Provectus Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

(Public, OTC:PVCT)

StocksHaven Investments profiles one of the most exciting up-and-coming anti-cancer companies in the industry, Provectus Pharmaceuticals (OTC:PVCT). They have one of the deepest pipelines of any small cap biotech, focusing on treatments for: Melanoma, Psoriasis, Atopic Dermatitis, Breast Cancer, and Liver Metastasis. With three drugs nearly ready to enter Phase III, including one nearly entering Phase II for Breast Cancer, one of the largest target markets worldwide and seeking “compassionate use” in Australia and USA, look for Provectus to make a splash within the next couple of months.

They are developing and testing one of the most exciting anti- cancer compounds. It has been demonstrating significant effectiveness against Melanoma in Phase 2 clinical trials and it offers promising treatment for breast, liver and other solid tumor based metastatic cancers. The compound developed by Provectus, known as PV-10, is a

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We are pleased with the second quarter results of Sunesis Pharma (SNSS). The company recorded revenues of $3.5 million, an increase of 36% over the same period last year. The company does not have any FDA approved product, hence it derives its revenues primarily from collaboration and license agreements.

Though revenues recorded a healthy growth, Sunesis reported net loss of $49.2 million (per share $1.43), compared to a net loss of $13.6 million (per share $0.39) for the year-ago period. This is way below the Zacks Consensus Estimate for per share loss of $0.16. This includes “deemed distribution to preferred stockholders" of $26.4 million. Net income would have been on the higher side, but for the non-cash charges of $21 million related to the private placement.

Loss from operations (without considering extra-ordinary items) for the quarter was at $1.9 million compared to net loss of $8.7 million in the year-ago period.

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Yesterday, Eli Lilly and Company (LLY) received yet another approval from the U.S. FDA approval for its chemotherapy agent, Alimta. This time, Alimta received approval for use as maintenance therapy for advanced forms of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), specifically in patients with a nonsquamous histology whose disease has not progressed after four cycles of platinum-based first-line chemotherapy. 

The maintenance therapy indication is the fourth approval for the product. Data supporting the use of Alimta as maintenance therapy were presented by the company at the 2009 Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO). 

Maintenance therapy represents a new treatment field – traditionally, patients are re-treated with second-line therapy only when the disease progresses or recurs.  However, with maintenance therapy, patients undergo initial therapy and receive additional treatment before the new tumor growth is detected.

The NSCLC market is one of the most crowded oncology markets. The company estimates

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For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL - June 24, 2009 - Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include: Tiffany (TIF), Big Lots (BIG), Family Dollar (FDO), Isis Pharmaceuticals (ISIS) and OncoGenex (OGXI).

Get the most recent insight from Zacks Equity Research with the free Profit from the Pros newsletter: http://at.zacks.com/?id=5513

Here are highlights from Tuesday's Analyst Blog:

Long-Term Job Stagnation

The two major forces behind the secular slowdown in job creation have been automation and globalization (off-shoring). It would not be particularly wise to reverse job losses coming from automation, since technology is the source of productivity growth and ultimately higher standards of living.

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Label Expansion for Tarceva Under WayIn order to expand the label of Tarceva, OSI Pharmaceuticals (OSIP) and Genentech/Roche are conducting several additional clinical trials that could help drive higher market penetration.One phase III trial is the SATURN study (front-line maintenance therapy in NSCLC post-chemotherapy non-progressors). SATURN is a placebo-controlled, randomized, double-blind, phase III study conducted by Roche that enrolled 889 patients with advanced NSCLC at approximately 160 sites worldwide. Patients were treated with at least four cycles of standard first-line platinum-based chemotherapy and were then randomized to Tarceva or placebo if their cancer did not progress. The primary endpoint of the study was progression-free survival. Secondary endpoints included overall survival, safety and an evaluation of exploratory biomarkers.OSI and Genentech reported preliminary positive results from the above SATURN study on Nov. 7, 2008, and full data were ...

The pharmaceutical industry is entering a period of substantial change in 2009. Most of the names in the industry are facing significant patent challenges in the years to come. U.S.-based firms are facing foreign exchange headwinds, as well. Revenue growth is non-existent, and earnings growth is being driven primarily by mergers, cost-cutting and share buybacks. Knowing that investors rarely pay-up for this type of manufactured earnings growth, we struggle to see a broad-based out-performance for the large-cap pharmaceutical sector in 2009.Valuations, however, are attractive, with several of the largest players trading at PEs below 10x, including: Pfizer (PFE, 7.5x), Eli Lilly (LLY, 8.1x), Merck (MRK, 8.3x), Sanofi (SNY, 7.5x), AstraZeneca (AZN, 7.6x) and GlaxoSmithKline (gsk, 9.3x) based on our fiscal 2009 estimates. Attractive valuations, along with big dividend yields, should protect investors against significant downside risk even if the economy continues ...

We highlight Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. (BMY), Pfizer Inc (PFE), Medivation Inc (MDVN), Cougar Biotechnology Inc. (CGRB), Eli Lilly & Co. (LLY), Amgen Inc. (AMGN) and Biogen Idec Inc. (BIIB).The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) is set for May 29th - June 2nd in Orlando, Florida. ASCO is an annual forum where pharmaceutical and biotech companies come to present data on their cancer drugs in all stages of development. ASCO is a widely followed event by analysts and investors interested in new information on key pipeline and currently marketed compounds.  We list what to look for from several of the companies that will be attending and presenting at this year's ASCO event.Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY) will be presenting updated survival data of its melanoma candidate, ipilimumab, from several phase II and phase III trials, both as a monotherapy and ...

Today Amgen Inc. (AMGN) announced submission of a Biologics License Application (BLA) with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its potential next blockbuster drug, denosumab. The indications for which Amgen is seeking FDA approval are treatment and prevention of postmenopausal osteoporosis (PMO) in women, and treatment and prevention of bone loss in patients undergoing hormone ablation for either prostate or breast cancer. The BLA submission contains data from six phase-III trials involving more than 11,000 patients.Denosumab is a fully human monoclonal antibody target receptor activator of nuclear factor kappa B ligand (RANK-L). The clinical data on denosumab, or D-Mab as management calls it, is impressive. In July 2008, Amgen release top-line data from the pivotal trial testing denosumab in 7,800 women with postmenopausal osteoporosis over a 3-year period. Data from the trial showed taking denosumab subcutaneous injections once every six months resulted in statistically ...