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Latest Comments80 Comments
OPEC's Move to Devalue the Euro
OPEC will help America or US$? Get real. Do you expect much help from Iran and Venezuela?
Will Icahn Bail from His Yahoo Position?
Yes, he tried to run business: TWA. It went into a bankruptcy and out of business in a hurry.
So, if Carl gets his wish taking over Yahoo with his own money, he will lose his ass. There are not too many buyers for Yahoo especially with cash to pay.
PS
In the present financial environment, there are not to many banks with a desire to lend him money for this kind of entertainment.
Is Lilly and Amylin's Byetta Better?
During the last 4 years company insiders received and cashed out huge amounts of granted options in spite of terrible sale or stock price performance.
AMLN has total disregard for it shareholders.
AMLN was burning money having huge expenses but their clinical trials looked more like Mickey Mouse trials with too few patients to be conclusive.
The last trial for LAR Byetta was a comparative trial with so few patients than it is impossible to make any definite conclusion regarding either Byetta or LAR Byetta efficacy.
Bernanke Seems Willing To Allow More Downturn Than Greenspan
Stalin and Mao have killed many times more people than A. Hitler.
Nazi did not invent extermination gas-chambers and concentration camps. Extermination gas-chambers were invented and widely used by Bolsheviks in 1920s. The first concentration camps were invented and used by British.
The real initiator of the WWII was not Hitler. The main driver forces behind the war were J. Stalin and FDR.
Yes, Nazi committed lots of crimes but during their colonial times British commited much more crimes specifically in India.
Finally, Americans use A-bombs to kill endless civilians in Japan. The plan B, if America did not have A-bombs, was to gas millions of Japanese.
So much about bad Nazi and good American.
Investors at Risk of Losing Everything
McCain is just outright dangerous: a warmongering scoundrel with no respect for the Constitution.
Is Oil a Bubble? Part 3
It is just stupid to blame the Congress for high gas prices and dependence on foreign and unfriendly energy suppliers.
The US Congress just reflects the overall bankruptcy of the entire US way of life. Its moral, intellectual and economic values are in disarray and in crises. The degradation started at Lyndon Johnson "Great Society", and started to accelerate during both Clinton and G. W. Bush administrations.
The American consumer-consumption driven economic model is nothing more or less as a parasitic way of life using somebody else money without any intention to pay it back.
For the last 40+ years, America lived well above its means. It is a very long time; it could not last forever [similar to the Soviet Communist model], and eventually the time is up.
Just to blame specific individuals in the Congress and in the Administration is stupid. These scoundrels were elected by American people.
Now, America is about to start a transition to its new way of life. It will not be a painless transition. Just look at Russia. Ten years ago, Russia was in a terrible crisis. Now, it is one of the most dynamic and growing prosperity society.
America will survive. It will take some time. America will be a very much different country.
Yahoo Denies Poison Pill: Icahn 'Manipulates the Facts'
His damage is enormous. His objectives are to make a fast buck for himself regardless for damage he makes.
Just look at Biogen. It is one of the best biotech company developing highly successful drugs that save tens of thousands of lives. However, now, Biogen management must spend a lot of time and energy to defend itself from Icahn desire to ruin the company.
It appears that this corporate raider is responsible for more deaths and suffering than Osama Ben Laden.
Bristol-Myers, ImClone, Genentech Release Promising Data at ASCO
"Also we must not forget that when Mike Huckman asked at the ASCO the doctors if they would prescribe Erbitux to their patients the vast majority said yes. And the one that wasn't sure was from Canada."
It is important to mention that Erbitux is not available in Canada. Bristol (who does Erbitux marketing in North America) is still negotiating with Canadian government Erbitux's price sold there.
Bristol-Myers, ImClone, Genentech Release Promising Data at ASCO
Yes indeed, in general ITT [intend to treat] patient population adding Erbitux to chemotherapy extended the overall survival rate to 11.3 months from the 10.1 months for chemotherapy alone.
But this is not the entire story. Flex trial patients population included substantially broader spectrum of patients than the Avastin trial Jason Napodano has mentioned.
