenix an interesting case study. The market—T-cell lymphoma Cutaneous T-cell lymphoma (CTCL) is a type of cancer of the white blood cells of the body; malignant versions of these white blood cells, rather than helping the body’s immune system, gravitate towards the skin and result in the appearance of lesions. There is currently no cure for the disease, and life expectancy can vary from 2.5 to 12 years depending on when one is diagnosed with it. Current treatments involve either skin therapies or the use of UVA rays, which can sometimes cause mutation or secondary skin cancers. The goal, therefore, is to find a potential cure without the side effect of harming other cells. Enter...
Apr 7, 2016 | Biotechnology
One of the distinctions that we at BTA look for in analyzing biotechnology firms is between pipelines (as a reminder, a pipeline is a series of proposed drug candidates) that are all based off of a single system created by the company, and pipelines that involves a variety of different drugs based on entirely different technologies. ChemoCentryx (CCXI) fits into this former category, with an intriguing pipeline that, while jarring at first in its breadth, ultimately offers some interesting possibilities. An eye scan of their pipeline would make one assume that their plan is to tackle as many diseases as possible and solve them all. There is, however, a method behind what at first glance appears to be a chaotic pipeline: the chemoattractant system. The science ChemoCentryx focuses its science on a single system or “discovery,” and they have developed numerous drug therapies around this discovery/system. Their targets are autoimmune and inflammatory diseases, the types of conditions that are the result of the immune system misdiagnosing the healthy cells of the body as foreign, unhealthy invaders. The body comes to “attack itself,” in a sense, and the symptoms of autoimmune diseases can be significant, ranging from chronic pain and inflammation to fatality in rare and/or “orphan” diseases (diseases that affect relatively few individuals and for which there is not a large market to create drug solutions). ChemoCentryx believes that a key to solving these diseases is to work on the chemoattractant system through the use of specially-designed chemokines. What is the chemoattractant system? The chemoattractant system is a form of chemotaxis, which is defined as the way...
Apr 5, 2016 | Biotechnology
This week’s Biotech Digest will focus exclusively on one biotech company and the unique opportunities its holds, which is the type of analysis that is offered in every issue of BTA’s Monthly Biotech Focus subscription newsletter. Our analysis goes from a thorough reading of the company’s product, market, potential, and probability of success. Our full Monthly Biotech Focus includes more advanced analysis such as balance sheet analysis and more in-depth detailing of the studies behind these biotech companies. This week’s company is Merrimack Pharmaceutical (MACK). What is a pancreas, exactly? For all the talk about pancreatic cancer, how many actually know what it is, where it is located, and why it is so difficult to treat? The pancreas is an organ located behind your stomach that is composed of two glands (exocrine and endocrine). The pancreas releases “juice” into the intestines which helps digest food as it passes through the human body. Pancreatic cancer, despite being only 3% of all diagnosed cancer, is one of the four deadliest cancers. Its toll on lives continues to tick up. Pancreatic cancer, in fact, is the third leading cause of cancer-related death in the United States. The American Cancer Society estimates that 48,960 people will be diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, and that 40,560 of those will die as a result. One reason that pancreatic cancer is so difficult to fight is that the drugs used to combat cancer have difficulties going directly into the pancreas. The pancreas’ location makes it notoriously difficult to reach with common treatments for cancer. There are, however, a number of biotechnology companies that are seeking to alleviate...
Jan 8, 2016 | Biotechnology
In this week’s feature, we are going to take a brief look at a category within biotechnology through the lenses of a familiar tech name, a small cap biotech firm, and a new discovery out of King’s College in London. In the process, we’ll not only obtain a glimpse of what lies in store in the future, we’ll also see some of the possible ways of utilizing this new technology. The category is that of mHealth, which stands for mobile health. The name basically means what you might suspect: a range of health applications that can be used mobile, whether on specific gadgets or your own smartphone. The idea of being able to gauge, in some ways, your own health on your smartphone, and to have a knowledgeable relationship about what you know with your doctor, is a strong driver behind the idea of personalized medicine. Health is, after all, extremely personal. No two individuals have the same DNA. One of the goals of mHealth applications is to embrace this personalized nature of health, while also connecting health to a strong network of doctors, hospitals, and other health institutions. Having you taken your medicine today? COPD and mHealth One example of a highly-integrated mHealth app comes from LifeMap Solutions, which is a subsidiary of the small-cap biotech firm BioTime, Inc. (BTX). They have created and launched an application called the COPD Navigator, designed to monitor in real time patients of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, or COPD. On the surface, it’s surprisingly like any other app—it can even be purchased from Apple’s App Store. The key, however, is in the...
Dec 17, 2015 | Biotechnology
Analyzing Antibiotcs at Work and Copying the Immune System to Attack Drug-Resistant Bacteria The rise of bacteria that have become or have the capability to become resistant to bacteria has entered the news more and more frequently lately. It’s not difficult to see why: the image of a doctor prescribing an antibiotic as a treatment is nothing new in medicine—in fact, we might say it’s almost iconic. The idea, however, that such antibiotics might stop working—or worse, might not even work in the first place—because a bacterium has grown resistant to them is therefore one that plays right into the worst fears of science-fiction or “epidemic” fiction. Hysteria aside, though, there are new ways that scientists and biotechnology companies are beginning to combat these resistant strains, as well as prepare for the possibility of future bacteria that may become resistant to current drugs. These take two forms that we’re talk about today: the capability to determine rapidly if and when an antibiotic has ceased to work because the bacteria are resistant, and the ability to combat bacterial infections with methods other than antibacterial drugs. Watching Antibiotics at Work It is already possible, and has been for decades, for scientists to watch antibiotics at work, something called “antibiotic susceptibility testing,” or AST. While the two current methods for doing this are effective and widely-used, their one drawback is that they are not useful for taking rapid tests of clinical subjects. This is where new technology from Accelerate Diagnostics (AXDX) may come in, according to Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology Magazine. The key to their technology, which they hope will allow testing...
