Chemokine Therapeutics (Symbol: CHKT) is a product-focused biotechnology company that develops drugs that harness the therapeutic potential of stem cells through chemokine pathways.

Chemokines are a new class of cytokines, proteins which signal biological responses from stem cells that play a critical role in the growth, differentiation, and also maturation of cells necessary for fighting infection, as well as tissue repair and regeneration.

Stem cells are the master primitive cells that give rise to all of the cells and organs in the body. Chemokines are one of the major mediators of stem cell activity including stem cell growth, differentiation and maturation.

Being the leader in research in this field, the company currently has five products with two lead product candidates in clinical trials; CTCE-0214, for enhancing the immune system, and CTCE-9908, to prevent the spread of cancer and its continued growth.

Their main goal is to identify and develop multiple drug candidates for the treatment of cancer, blood disorders, cardiovascular and infectious disease.

Their recent press release states they had successfully reduced primary tumor growth in preclinical models of breast cancer with the treatment of the company’s CHCR4 antagonist and CTCE-9908.

In one study the investigators showed that mice treated with CTCE-9908 had statistically significant reduction of the primary tumor size compared to the control mice over time. At the 5-week and 6-week time points the mice treated with CTCE-9908 had an 86% decrease and 80% decrease in primary tumor growth compared to the control mice, respectively. In a second study, treatment with CTCE-9908 also demonstrated a statistically significant reduction in the rate of metastasis compared to the control group. At the 5-week and 6-week time points, the mice treated with CTCE-9908 had an 89% reduction and 95% reduction in metastatic tumor burden compared to the control mice, respectively.

Isn’t it exciting? Of course, at this moment they’re still far from their goal of creating a super drug that cures cancer. But it’s still pretty encouraging to see their recent experiment has turned out to be a tremendous success. For only 7 cents/share, this stock is definitely a bargain!

Quote of the Day:
My favorite time frame for holding a stock is forever. - Warren Buffett

Xenomics, Inc. (Symbol: XNOM) is the developer of next-generation molecular diagnostics products that address important health problems around the world. They are focusing on the development of DNA-based tests using Transrenal DNA or Tr-DNA.

Tr-DNAs are fragments of DNA derived from dying cells inside the body compartment. The intact DNA is fragmented in these dying cells, and then appears in the bloodstream. These fragments have been shown to cross the kidney barrier and can be detected in urine. Xenomics’ technology uses safe and simple urine collection to be applied to a broad range of testing, such as tumor detection, tissue transplants, infectious disease, even bio-terrorism.

Even though their stock performance in the past 3 months (see above) does not really look enticing, judging from the technology that they are currently developing - this stock can potentially be a good long-term investment. Let me give you a little bit of summary of their technology:

A particularly important feature of Tr-DNA diagnostic technology is that it is a true platform technology. This means that a single laboratory testing procedure designed to detect specific DNA biomarkers can be used to detect many forms of infectious diseases, cancer, transplanted cells and organs, or even prenatal detection of genetic markers of a fetus.

Tr-DNA tests are based upon a simple proprietary method of DNA isolation, followed by detection of DNA fragments bearing specific genetic markers. The detection methods and techniques are already well known and proven in molecular diagnostics laboratories where they are used to detect DNA in blood and a wide variety of specimens. Now these techniques are readily applied to the detection of Tr-DNA markers isolated from urine specimens. Thus, Tr-DNA technology may be applied to detecting and monitoring an extremely broad spectrum of medical conditions.

Additional advantages include:

• The kidney acts as a filter and presents purified Tr-DNA in the urine and, therefore, simplifies the sample preparation and DNA isolation steps currently required in the laboratory by other testing methods.
• The collection procedure is non-invasive and, therefore:
• Does not require the involvement of trained medical staff, and
• Easily supports repeated tests when conditions require and results in no discomfort for the patient.
• The Xenomics technology utilizes existing analytical equipment readily available in diagnostic laboratories through the world. Any new capital spending would be limited.
• Tr-DNA is stable at room temperature for extended periods. DNA in blood and many other traditional samples are not.
• Test processing can often be easily automated.
• Although many clinical Tr-DNA tests are performed using only a few drops of urine, it is readily possible to isolate these markers from larger volumes and thus increase the sensitivity of the test. This cannot be done easily using blood or tissue specimens.
• In many instances, blood or sputum for detection of infectious diseases cannot be easily obtained from many patients such as small children or the elderly. Urine specimens are not often a problem.
• Blood and other bodily fluids are highly infectious by nature, urine is not.