So let compare apples with apples:
- the Avastin trial #E4599 was conducted exclusively in Adeno-ca lung cancer patients. Addition of Avastin to chemotherapy improved median survival rates from 10.3 months to 12.3 months. Furthermore, cancer patients in Avastin #E4599 trials were ECOG 0-1 [relatively "healthy" patients] compare with more sick FLEX patients with ECOG 0-2.
In these more sick Adeno-ca lung cancer patients, addition of Erbitux to chemotherapy improved median survival from 10.2 months to 12 months. FLEX Erbitux median survival benefits to more difficult to treat lung cancer patients were practically identical to Avastin.
- But it is not all. FLEX ITT patient population also included SCC- lung cancer patients. These cancer patients can NOT be treated by Avastin due to severe life-threatening side-effects. In this lung cancer population, addition of Erbitux to chemotherapy improved median survival from 8.9 months to 10.2 months.
- It is true, Erbitux did not work on Asian patients. Addition of Erbitux to chemotherapy reduced these patients median survival. Erbutux should not be used in Asian lung-cancer patients.
- Avastin and Erbitux belong to two different classes of drugs. Erbitux is a EGFr-drug. It offers substantial clinical benefits to only a select group of patients and no benefits to the rest. By identifying Erbitux-responding patients [like it is done using biomarkers in colorectal cancers], survival benefits offered by Erbitux are much superior to Avastin benefits.
- Finally, the latest Avastin clinical trials in lung cancer failed to show survival benefits. Consequently, effictiviness of Avastin in lung-cancer became an issue.
ASCO: Whose Presentations Look the Most Promising?
Kras data are extremely important since Kras-status will identify cancer patients who will greatly benefit from using EGFr drugs specifically Erbitux from ImClone.
Erbitux is a very expensive drug but it offers to select head & neck, lung and colorectal cancer patients substantial survival benefits, improved quality of life, and for some patients cancer-free survival and even a cure.
Knowing the Kras-status, physicians will be very much eager offering Erbitux to patients who will DEFINITELY benefit from it. This will establish Erbitux as a standard of care for these patients.
This will make Erbitux a mega-blockbuster. Note that Erbitux's worldwide sale is already over $1.5B.
Icahn Boosts Stake in Amylin to 6.5%, Seeks Additional Talks
AMLN's situation is very complex:
- its management is very greedy and incompetent
- Symlin is a niche drug as of now with very limited sale potential
- Byetta is their major product responsible for 90% of AMLN sale and it has a strong competition from Merck's Januvia. Byetta LAR is the most important AMLN program since Byetta competition is coming from all sides.
Finally, Byetta and Byetta LAR are partnered with LLY. This agreement is very complex and not in AMLN favor. In a case of AMLN is taken over by other company, LLY has rights to demand transferring Byetta franchise to them.
Based on my experience (IMCL investor from 1998)with ImClone where Carl is the BOD Chairman, Carl is a greenmailer and knows nothing about complexity of biotech business. If not for IMCL's partner Merck KgaA who does all Erbitux R&D, IMCL would be long ago out of business.
Crude Oil Prices: Bears Will Soon Win Out
Yes, it is true. But as long as
- US foreign and domestic deficits keep growing
- US Treasury and Fed are printing US$ as if there is no tomorrow
There is no way US$ will stop falling in a long-run.
Oil Is Up Due to Fundamentals, Not Speculation
Just in the last 6 months, the Fed has printed over 800 millions US peso [sorry US$$$].
Commodities: Oil Correction Likely; No Gold Bubble
How long will the rest of world sell to America goods for US peso?
The Oil Shortage, and Other Fairy Tales
In the last 3 years, US$ lost 50% against euro. Consequently, if commodities did not change in euro then their prices had to double in US$.
However, EU central banks are too printing a lot of new euros. Consequently, commodities had to go up in euro too. There are no ways to "print" commodities.
The author unfortunately does not mentioned that US government and US Congress totally irresponsible policies are the real reasons for the disastrous state of US economy and runaway commodities prices.