Our Next President and Healthcare Policy
Source: BioSpace, Karl Thiel  (10/30/12)
"Both candidates paint this as a vitally important election between leaders with starkly different views of policy and governing. So if the fate of the life sciences potentially hangs in the balance, what are we likely to see in the months ahead?" More >

The Age of Personalized Medicine Is Near
Source: Chris Wood, Casey Research  (10/29/12)
"Biomarkers have the potential to accelerate product development and cut costs because they can help identify those drug candidates that are likely to fail sooner, and can predict drug efficacy faster than conventional clinical endpoints—giving life to the concept of 'fail early, fail cheap.'" More >

Adult Stem Cells: Cashing in on the New Fountain of Youth
Source: Michael Robinson, Money Morning  (10/22/12)
"I believe we are not far from the day when we could all live to 100. . .and, more to the point, enjoy it." More >

Q3 Biotech Venture Investing Makes a Boisterous Leap
Source: FierceBiotech, John Carroll  (10/19/12)
"Using the figures provided by Thomson Reuters, the quarterly report concluded that total life sciences venture deals topped $1.7B in 181 deals in the third quarter—a bit more than a quarter of all investments tracked during the period." More >

Personalized Genomic Medicine: How Much Can It Really Empower Patients?
Source: ScienceDaily  (10/15/12)
"Genomic medicine's stakeholders—including direct-to-consumer genetic testing companies, private research centers, and the National Institutes of Health—are deeply invested in promoting how this information will benefit patients." More >

3-D Printing Has Now Reached Critical Mass
Source: Michael Robinson, Money Morning  (10/8/12)
"The U.S. remains the clear leader in 3-D printing. The technology will help everyone live longer and healthier lives, and it will transform manufacturing as it brings jobs back to the U.S." More >

Silk-Based Electronics Dissolve on Cue for Vanishing Medical Implants
Source: Scientific American, Katherine Harmon  (9/27/12)
"A flexible device that is just nanometers thick can fight post-surgical infections or even capture images—until its work is done, when it vanishes." More >

Three New Findings Change Our View of the Brain
Source: Michael Robinson, Era of Radical Change   (9/21/12)
"By solving the brain puzzle, we will rid mankind of many cruel diseases while making our physical world smarter and more in tune with the way our minds work." More >

'Cyborg' Tissue Blurs the Line Between Man and Machine
Source: Michael Robinson, Money Morning  (9/17/12)
"We're getting very close to the day in which we augment robots with 'smart' human tissue. We'll grow tissue in labs and equip it with onboard electronics made possible by nanotech circuits." More >

Fact-Checkers Find Few Flaws in Clinton's Healthcare Claims
Source: The Hill, Sam Baker  (9/6/12)
"Self-proclaimed fact-checkers have drawn plenty of criticism from both parties, as well as neutral observers, and many individual assessments of 'fact' are highly debatable. In the aggregate, though, the fact-checkers haven't found much to complain about in Clinton's healthcare comments." More >

Medtech Deals Buoyed by Cost Pressures, Device Tax
Source: Reuters, Debra Sherman and Soyoung Kim  (9/5/12)
"Medical device mergers look poised to take off in 2013 as the industry compensates for shrinking reimbursements, a new U.S. tax and executive shake-ups at its biggest companies." More >

Four Important Biotech Stocks Targeting Unmet Needs
Source: George S. Mack, The Life Sciences Report  (9/1/12)
Biotech rallies need catalysts to be sustained. Market moving events include drug approvals, such as a couple of obesity products from Vivus Inc. and Arena Pharmaceuticals Inc., as well as a product to help control serum lipids from Amarin Corp. Plc (AMRN:NASDAQ). But the major diagnostic feature of a market that might be putting it all together is merger and acquisition (M&A) activity. The theory is that if fully integrated, major drug developers want products and platforms. You can bet they've done their due diligence and that market conditions are nearly perfect. Even retail investors begin to pay attention. More >

Analyst Bets on Extraordinary Science and Clinical Data: Greg Wade
Source: George S. Mack of The Life Sciences Report  (8/30/12)
Managing Director Greg Wade of Wedbush Securities doesn't use a cookie-cutter approach to picking biotechnology stocks. He directs investors to companies with strong science, well-executed clinical studies and data that point toward future success. In this exclusive interview with The Life Sciences Report, Wade shares his favorite names and the compelling stories behind each company. More >

