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Thursday Nov 19, 2009

DrStockPick.com Stock Report!

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PowerSafe Technology Corporation (PSFT.PK) subsidiary Amplification Technologies Inc. (www.amplificationtechnologies.com) (ATI), is offering higher performance thermoelectrically cooled discrete amplification single photon counting solid state photodetectors. These photodetectors are mounted on a two stage thermoelectric cooler inside a hermetically sealed TO8 package and can be operated down to a temperature of -30oC.

The Deal magazine has named Abbott (NYSE: ABT) as one of its Most Admired Corporate Dealmakers for the second consecutive year. The Deal honored Abbott as

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The effectiveness of Merck’s (MRK) cholesterol lowering drug Zetia has been put to question following the release of data from a clinical trial comparing Abbott’s (ABT) Niaspan (niacin extended-release tablets) plus a statin with Merck’s Zetia. Although data are not encouraging for Merck, the company expressed its confidence recently at the American Heart Association meeting.

Results from the ARBITER 6 - HALTS study showed that patients at high cardiovascular risk showed significant reduction in atherosclerosis after 8 and 14 months of therapy with Abbott's Niaspan plus a statin, the study's primary endpoint. The study met its secondary endpoint too. It was observed that treatment with Niaspan plus statin resulted in significantly fewer major adverse cardiac events (or MACE, a composite endpoint consisting of heart attack, myocardial revascularization, admission to the hospital for an acute coronary syndrome, and death from coronary heart disease), as compared to Zetia. However, the

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Celera Corp. (CRA) reported break-even earnings in the third-quarter, compared to the Zacks Consensus Estimate of a loss of 6 cents. The company earned a cent in the year-ago quarter.   Net revenues for the quarter came in at $40 million as against $45.8 million in the year-ago quarter. Segment wise revenues from lab services were $24.2 million compared to $30.1 million in the year-ago quarter, primarily because of lower reimbursement rates. Revenues from products came in at $10.0 million compared to $10.5 million in the prior year quarter. Revenues for the quarter were primarily from sales of Celera-manufactured products and royalties from sales of RealTime assays used on the m2000 system from Abbott Molecular, a subsidiary of Abbott Laboratories (ABT). Corporate revenues for the quarter came in at $5.8 million as against $5.2 million in the prior year quarter. The $0.6 million increase was primarily attributable ...

SurModics’ (SRDX) fourth-quarter earnings per share came in at 18 cents, below the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 20 cents. The company reported revenues of $19.2 million, down 17% compared to the year ago period. In addition to quarterly results, SurModics came out with fiscal year 2009 results. The company recorded revenues of $121.5 million in 2009, up 25%, compared to $97 million in the previous year and earnings per share of $1.07 for 2009.

On a business unit basis, apart from Diagnostic, revenues from the other three segments – Cardiovascular, Ophthalmology and Other Markets, recorded a decline in revenues for the fourth quarter. While Diagnostic revenues increased 2% year over year to $4.6 million, revenues for the other three segments declined 12% to $9.8 million, 29% to $1.9 million and 41% to $2.9 million, respectively.

Cardiovascular segment results were impacted by the continuing decline in Cypher sales. SurModics derives a substantial

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Abbott Laboratories (ABT) reported third quarter earnings of 92 cents per share, 2 cents above the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 90 cents. Results were above the company’s guidance of 88 – 90 cents. Earnings increased 16.5% from the year-ago period. Total revenues grew 3.5% to $7,761 million. Revenues were negatively impacted by 4.9% due to foreign exchange (Fx) headwinds. Sales in the Pharmaceutical division totaled $4,055 million, down 1.6% and negatively impacted by about 5.5% due to Fx. Strong Humira and lipid franchise sales were offset by weak performance of Depakote, which is facing intense generic competition. The lipid franchise posted sales of $545 million. The recent launch of TriLipix, which will be co-promoted with AstraZeneca (AZN), should help drive lipid franchise sales. Meanwhile, we were pleased to see that Humira continued to perform well in both U.S. and international markets -- we ...

