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Friday,
February 27, 2009
(Cont'd from
above)...
Jim:
I got this $5.64
number, it is under
500 million be
careful… from my
buddy Adam
Forenstein, he is a
colleague of mine at
TheStreet.com,
who runs this
bio-tech select
newsletter, I am
Chairman over there…
it has been pantsing
the market in terms
of performance…
Allos is exactly
what we want from a
speculative stock
vs. a cheap single
digit stock that is
not a bank or an
insurer… and it has
small molecule
cancer drug that is
called Pralatrexate,
PDX…. which could
potentially get FDA
approval by the end
of the year… PDX is
what is known as an
orphan drug, that is
something that
treats a very rare
condition… in this
case, peripheral
t-cell lymphoma,
fast spreading
cancer affects your
blood cells, the
white ones… as of
right now there are
no other drugs to
treat this
condition… which is
why I am willing to
get behind Allos…
even though Obama
has decided to
declare war with
everything
healthcare… look,
historically the
Democrats have been
much more friendly
to bio-tech… and
even more friendly
to those that treat
rare or untreatable
diseases… which
makes Allos more
Obama resistant than
other bio-tech
names… if not Obama
proof.
The drug stock sold
this week when we
say Obama’s war on
wealth and
corporations budget
that includes
tougher bargaining
by the Feds with the
drug companies… for
bulk pharma… this
doesn’t hurt orphan
drugs like the one
that Allos is
developing… why do I
think this… in
Europe as well as
nearly every other
country in the
world, drug prices
are negotiated with
the government
already… for orphan
drugs the price in
Europe is usually
the same or even
higher than it is in
the US… when there
are many different
drugs to treat a
disease, Obama care
will pit them
against each other
to bring prices
down… but orphan
drugs like
Pediatrix Medical Group, Inc.
(PDX),
no competition…
extend lives by
treating serious
diseases… any price
negotiation with the
government will be
based on the value
of a year of a human
life… not
competition… that is
a simple
calculation… so
Allos has a lot less
to fear from Obama
from other drug
companies.
Now, we have data…
on February 4th,
Allos released
really great data on
PDX, that showed
that patients who
had no success with
other therapies…
were responding to
treatment with the
drug for longer than
expected… now, make
no mistake this is a
real life extender…
what happened… the
news caused the
stock quickly to
soar above $9... but
cause this market is
so bad, and because
people are so
worried about Obama…
it just got beaten
back down $5.64, it
was hammered… right
now Allos is
actually more than 2
points lower than it
was before the data
came out… this is
the entry point…
frankly, I cannot
believe that it
occurred that it
went down… but I
also can’t believe
that…. who would
have ever thought
that Citigroup would
be a single digit
stock, a penny
stock, GM, you get
the picture… the
data on PDX came
from phase 2...
normally the drug
needs to make thru
phase III testing
before they can be
approved by the FDA,
or submitted… but
because PDX treats a
condition that
treats a condition
that is only
diagnosed in abut
5000 people in the
US… it is getting
fast tracked… Allos
will probably file
the drug for
approval before the
end of next June,
next data point… and
if the FDA bestows
its blessing… it
could be on the
market by the end of
the year… even
analysts who are on
the sidelines expect
PDX to be approved
2010... to treat
peripheral t-cell
lymphoma Allos could
get sales of $200 to
$400 million a year
of PDX… depending on
pricing of the
drug…. and according
to Forenstein, the
company intends to
be aggressive
against pricing.
I don’t like Allos
just because it has
a drug that could
make a nice chunk of
change treating one
small type of
cancer… I like it
because this drug
could have multiple
indications… right
now Allos is testing
PDX on other forms
of non-hoganes
lymphoma, lung
cancer… if it has
any real success
then we are talking
about big money for
Allos and its
shareholders… start
small, get used big
off label, and then
take off… that is
the stuff of
Genetics Avastin,
the blockbuster
cancer wonder drug…
that is how it
started… PDX is a
chemotherapy drug
that interferes with
the ability of
cancer cells to
divide… ultimately
killing them… Allos
has designed PDX to
be more potent than
other chemotherapy
drugs in its class…
like the widely-used
Methotextrine… so
its potential for
treating other
cancers could be
enormous… one of the
long cancer trials
pits PDX against
Genetics Tarsava…
and if the results
of the PDX are more
effective… the drug
will become
exponentially more
valuable… because it
could be used as a
first line therapy…
you know what that
is… that is a
thunder dome drama…
two drugs enter, one
drug leaves… and my
money is on Allos.
Now Allos has about
$90 million in cash…
or a little more
than a buck a share…
more than enough to
get thru 2009... the
last private
placement was a
place was a group of
guys called Baker
Brothers… who are
hard core bio-tech
investors… and that
money should carry
them thru until the
approval for PDX…
Allos reports on
Tuesday… this is not
an important report…
still, I don’t want
you to buy ahead of
it… I just want you
to listen to the
conference call…
this is extremely
speculative… it
doesn’t even have
any sales yet… just
want to hear if
everything is on
track… hopefully to
get some dates to
anticipate to when
it will submit its
new drug
application… when
more data will be
released… at $6 a
share I think it is
a bargain… but that
means that I think
you will be nuts to
pay $7... limit
orders… be patient…
that is why we use
the Taft-Hartley
weekend cooling off
period for post
speculative Friday.
Here is the bottom
line…
▼ ▼
▼ ▼
▼
The
Bottom Line!:
You want great
speculative
bio-tech…
Allos Therapeutics, Inc.
(ALTH)
has a fast-track
orphan drug… with
potential for
multiple lucrative
indications… and I
think it has got a
bulls eye on its
back… I don’t see
how this company
stays independent
for all… given how
much big pharma
needs something huge
to jump start their
earnings.
[verbatim recap]
[end of segment]
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