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Biotech / Medical : CRLS - Chrysalis : Any followers ? Any comments ? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Timothy Grimes who wrote (36)	1/8/1998 2:53:00 AM
From: BulbaMan	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 51

Luckily, I had the courage to hold on to CRLS through its December plunge (and was even brave enough to buy a bit more at $2.375). The stock's welcome recovery in the past couple of days is likely due to the abatement of tax-loss selling and a somewhat improved market for biotechs. In addition, it may be that the recent media focus on cloning has rubbed off on CRLS. I doubt the announcement by Chicago physicist, Richard Seed, that he intends to clone a human has had any impact. However, there's a new book on cloning by Gina Kolata, a NY Times Science Writer (Clone: The road to Dolly and the path ahead) -- she's been doing the talk shows (I heard her on NPR today) and recognizes the scientific significance of cloning. If someone was looking for a cloning stock play, CRLS would be a pretty good contender. CRLS, as you may know, has the capacity to make money with its "cloning technology" in two ways: 1) According to the company's SEC 10K, it is the "only" biotech contract research organization (CRO) "that is currently able to use its proprietary transgenic and other related technology to provide services for its clients that require transgenic animal models for the evaluation of therapeutic lead compounds for further development and for genomics research in order to determine the function of human genes and identify gene targets implicated in disease." 2) CRLS also has an exclusive license to the Ohio University patent for DNA microinjection technology, which is widely used in the creation of transgenic animals. It has sublicensed this patent, which expires in 2006, to a number of companies including PPL Therapeutics and Genzyme Trangenics. About 20 transgenic products are now in development, with some in Phase II and III trials for FDA approval. Since CRLS's sublicenses include royalties of up to 5% on transgenic products developed using DNA microinjection technology, it could earn multi-millions if and when sales of transgenic products take off. Under $4 per share, CRLS's stock seems undervalued just based on the potential of its CRO business. So, I figure, you get the enormous patent royalty potential for free.