I was glancing over my list on post one and noticed an error. Big surpise, eh? Anyhow, CEPH is on there and it should be CPHD.
biz.yahoo.com
siliconinvestor.com
ipolockup.com
insidertrader.com
I remember these folks a couple of years ago as a private company, thinking they might be competitive. But much has changed since then, and CPHD came out at a lousy time. I don't follow the company, so I don't know why they've burned a fair amount of cash. Per that last link, there sure have been lots of rats jumping ship.
A recent PR to give some idea of what they're up to.
>>University of Pittsburgh and Cepheid Develop Rapid Genetic Test That May Help Cancer Patients Avoid Second Surgeries
30-Minute Test Enables Detection of Rare Tumor Cells During Surgery
SAN DIEGO, May 8, 2001 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- A rapid genetic test to help doctors evaluate lymph node biopsies for the spread of cancer at the time of surgery was described for the first time at today's annual meeting of the American Association for Thoracic Surgery (AATS), held here. The result of a research collaboration between the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and Sunnyvale, Calif-based Cepheid (Nasdaq: CPHD chart, msgs), the new test may help cancer patients receive more appropriate treatment, reducing the need to return for additional surgery by detecting the presence of rare tumor cells often missed by conventional microscopic evaluation. Early results suggest the new test is more sensitive, more accurate and more timely than conventional methods.
Tony Godfrey, Ph.D., assistant professor of surgery, and James Luketich, M.D., associate professor of surgery at the University of Pittsburgh, developed the genetic test that utilizes Cepheid's Smart Cycler(R), a commercially available instrument designed for rapid gene detection. Employing a variation of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method of gene amplification, Dr. Godfrey was able to detect, in less than 30 minutes, the cancer-related gene CEA in lymph node biopsies from cancer patients. The gene signals the presence of micrometastases -- difficult-to-detect tumor cells indicating the spread of cancer.
"To properly treat cancer patients, lymph nodes need to be evaluated during surgery," said Dr. Godfrey. "Unfortunately, current intraoperative methods are not sensitive enough to detect micrometastatic disease. As a result, many patients are either under-treated or undergo a second operation, once more sensitive and time-consuming tests identify disease spread. Our goal is to avoid these limitations by providing the surgeon with accurate and sensitive information at this pivotal point in the treatment decision process."
The new test appears to be more sensitive than conventional intraoperative methods that involve visual examination of the lymph nodes under a microscope. These often fail to detect cancer in patients with disease spread. An estimated 10%-20% of breast cancer and melanoma patients must undergo second surgeries due to this undetected cancer spread.
In some cases, the accuracy of the new test surpassed even "gold standard" histopathology. Histopathology utilizes specialized tissue stains and preparations to detect microscopic traces of disease, but these methods are complex, providing results after several hours to several days.
Armed with this information about disease spread gathered during the biopsy procedure, surgeons may make timely treatment decisions such as whether to administer chemotherapy prior to tumor removal. For some cancers, including esophageal and lung, pre-operative chemotherapy may offer patients their best chance for survival.
"Dr. Godfrey's work is an exciting development for Cepheid and demonstrates the power of our technology for time-critical applications in clinical diagnostics," said Kurt Petersen, Ph.D., Cepheid's president and chief operating officer. "With the Smart Cycler in the hands of researchers for just over a year, we are now beginning to see these applications emerge. We are committed to continue working with our clinical partners to identify new applications of our systems for improving the rapid detection of disease."
Results of both an ongoing prospective study and a separate retrospective study were reported by Dr. Godfrey at the AATS meeting.
In the ongoing prospective study, Dr. Godfrey and his associates have analyzed lymph node biopsies from 23 patients with and without cancer. His rapid test correctly identified two patients as positive that were deemed to be cancer-free during surgery and later positive by final histopathology. The test also identified one patient as positive that was diagnosed as negative by both intraoperative and final histopathology methods. This patient experienced disease recurrence several months after surgery.
In the retrospective study, Dr. Godfrey's research team analyzed lymph node biopsies from 30 esophageal cancer patients deemed cancer-free after surgical treatment. They were able to accurately identify which of those patients later experienced disease recurrence, indicating that this technique was able to identify early-stage disease not detected by traditional histopathology.
The University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine is consistently ranked among the nation's leading medical schools. It is one of the university's six Schools of the Health Sciences, which include the schools of Nursing, Dental Medicine, Pharmacy, Health and Rehabilitation Sciences and the Graduate School of Public Health. Their combined mission is to train tomorrow's health care specialists and biomedical scientists, engage in groundbreaking research that will advance the understanding of the causes and treatments of disease and to participate in the delivery of care as a partner with the UPMC Health System. Among the many areas for which its faculty and programs are internationally recognized are oncology, psychiatry, genetics, transplantation and public health.
Cepheid, based in Sunnyvale, Calif., is developing versatile, miniaturized instruments that perform all the steps required to rapidly analyze genetic material found in complex biological samples -- sample preparation, amplification, and detection. Integrating proprietary microfluidic and microelectronic technologies, it is commercializing products initially for DNA and RNA analysis in clinical diagnostics, life science research, industrial testing and pharmacogenomics. Cepheid and Smart Cycler are registered trademarks of Cepheid.<<
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If I find evidence their products might be gaining traction, I'll get interested.
That is not on the front burner though. The reason I was looking through the list again was that I was looking for shorts from it. Possibly ARNA or GNOM, which appears to have recovered only because that's fashionable for biotechs now. This rally is looking increasingly frothy to me. I mean GENE. GILD downgraded due to valuation. Still sifting. Taking suggestions.
Oh, and of the three tickers I question-marked in post #1, two are biotechs: POZN and AEGN. But LMNE is not.
Cheers, Tuck |
