Looks like the CEGE stake in ABGX is going to go up to 9.704 million shares.
biz.yahoo.com
Also, another plug for the value of CEGE.
biz.yahoo.com
Gene Therapy Makes a Comeback
By Nadine Wong, Biotech Stocks Columnist
Riding a wave of positive news, gene-therapy companies are shaping up to the challenge of finding cures.
Gene therapy has been making headlines recently. But for a lot of people, the question that pops into their heads is, ``What is gene therapy?''
In a nutshell, gene therapy is dissecting a virus, creating a nice clean vehicle or vector and putting therapeutic genetic material inside the virus. The manipulated viruses are then inserted into the patient to deliver therapeutics to the diseased area, perhaps alleviating the patient's symptoms or curing the disease.
In theory, gene therapy should work, but the technology hasn't been able to deliver the goods. It has been plagued with technical problems, such as side effects. In one instance, a patient died, leaving a question mark on the value of gene therapy.
Now it appears that gene therapy is the Comeback Kid, especially on news that French scientists have used gene therapy to give a normal immune system to two babies born with a rare, life-threatening immune disease. The babies have SCID, or severe combined immunodeficiency disease, preventing the babies' bodies from producing immune cells that ward off
infection, meaning that the most minor of germs could be lethal.
Do you remember David, the ``bubble boy'' who lived in a plastic, germ-proof enclosure? He, too, had the disease. It's far too soon to know if the babies are cured, but the procedure is an important milestone and the gene therapy seems to have worked.
Carrying a Load
There are several companies whose key strengths will enable them to realize the potential of gene therapy. One of them is Cell Genesys (Nasdaq:CEGE - news), which focuses on the gene therapies to treat diseases such as cancer and cardiovascular disease. Cell Genesys reported earlier in the week positive results for its hemophilia gene therapy.
What I like about this company is that they are loaded. Management was smart and tapped into the piggy bank. This year they sold 840,000 shares of Abgenix (Nasdaq:ABGX - news)
stock, and it now has more than $200 million in cash. Not to mention that its remaining 12.5% stake in Abgenix is worth millions.
With its newly strengthened balance sheet, I expect Cell Genesys to accelerate some of its pipeline projects, including GVAX cancer vaccine in prostate cancer, GVAX vaccine in lung cancer and gene therapy for hemophilia. I also expect Cell Genesys to license a late-stage oncology product candidate during the year.
Last, but not least, Cell Genesys has an intellectual property estate of more than 200 issued and allowed patents on gene therapy and gene activation. The company is a compelling investment for the long run and is a buy below $25. Its trading right now around $24. |