Stocks meandered at the start as uncertainty over the quarterly results this week kept investors from building positions.  Jittery investors, wanting to see more sings of an economic revival, sold off financial stocks after influential analyst Meredith Whitney downgraded shares of Goldman Sachs.  Whitney also lowered her earnings outlook for Bank of America and Citigroup.  Although late morning saw some strength, stocks struggled to stay afloat and ended the day mixed.   

Gains in commodity prices helped some mid-session buying in energy and material shares but the overall weakness in financial and healthcare stocks kept sentiment in check.  Shares of UnitedHealth Group Inc. (NYSE:UNH) and Aetna Inc. (NYSE:AET) fell more than 3% as the Senate Finance Committee approved an $829 billion plan to overhaul the U.S. health system.  Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) fell 2.4% after the company reported revenue that was below the Street expectations.  However, the company reported higher

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Recently, Nektar Therapeutics (NKTR) presented data from its phase II trial of oral NKTR-118, meant for the treatment of opioid-induced constipation. The data was presented at the American Academy of Pain Management's 20th Annual Clinical Meeting in Phoenix, AZ. The drug met the primary endpoint of increase in spontaneous bowel movement over the baseline period along with no reduction of opioid-mediated analgesia in any dose groups. In addition, NKTR-118 was well tolerated, the common side effects being dose-dependent gastrointestinal-related effects. In September, AstraZeneca (AZN) had entered into a licensing deal with Nektar Therapeutics for two of its pipeline candidates, NKTR-118 and NKTR-119. While the former is a phase II trial candidate, the latter, in its early stage of development, is intended to treat pain without constipation as a side effect. We believe the deal will be beneficial to both the companies. In addition to receiving ...

Recently, AstraZeneca (AZN) entered into a licensing deal with Nektar Therapeutics (NKTR) for two of its pipeline candidates, NKTR-118 and NKTR-119. With the former having completed a phase II trial for the treatment of opioid-induced constipation, the latter, in early stage of development, is intended to treat pain without constipation side effects. Nektar will receive an upfront payment of $125 million for both the candidates. In addition, for NKTR-118, Nektar has the potential to receive $235 million of milestone payments on achieving certain regulatory milestones, as well as additional tiered sales milestone payments of up to $375 million if the drug succeeds in recording strong sales. The company will also receive double-digit royalty payments on global sales of the drug. For NKTR-119, Nektar is also supposed to receive milestone and royalty payments. Per the deal, AstraZeneca will carry on the development of both the ...

Yesterday, AstraZeneca (AZN) entered into a licensing deal with Nektar Therapeutics (NKTR) for two of its pipeline candidates, NKTR-118 and NKTR-119. With the former having completed a phase II trial for the treatment of opioid-induced constipation, the latter, in early stage of development, is intended to treat pain without constipation side effects. Nektar will receive an upfront payment of $125 million for both the candidates. In addition, for NKTR-118, Nektar has the potential to receive $235 million of milestone payments on achieving certain regulatory milestones, as well as additional tiered sales milestone payments of up to $375 million if the drug succeeds in recording strong sales. The company will also receive double-digit royalty payments on global sales of the drug. For NKTR-119, Nektar is also supposed to receive milestone and royalty payments. Per the deal, AstraZeneca will carry on the development of both the drugs ...

Yesterday, Abbott (ABT) presented positive long-term data on the XIENCE V Everolimus Eluting Coronary Stent System from the pivotal SPIRIT III study conducted in the U.S.

Results showed that clinical advantages associated with the use of XIENCE V continued to increase compared to Boston Scientific's (BSX) Taxus Express2 Paclitaxel-Eluting Coronary Stent System.

At three years, XIENCE V demonstrated a reduction in the risk of major adverse cardiac events (9.1% for XIENCE V compared to 15.7% for Taxus). XIENCE V also demonstrated a reduction in the risk of Target Lesion Failure (8.3% for XIENCE V versus 14.4% for Taxus), a reduction in the risk of Target Vessel Failure (13.5% for XIENCE V compared to 19.2% for Taxus) and a reduction in the risk of heart attacks (3.7% for XIENCE V compared to 6.3% for Taxus).

These results were presented at the 2009 Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) conference in San Francisco. The

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