[ portfolio suggestions ]
I'm having trouble finding the time to evaluate a company, and I thought, due to the following, that I might enlist some VDXXers and GZTZ freaks in the hunt for info......
"Licensing/Royalties - As an additional benefit, CHRYSALIS also licenses its patented DNA
microinjection technology (expires 2006), for use by pharmaceutical and biotechnology
companies, receiving annual research licensing fees. Under a transgenic production license,
the Company will receive product royalties up to 5% of sales of any transgenic
animal-based products, which are derived from the use of its technology. Currently,
approximately 20 therapeutic products are being developed, producing various proteins,
by utilizing transgenic sheep, goats and pigs. Major pharmaceutical companies are
financing many of these projects. Genzyme Transgenics (Nasdaq: GZTZ) and PPL Therapeutics
(LN: PTH), leaders in producing drugs using transgenic animals, have announced Phase II
and Phase III clinical trials this year."
That's an excerpt from the CRLS home page.......
chrysalisintl.com
I've always wanted to own a bit of a CRO, so I bought a small position in CRLS as a "touch and learn experience" after they got some recent funding from Panlabs (MDS), interesting conditions attached. CRLS began life as a pig transgenics company, and I've been fascinated since by management's decision to totally flop to another business. I did some beta testing of a Panlabs instrument in (?) 1984, and consider them to be one of the conceptual founders of HTS.
So, I sort of have a respect for both companies from having watched them out of the corner of my eye rather than from having studied either in depth. That's a disclaimer that, translated, says.... for all I know, this combined effort may be headed down the drain.
Why do I mention it now? They released some really, really, really, really, really bad news today, and the next few days could present an op.........
biz.yahoo.com
(1) a CRO in trouble, (2) the deal with/funding from Panlabs, and (3) the "huge market" logic of transgenics. MDS had '97 revenues of $930 million..... CRLS is playing with movers/shakers.
Yahoo! lists the market cap as $33 million, 11.4 million shares out. Burn is very difficult to project going forward, but they had about 2 1/2 years of cash plus some change at 12/31/97 if you project the '97 burn going forward. It's nothing if not boring.
If anybody here is a Tripos nut and can explain the recent restructure with Panlabs, that might also help the conceptual frame.
Thanks for any comments or insights.
Rick |
