A New Micro-Cap Bio-Pharma Index The accompanying table [click to enlarge] lists all 113 companies with market caps between $25M-$150M included in the new ETF Innovators [ETFI] Micro-Cap Bio-Pharma Index as a complement to the ETFI Emerging Bio-Pharma Index of companies with market caps between $150M-$1.5B. Watch for a new article coming soon that focuses on 13 of the companies and identifies opportunities among the beaten-up stocks included in the index.

Emerging Biotech & Pharma Index: 36 More Cos. The accompanying table [click to enlarge or download] includes the 36 remaining companies in the ETF Innovators [ETFI] Emerging Bio-Pharma Index with market caps between $150M-$1.5B, which were not included in the previous two articles I wrote about the group – featuring the Top 40 Rated Companies and companies below the $150M market cap cutoff. However, several of the companies included in the remaining group of 36 have been in the news recently due to FDA related news. Late last week, Ligand Pharma (LGND) received approval along with its collaboration partner Glaxo (GSK) for Promacta while Theravance (THRX) received a positive panel review for its antibiotic telavancin. Previously, ...

R&D Leads to Higher Returns for Top 20 Health Innovators The accompanying table includes statistics and the top 20 rated companies in the ETF Innovators [ETFI] Global Health Innovators Index of companies with market caps over $250M which received FDA approval in the trailing 12-month period for either an original new drug product or medical device. The index includes companies which get approvals for drugs or biological agents classified as new chemical entities (i.e. excluding reformulations of existing drugs, generic drugs, and label extensions for existing products). Also, companies which receive original PMA approvals for new medical devices are included in the index, excluding the less rigorous and more numerous 510(k) applications. The goal of the index is to ...

Bristol-Myers Ups Bid to $62 for ImClone Last night, Bristol-Myers (BMY) announced plans to increase its bid for the remaining 83% of ImClone Systems (IMCL) it does not already own to $62 per share and plans to take the offer directly to shareholders in the form of a tender offer. ImClone and Chairman Carl Icahn rejected a $60 per share cash bid from Bristol-Myers at the end of July and stated that a mystery big pharma bidder had emerged at $70 per share, as I last wrote about here. Besides Bristol-Myers 17% stake in ImClone, the two companies are marketing partners for Erbitux in North America (BMY receives 61% of sales in the U.S. and Canada) and recently filed with ...

Cypress Bioscience: Poised for Major Move on Pending Phase 3 Results and FDA Decision Since I last wrote about Cypress Bioscience (CYPB) two months ago, the stock has moved lower with the Company now trading even closer to its net cash position of $4 per share with a closing price on Friday of $6.43 per share. The level of short interest has remained steady this year and is still high at 6.6 million shares compared to a float of about 32 million shares and average volume that is just over 300,000 shares per day. Most of the options action in Cypress Bio is focused on December (12/20/08 expiration) with an open interest in the 10.00 calls exceeding 16,500 contracts versus ...

Cypress Bioscience: Poised for Major Move on Pending Phase 3 Results and FDA Decision Since I last wrote about Cypress Bioscience (CYPB) two months ago, the stock has moved lower with the Company now trading even closer to its net cash position of $4 per share with a closing price on Friday of $6.43 per share. The level of short interest has remained steady this year and is still high at 6.6 million shares compared to a float of about 32 million shares and average volume that is just over 300,000 shares per day. Most of the options action in Cypress Bio is focused on December (12/20/08 expiration) with an open interest in the 10.00 calls exceeding 16,500 contracts versus ...

Just as carbon credits were created out of the thin air to create a financial incentive to mitigate global warming through the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions; perhaps exercise credits should be considered as a new type of health commodity to combat the growing obesity epidemic in the United States and other developed countries. According to statistics [PDF] at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website [CDC.gov], only one state had a prevalence of obesity less than 20% last year while 30 states had a prevalence of 25% or more – resulting in both adverse economic and health consequences. According to World Bank statistics [PDF], in 2006 over $31 billion of carbon credits were traded and last year the total more than doubled to over $64 billion, representing the reduction of 3 billion tons of greenhouse gas ...

The accompanying table presents an updated version of my Global Carbon Trading Index, which now includes 18 components with a one month return of -6%. I have included the iPath Global Carbon ETN (GRN) as an active component and added the Market Vectors Environmental Services ETF (EVX) as a benchmark tracking fund. The index has been volatile over the last five days, with several component stocks involved in carbon credit generation and trading recording gains exceeding 20% and losses over 10%.

Presenter: Etelos Inc. Date: 8/19/2008 Time: 9:30 AM PDT Length: 15 Minutes 36 Seconds Noble Financial Conference web-cast link View or Download a PDF of the Slides