Friday, February 28, 2014

ACAD: Fourth Quarter Conference Call ($28.30)

Acadia held their 4th quarter conference call on Thursday after hours.  A brief of what I found interesting is below.
  • The company keyed on the potential for Pimavanserin to be used for schizophrenia patients (in addition to Parkinson's and Alzheimer's patients), both as an add to with a low dose of Resperidone, and as a single therapy for a younger demographic patient.  The company expects to share new information regarding a schizophrenia trial later in 2014.
  • The side effects induced by the atypical agents for schizophrenic patients may include weight gain, non-insulin dependent (type II) diabetes, cardiovascular side effects, sleep disturbances, and motor disturbances. The company believes that these side effects generally arise either from non-essential receptor interactions or from excessive dopamine blockade.
  • In the released 10-K, it states "Parkinson's disease psychosis is a debilitating disease that occurs up to 60% of patients with Parkinson's disease."   
  • The company believes that psychosis from Alzheimer's disease occurs in approximately 25%-50% of patients.
  • The company has hired 14 new employees for the commercial launch of Pimavanserin, which I believe could occur in the first quarter of 2015.
  • The company is pleased with all the pre-filing testing requirements that has occurred to date, and plans on meeting with the FDA for pre-NDA direction in the spring.
Bottom Line:  The highlight of ACAD's fourth quarter conference call pertains to the positive comments regarding Pimavanserin for schizophrenia patients and the two potential paths for trials they can focus on for this indication in the future. Also, the company is pleased with all required NDA filing testing to date, and will meet with the FDA in the spring. It was a solid conference call from Acadia's management again.  Thanks for reading.

Saturday, February 22, 2014

ACAD: Acadia Pharmaceuticals ($28.84)

ACAD announced that their 4th quarter conference call will be held on Thursday February 27th at 4:00 p.m. The stock had a strong week gaining +20.52% and has moved up to prior resistance at the $29.00 area on heavy volume.
Bottom Line:  Looking forward to ACAD's 4th quarter conference call on Thursday, and will be listening for any new information regarding timelines related to the FDA process, and any update on the ongoing Alzheimer's phase 2 trial.  We are long term investors of ACAD.

IDRA: Idera Pharmaceuticals ($6.00)

IDRA will be presenting at the RBC Capital Markets' Global Healthcare Conference on Tuesday the 25th at 8:00 a.m.  IDRA stock had a solid week gaining +36%, and has broke above prior resistance on above average volume.
Bottom Line:  IDRA has almost doubled from the point we purchased the stock in the low three area. The company plans to disclose their phase 2 psoriasis trial results by the end of the first quarter which could be a stock moving event.  We continue to hold shares of IDRA.

Contact: portfoliomgt1@gmail.com 

Saturday, February 1, 2014

IDRA: Idera Pharmaceuticals ($4.64)

Idera Pharmaceuticals became a new holding in December when we started buying the stock here IDRA: $3.04, and traded in /out, then back in using volatility to our advantage to buy shares back. Since then, the stock has advanced nicely to $4.64 with the addition of new key employees.  The special thing about the new personnel is that they have prior ties while serving at Genzyme, an extremely successful company that was purchased by Sanofi for $20 billion dollars.  On January 9th, 2014, two new key people were hired by IDRA.  Lou Brenner MD, has joined as senior vice president and chief medical officer, and has experience with advancing clinical trials with previous companies.  Also, Dr. Mark Goldberg has been appointed as a new board member. Previously, while at Genzyme he played a key role in the development of four successful orphan therapies. Dr. Goldberg is a board-certified medical oncologist and hematologist and has published more than 50 papers.  So the list of employees that are currently at IDRA with prior experience working together at some point at Genzyme consist of the following:

CFO: Louise Arcudi
Chairman of Board:  James Geraghty
Board Member:  Mark Goldberg
Chief Medical Officer:  Lou Brenner

Near Term Catalyst:
  • 16th annual BIO CEO & Investor Conference 2-10-14.
  • Phase 2 top line results IMO-8400 plaque psoriasis, first quarter.
  • Phase 2 top line results IMO-8400 plaque psoriasis dose escalation .60 mg. second quarter.

Bottom Line:  Idera Pharmaceuticals is making progress behind the scenes with the addition of key personnel that have prior experience growing an emerging biotechnology company while at Genzyme.  Near term catalyst could move the stock higher in the coming weeks.  Thank you for reading.

Contact: portfoliomgt1@gmail.com