Peter,
I see you've been awarded a "cool post" spot for your response on the BW Dog Pound. Nice going.
Another climbing partner is between jobs, so I might find myself taking some time off in the next few weeks. Thus I'm going to try to set things up here and in Trickle to ride out the summer. I'm figuring a rally into July expiration week, then off backing off again. So we might look to take some trading profits, and perhaps to open a short or two when the NAZ hits resistance again. I will try to get to SGEN eventually, but I feel EXAS and TWTI are of more immediate importance, as they unlock sooner and are holding up better. If we get follow through on this downtrend Monday, we might bargain hunt first. The usual suspects, plus I've been digging on CIPH a bit. A take on that will come soon, but first, a look at our prime short target of the moment, EXAS.
There is no thread on it here. I supplied some DD links in this post:
Message 16027516
I will throw this one in for biofreaks:
exactlabs.com
Those interested can follow in my footsteps, cutting and pasting to PubMed, doing related article searches, etc.
To start, some snips from the 10-K & S-1 to give y'all an idea of what EXAS' selling points are:
>>EXACT Sciences is developing four proprietary DNA-based analytical methods for identifying DNA tumor markers of colorectal cancer. EXACT Sciences anticipates that this technology can be performed using instruments currently available in clinical laboratories that perform molecular testing. These tumor markers include:
Multiple Mutation Detection
Deletion Technology
DNA Integrity Assay (DIA)
Enumerated Loss of Heterozygosity (e-LOH)<<
snip
>>The technologies developed by EXACT Sciences, on the other hand, are different (from those that measure susceptibility -- Tuck). EXACT Sciences believes its proprietary, genomics-based detection technologies will:
Be available in the near future (EXACT Sciences' first target is colorectal cancer).
Apply to very large markets that are currently underserved (e.g., colorectal, breast, prostate and lung cancer).
Help to diagnose incipient and early stage cancer, rather than mere genetic susceptibility. (A positive finding in the colorectal cancer test, for instance, would immediately direct the individual to a confirmatory, and potentially therapeutic, follow-up colonoscopy).<<
snip
>>EXTENSIONS TO OTHER CANCERS. Our proprietary DIA detection method uses a
marker that may be broadly applicable to the detection of cancers other than
colorectal cancer. In the course of our blinded clinical studies at the Mayo
Clinic, we tested 50 stool samples from patients diagnosed with aero-digestive
cancers at sites other than the colon, such as cancer in the lung, pancreas,
esophagus, stomach and duodenum, gall bladder and bile ducts. The results are
shown in the table below.
NUMBER DETECTED/
LOCATION OF CANCER NUMBER WITH CANCER PERCENT DETECTED
---------------------------------------------- ------------------- ----------------
Lung, non-adenocarcinoma 7/8 88%
Lung, adenocarcinoma 3/13 23%
Pancreas 10/11 91%
Esophagus 3/7 43%
Stomach/Duodenum 1/5 20%
Gall Bladder/Bile Ducts 6/6 100%
Combined, these cancers kill more people than colorectal cancer. We intend
to collect additional data on these aero-digestive cancers in our planned
5,300-patient clinical trial. If the results are promising, we will develop
methods and technologies to detect these cancers.
The results of these three blinded clinical studies are set forth in the
table below:
NUMBER OF
STUDY COMPLETION DATE PATIENTS SAMPLE TYPE SENSITIVITY SPECIFICITY
------------------------- --------------- ---------- -------------------- ----------- -----------
Mayo Clinic I Pilot Study November 1999 61 Frozen partial stool 91% 95-100%
Mayo Clinic II Study April 2000 129 Frozen partial stool 67-72% 95%
Mayo Clinic III Study June 2000 29 Fresh whole stool 78% 100%
Based on these results, in August 2000 we initiated a multi-center clinical
study for the primary purpose of establishing certain technological benchmarks
for our DIA detection method on whole stools in anticipation of our multi-center
clinical trial.
We intend to initiate a blinded multi-center clinical trial in the fourth
quarter of 2001 that will include an estimated 5,300 patients age 50 and older
with average-risk profiles from approximately 40 academic and community-based
practices. The goal of this clinical trial will be to compare the sensitivity
and specificity of our tests for colorectal cancer to that of existing
technologies on average-risk individuals.<<
snip
Part II in next post; did a lot of snipping for this . . .
Cheers, Tuck |