So…What do you think?

Source: xenomics.com

Quote of the Day:
Money may be the husk of many things but not the kernel. It brings you food, but not appetite; medicine, but not health; acquaintance, but not friends; servants, but not loyalty; days of joy, but not peace or happiness. - Henrik Ibsen

Biotech Holdings Ltd. is an integrated pharmaceutical company based in Vancouver, Canada, engaged in research, development, manufacture and marketing of pharmaceutical products.

The focus of the Company is the manufacturing and international marketing of SucanonTM, a new drug for the treatment of Type II Diabetes. Also known as Glucanin. The Company’s focus remains the development and distribution of Sucanon, particularly in Mexico and Latin America. During the fiscal year ended March 31, 2005, Biotech Holdings Ltd. began the manufacture of Sucanon.

In December 2004, the Company began shipping its Type II Diabetes drug Sucanon to Mexican retailers. On March 3, 2005, the Company announced that there was an expansion in the number of drugstore chains and other retail outlets carrying Sucanon in Mexico. Biotech Holdings Ltd. owns 75% of Smith Rothe Pharmaceutical Inc. (Smith Rothe). Smith Rothe holds the marketing rights for the Company’s Type II Diabetes drug in countries other than Asian Countries.

Following are a few of their investment highlights:

• Sucanon is one of only three drugs approved anywhere in the world, belonging to a new category of drugs called “insulin sensitizers”.
• Sucanon has received regulatory approval in Mexico. Mexico is the eighth largest pharmaceutical market and one of the largest diabetic markets in the world. Complications of diabetes is Mexico’s leading cause of death.
• Sales of the drug began in Mexico in early 2005. Sucanon is now sold in more than 600 stores nationally in Mexico including outlets of at least six drugstore chains.
• Sucanon has been approved in Peru and sales are planned to begin later this year. Preliminary distribution agreements for Sucanon have been negotiated in other Latin American countries.
• Internet sales of Sucanon are also planned.

The current trading price is very low, which is merely $0.05/share. It’s been fluctuating so much starting January 2006 and slowly declining - even though it once went up as high as $0.11/share in August, it quickly dropped again and finally settled at $0.05/share. I personally like the product that they currently develop; however, looking at their stock perfomance in the past 9 months, I have become very hesitant whether I should invest in this stock or not. Hmm..I’ll probably put this one under my stock-watch list and see what is going to happen in the next few months. Yup, we’ll see…….

Source: http://finance.google.com

Quote of the Day:
Each time, it’s a nice little company, nice people, modestly successful. Then you bring in the VC money - it’s like putting jet engines on a VW. They expect that, within a year and a half, they will get back ten times their money. - Dennis Faust

I’ve been watching this stock for the past 2 months now, and I guess this is the perfect time to write about them.

Carrington Labs Inc. (Symbol: CARN) is a bio-tech company which is currently engaged in the development, manufacturing, and marketing of naturally derived complex carbohydrates and other natural product therapeutics for the treatment f major illnesses, the dressing and management of wounds and nutritional supplements.

They consist of three business divisions:

• Medical Services Division - The division that sells prescription and non-prescription medical products. They also provide manufacturing services to the medical markets
• Consumer Services Division - Sells consumer and bulk raw material products and offers product development and manufacturing services to the cosmetic and nutraceutical markets
• DelSite Biotechnologies Inc. - a wholly owned subsidiary that operates independently from the Company’s research and development program, and is responsible for the research, development and marketing of the Company’s GelSite technology

Even though they reported revenue of $28 million for the year 2005, they actually experienced net loss of $5.3 million and that was resulted from increased research and development expenses. Their revenue actually declined by $2 million compared to 2004 revenue.

