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Look at VIDA !! 11 1/4-11 5/8
Featured in New America section of Investors Business
Daily, their new procedure for enlarged prostate should have
this stock moving. Looking for sales to increase to 60
million from present few million by 1998. Procedure done in
45 minutes in doctors office vs 5 day hospital stay for
standard surgical procedure with few or no of the
complications associate with standard surgury or with laser
treatment.
Here's the article:
RADIO RELIEF VidaMed's Prostate
Treatment Promises Less Pain, Low Cost
Men suffering from enlarged prostates can now feel
better faster, thanks to a new product by VidaMed Inc.
Earlier this month, Menlo Park, Calif.- based VidaMed
won U.S. approval for a system that uses radio waves to
treat a noncancerous swelling of the prostate gland, known
as benign prostatic hyperplasia, or BPH. The system, called
TUNA, is meant to be a cheaper, quicker and less invasive
alternative to current treatments.
With TUNA - which stands for transurethral needle
ablation - a doctor threads two small needles into the
prostate using a probe in the urethra. The needles then emit
radio waves that heat and kill a part of the enlarged gland
without any incision or bleeding.
BPH, which causes pain or discomfort and makes it hard
to urinate, is a common condition among older men. Roughly
30% of men in their 50s suffer from symptoms of BPH; that
figure grows to 75% in men over 80.
Until recently, patients have had three main treatment
options: conventional surgery, laser surgery or lifelong
drug therapy.
Surgery, though the most effective option, is often the
least appealing. Patients need general or spinal anesthesia
and have to stay in the hospital for up to five days. They
also may face complications.
The TUNA system, by contrast, lets doctors treat
patients in their offices in 45 minutes using a local
anesthetic. In clinical trials, TUNA eased symptoms as well
as surgery did. But while 13% of surgery patients suffered
from impotence and 4.3% became incontinent, no TUNA patients
had complications.
What's more, the TUNA treatment costs less than $3,600,
while surgery costs about $8,000, said VidaMed President and
CEO Jim Heisch. He said TUNA ''eliminates the operating room
and the need for an anesthesiologist. There's no costly
hospitalization and virtually no side effects'' which have
to be treated later.
Laser surgery was touted in the early 1990s as a better
alternative, but it hasn't met expectations, analysts say.
Though cheaper and faster than conventional surgery, it
often causes irritation that lasts for weeks.
And lasers sell for $50,000 to $150,000. The TUNA system
will cost about $29,500, cheap enough for even small medical
practices to buy, said Phillip Nalbone, an analyst at Volpe,
Welty & Co.
''Lasers are definitely declining in use,'' Nalbone
said. ''Urologists have been waiting for better . . . drugs
and new-wave therapies like VidaMed's.''
BPH drugs, including Merck & Co.'s Proscar, have gained
popularity because they're noninvasive and are free from
many of surgery's side effects. But they have to be taken
every day to be effective, and even then they help only
about 50% of patients. They also cost up $1,000 for a year's
supply, Heisch said.
''A lot of men don't want to have to take medication
every single day from the age of 55 or 60 until the day they
die,'' he said.
TUNA's closest rival is microwave therapy, a new
outpatient treatment that beams microwaves up a catheter to
kill tissue with heat. In May, Edap/Technomed won approval
for its microwave system, called Prostatron, which appears
to work as quickly and painlessly as TUNA.
Nalbone, however, said Prostatron's effectiveness was
''less than compelling.'' A recent study showed that nearly
half of the men treated with Prostatron needed treatment
again within five years, he said.
The microwave system also has a hefty price tag - about
$395,000 - which could sharply limit future sales, Nalbone
added.
The BPH market is put at about $4 billion yearly, and
analysts expect it to grow as the population ages and people
continue to live longer. BPH afflicts about 14 million men
in the U.S., and each year about 800,000 of them are treated
for it.
Analysts expect ''new-wave therapies'' like TUNA to
snatch market share from other methods as well as attracting
new patients who otherwise would not have sought treatment.
VidaMed could see annual sales of $60 million for 1998,
Nalbone said. The TUNA system is cleared for sale in 20
countries in Europe and Asia.
In the second quarter ended June 30, VidaMed had a net
loss of $3.6 million, or 34 cents a share, compared to a
loss of $3.7 million, or $1.54 a share, a year earlier.
Total shares outstanding rose 336%. Sales fell 34% to
$603,000 from $910,000 - the result of VidaMed's Scionex
unit no longer selling electronic gear to high-tech
companies. Scionex now focuses solely on making radio-wave
generators for TUNA systems. The stock, priced near 11,
trades by VIDA.
TUNA sales for the quarter climbed 21% year-over-year.
Nalbone expects the company to start turning a profit in the
fourth quarter of 1997.
George |
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