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The biotechnology sector is once again finding its footing, with some exchange traded funds (ETFs) focused on the sector up more than 30% since the market’s March 9 low. But there have been stumbling blocks on the way back to profitability.
A reputable biotechnology company has filed for Chapter 11 this week, deCODE ...
Just days after getting a deficiency letter from Nasdaq stating that it is not in compliance with the $1 minimum bid price rule, deCODE genetics (Nasdaq: DCGN) of Reykjavik, Iceland on Sunday night announced that a team of its scientists and academic colleagues from Finland, Spain, the Netherlands and the United States have today published the discovery of four novel single-letter variations in the sequence of the human genome (SNPs) conferring increased risk of prostate cancer.
{tiny;DCGN;2}This is the sixth set of risk factors for prostate cancer that deCODE has found. The SNPs are located on chromosomes 3q21, 19q13, as well as on 8q24, a region of the genome where deCODE and others have previously discovered risk factors for prostate, breast, colon and bladder cancer. The deCODE team followed up these latest findings with a population-based analysis in Iceland of these and other published sequence variants linked to risk of prostate cancer. This analysis demonstrates that by testing for these published SNPs it is possible to identify the approximately 1.5% of men who are at more than 2.5 times the average risk of the disease.
"With these latest findings we continue to extend our understanding of the genetic risk factors for prostate cancer, the second most common cause of cancer deaths in men. Using our ability to put these SNPs in a population-wide context, we show that it is now possible to identify those who are at more than 30% lifetime risk, independent of other standard risk factors such as age and family history. By incorporating this new, personalized gauge of susceptibility into our arsenal for improving prevention and early diagnosis, we can more effectively and accurately identify those men who would benefit most from intensive screening. We are pleased to be incorporating these latest markers into our deCODE ProstateCancer(TM) test," said Kari Stefansson, CEO of deCODE.
Today's findings result from the analysis of several large datasets: deCODE's genome-wide SNP data from tens of thousands of patients and healthy controls from Iceland; sequencing data from regions in the genome where deCODE and others have already discovered prostate cancer risk factors; and publicly available data from other case-control cohorts from the US, France and Finland. Data from a combined total of more than 60,000 patients and healthy control subjects were included in the study.
The firm has 180 days, or until March 15, 2010, to regain compliance or face delisting.
The Biotech industry as a whole continues to underperform the market so far this year. As of May 26, 2009, Both the AMEX Biotech Index and the broader NASDAQ Biotech Index declined 6.8% (AMEX Biotech has 20 biotech companies while NASDAQ Biotech Index inc[More...]
A more recent addition to my transformational technologies portfolio, Medarex, has scored a huge win. The company, along with Massachusetts Biologic Laboratory, will get $60 million upfront from Merck for license rights to a monoclonal antibody that apparently cures C. difficile infection. They are eligible for another $165 million in milestones as well as royalties. Think about the service this company has done mankind. C. diff, as hospital diarrhea is called, is a growing cause of hospital deaths. Though many cases outside of hospitals are never diagnosed, we know it kills at least 30,000 Americans annually. Those who do recover, about 9 out of ten, can suffer horribly for months. Bravo to Medarex and all those who made this breakthrough possible by investing your money in this incredibly worth effort. So what does this have to do with swine flu? So far, swine flu is a minor[More...]
Last year, the Biotech industry as a whole achieved a much better performance than the market. Both the NASDAQ Biotech Index and AMEX Biotech Index outperformed all three major market indices (Dow Jones Industrial Average, NASDAQ Composite and S&P 500) in a large margin. The major indices declined as much as 40% while the NASDAQ Biotech Index declined only 12.6% and the AMEX Biotech Index was down 17.7%. However, when the recession enters into its third year, the Biotech industry is not doing better than the market, which has been evident by the indices' performances. As of April 9, 2009, AMEX Biotech Index declined 3%, and the broader NASDAQ Biotech Index was down 6.8% (AMEX Biotech has 20 biotech companies while NASDAQ Biotech Index includes over 130 component companies). Although the Dow and S&P 500 also declined a similar percentage, technology-laden NASDAQ actually has a gain of 4.8%, which is more comparable to the biotech indices. See[More...]
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