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Strategies & Market Trends : Speculating in Takeover Targets -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: richardred who wrote (926)	12/7/2005 1:51:12 PM
From: richardred	Read Replies (5) \| Respond to of 7243

DSCP-Datascope Corp-New order just filled, adding to shares here at higher prices. I'll catch the $ i.00 special dividend. They should get something for their trouble if J & J doesn't get Guident. Just maybe J & J would prefer to have the whole company? I think Bard makes a better fit however!

To: richardred who wrote (926)	12/8/2005 12:06:02 AM
From: richardred	Respond to of 7243

Generic Drug Firm Looks Beyond Core Market For Future Growth Wednesday December 7, 7:00 pm ET By Marilyn Much When Bentley Pharmaceuticals got stung by price cuts in its key market last year, Chief Executive James Murphy was forced to go back to the drawing board. Bentley (NYSE:BNT - News) is a specialty drug delivery company. It manufactures generics that are marketed and distributed throughout Europe. The company gets the bulk of its revenue selling self-marketed generics in Spain. Though business in Spain has been growing rapidly, Bentley has run into some problems there. In October 2003, the Spanish government enacted a regulation that reduced the prices the government reimburses for certain prescription drugs. The regulation, which went into effect two months later, impacted six of Bentley's drugs sold in Spain. One was generic omeprazole, a heartburn drug sold by Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG - News) under the Prilosec brand name. Murphy figures the price cuts impacted 2004 pretax profit by about $14 million. Bentley's year-over-year revenue growth slowed to 13% in 2004, down from a 65% increase the prior year. 2004 earnings per share fell 7%. In a country like Spain, where there's socialized health care, Bentley could get hit by more reductions in the future, Murphy says. To counter the problem, Bentley execs decided to reduce the firm's reliance on Spain, which in 2003 accounted for more than 85% of overall revenue. "In 2003, we recognized it was time to move out beyond the borders of Spain ... into the European Union and geographical Europe," said Murphy. "We started an intense (drive) to register products and team up with major companies in those territories. We still feel Spain will grow significantly for us, though it will become a diminishing part of our overall growth." By 2005, Bentley had inked 150 licensing and supply agreements with major generic companies to distribute products outside of Spain. In the third quarter, 32% of overall company sales came from collaborations with pharmaceutical companies outside of Spain. That was up from 18% a year earlier. In November, Bentley's Spanish unit, Laboratorios Davur, signed a distribution pact with Consilient Health, an Irish-based pan-European generic company. The accord gives Consilient a nonexclusive right to distribute and market a Davur generic omeprazole in the U.K. Look for more collaborations outside of Spain in the next few weeks. "The company has done a good job of going beyond the borders of Spain and setting up distribution agreements throughout Europe," said analyst Mark Taylor of Roth Capital Partners. "The export business is up, but not as high as I anticipated. (Still), it's growing, and that's a plus." The generic drug field is more competitive than ever, Taylor says. Successful companies will be those that knock off some of the blockbuster drugs that will come off patent over the next couple of years -- and do so at the lowest prices. "Bentley's ability to succeed outside of Spain is dependent on being the first to come to market with a lot of those generic drugs," Taylor said. "That's ... what we're hoping will occur." On the drug delivery front, Bentley has recently come up with some important breakthroughs. In April, the firm inked a deal with Dong Sung Pharm Corp. to develop an intranasal spray formulation of insulin for the South Korean market and possibly other territories. In June, Bentley presented results of its initial phase two study in patients with type one diabetes. Among other things, Bentley's formulation showed more rapid absorption than an insulin injection, the company says. Last month Bentley signed a licensing pact with Biocon for the intranasal spray formulation of insulin. The accord covers 85 countries giving Biocon exclusive as well as co-exclusive rights to develop and market Bentley's formulation throughout Asia, Africa and the Middle East. Also on the drug delivery front, Bentley and the University of New Hampshire in May announced the discovery and synthesis of Nanocaplet technology. The Nanocaplet, which is the diameter of a human hair, can be used to deliver drugs at the molecular level. Bentley has exclusive rights to develop this technology, which is being tested in animals. This method enhances the delivery of drugs that are difficult to absorb, such as insulin, Murphy says. Bentley is doing well financially. Its third-quarter earnings rose 83% from the prior year to 11 cents a share. Revenue was up 30% to $23.5 million. Analysts polled by First Call see full-year earnings rising 77% to 46 cents a share, then reaching 56 cents in 2006. Bentley's outlook hinges in part on its ability to export products made in Spain into other markets such as the U.S., Taylor says. "The most critical growth catalyst over the next two years has got to be the development of a U.S. business," Taylor said. One partnership that holds potential is one Bentley struck with Perrigo (NasdaqNM:PRGO - News), a major U.S. maker of over-the-counter pharmaceutical and nutritional products for the store-brand market. Last year Perrigo agreed to co-develop, market and sell certain Bentley products in the U.S. and other potential markets. Bentley likely will team up with another major player in the U.S. to market other products, Murphy says. The company also seeks Food and Drug Administration approval to launch U.S. sales of select generic products it produces in Europe. biz.yahoo.com