However, their stock price has actually gone up by $1 since I started monitoring them - which was sometime in February. Had I bought 1,000 shares of them back in February (at $4.66/share), I would’ve made profit of $950 by now (it’s currently traded at $5.61/share). That’s actually not bad at all - considering it’s free money.

Here’s their price history for the period of January - April:

As you can see, the price started climbing at then end of February and it was fluctuating a lot once it’s passed $5/share. However, it was still able to make its way up to $7/share and now currently hovers over $6. I still believe it’s going to go back up to $8/share (maybe once their revenue for Q1 2006 increases). We’ll see what’s going to happen in the next few months..

Quote of the Day:
The trend is your friend. - Technical analysis motto

There are over 8 million cancer patients in North America, with approximately 1 million more people developing cancer each year. Over one third of the population will develop cancer at some point during their life and over one-half a million people die from cancer each year. The new incidences of cancer, along with the maintenance of persons living with cancer continue to increase the demand for cancer products on a large scale.

The present world market for cancer therapeutics alone is approximately US$ 6.5 billion with an expected increase towards US$15 billion by the year 2002. The National Cancer Institute estimates the overall annual costs for cancer in the U.S. at US$104 billion with US$35 billion in direct medical costs and the remainder in productivity and mortality-related costs. Approximately one half of the direct costs are related to the treatment of breast, lung and prostate cancers. On a global basis, costs associated with cancer related illnesses are estimated at more than $150 billion. This is where BioCurex Inc. (Symbol: BOCX) enters the market.

BioCurex Inc. is currently developing these following products:

HISTOLOGY AND CYTOLOGY BioCurex’s Histo-RECAF™ is a special cancer detection kit for tissues that stains cancer cells brown, clearly distinguishing them from normal healthy cells. Pathologists are able to easily identify cancer cells under a conventional microscope for making a diagnosis.

LEUKEMIA Using our technology, leukemia cells can be “lit up” so that only infected blood cancer cells are isolated for targeted treatment. The clear implication of the BioCurex technology is that physicians can detect any recurrence of the blood cancer at a very early stage using equipment that is available today.

BLOOD AND SERUM TESTS Using our technology, a basic blood test can determine if a patient has cancer. Cancer cells shed our cancer marker RECAF™ into the blood stream where it is detected. Because of its powerful detection capability and simple execution, the Serum-RECAF™ will be a standardized blood test widely available in any clinical laboratory. Physicians can then use Serum-RECAF™ as frequently as required for both the initial screening of patients with symptoms, and monitoring of those patients who have been previously treated for cancer.

TUMOR IMAGING Once cancer has been diagnosed, it is crucial to determine its location and size. Because the RECAF™ technology effectively detects cancer cells, cancer tissue can be targeted with special compounds administered to the patient. Since only cancer cells are selected, tumor locations can then be imaged using standard equipment.Recently they announced that Dr. Steward Sell has joined the Scientific Advisory Board of BioCurex Inc. Dr. Steward Sell is an internationally renowned physician and scientist in the cancer and stem cell fields. In addition to obtaining his medical degree at the University of Pittsburgh, his residency in Pathology at Massachusetts General Hospital, and research in Immunology at National Institute of Health, Bethesda and University of Birmingham, he has also received many awards including the Virchow Award (in honor of the recognized father of pathology), Legacy Laureate of the University of Pittsburgh, (which recognizes the University’s most distinguished graduates), Distinguished Scientist by the International Academy of Tumor Marker Oncology, the Gary Miller Memorial Award from the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) and recently, a special award from the AACR for his contributions to teaching principles of cancer biology over the last 25 years. Yupp, that’s a pretty distinguished resume, if I might add

Below is their stock performance for the past 6 months.

Source: http://biocurex.com

Quote of the Day:
The stocks I try to buy are the very stocks that traditional fund managers try to overlook. In other words, I continue to think like an amateur as frequently as possible. - Peter Lynch