Gemoscan Sets Aggressive Expansion Plan
Source: BioTuesdays, Leonard Zehr  (8/28/12)
"The company is planning expansion in the U.S., Europe, Asia and India, with a growth objective of 10,000 locations by 2014." More >

Russian Biotechs Emerging from Behind Iron Curtain with Innovation
Source: Michael Harris, BioWorld  (8/24/12)
"A handful of strong, yet relatively new, Russian biopharma companies, led by R-Pharm and Pharmstandard, are poised to exploit Russia's BRIC status as a premier emerging drug market as they expand their ranges, hoping to conquer the international biotech market." More >

Fearing Anchors Away After M&A
Source: Alex Philippidis, Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology News  (8/24/12)
"Big pharma's growing M&A appetite threatens to give two of the nation's largest biotech clusters heartburn over the next few months, as they await the future of homegrown 'anchor' companies recently acquired by some of the world's largest drug developers." More >

Top 10 Pharma Firms
Source: Alex Philippidis, Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology News  (8/21/12)
"Companies earned a spot in the top 10 based on market cap at the end of Q2/12 and Q2/11." More >

Why M&A Flurry Has Top MKM Analyst Smiling All the Way to the Bank
Source: George S. Mack of The Life Sciences Report  (8/16/12)
Sometimes bigger is better. In this exclusive interview with The Life Sciences Report, Senior Analyst and Managing Director Dr. Jon LeCroy of MKM Partners points to mergers and acquisitions that have bolstered stock prices and singles out biotech and specialty pharma companies of all sizes that could generate significant returns for investors by addressing unmet medical needs with innovative solutions. More >

Biotech Stocks Live (and Die) on the Calendar: Michael Hay
Source: George S. Mack, The Life Sciences Report  (8/15/12)
Since the beginning of the biotech revolution, analysts have kept spreadsheets, tables and calendars to catch the next whiff of data coming out of companies whose futures hang in the balance. I recently interviewed Vice President Michael Hay of Sagient Research Systems for The Life Sciences Report. Hay watches for data and listens to conference calls the same way analysts from investment banks and asset management firms do, but his specialty niche is catalysts. He has concluded that the two most powerful share-price drivers of small companies are pivotal phase 3 data and U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advisory panel votes. The Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA) date, which is when the FDA delivers its yes or no decision on a drug, is not necessarily the big market mover because most times FDA takes the advice of the advisory committee, which means the news is already baked in. Indeed, the PDUFA date can sometimes trigger a sell-on-the-news effect to knock a stock down from its peak even on good news. More >

This Tiny Startup Has Scored 'Microchip Medicine' Breakthrough
Source: Michael Robinson, Money Morning  (8/9/12)
"A novel new drug-tracking sensor could literally save your life one day. It's a 'pill' as big as a grain of sand and it could mean huge profits for big pharma companies in the not-too-distant future." More >

Nanofibers May Quicken Healing After Heart Attacks
Source: Bloomberg News, Jeanna Smialek  (8/8/12)
"With development, the treatment could be used to enable people who would otherwise be bedridden to recover." More >

How to Cure Aging, Disease and Low Stock Performance
Source: Patrick Cox, The Penny Sleuth  (8/6/12)
"To live a longer and wealthier life, now's the time to add companies with inflammation-beating products to your medicine cabinet and your portfolio." More >

Warning: Hidden Affordable Care Act Taxes Will Cost More Than You Think
Source: David Zeiler, Money Morning  (8/5/12)
"Many of these new measures are disguised as taxes on businesses. The bulk of these 'stealth taxes' will be transferred to consumers via higher prices for drugs and health insurance." More >

Fascinating New Technology Trends Offer a Glimpse into a Wild Future
Source: Michael Robinson, Money Morning  (7/27/12)
"Cutting-edge high tech is moving at warp speed, with new advances coming faster than any one person can track." More >

Why Your Health Care Is So Darn Expensive
Source: Alex Daley and Doug Hornig, Casey Research  (7/19/12)
"At that point, it isn't lifestyle changes that are keeping us alive—it's machines and doctors and medicines doing a lot of the heavy lifting in order to grant us those precious extra days." More >