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Look at VIDA !! 11 1/4-11 5/8 Featured in New America section of Investors Business Daily, their new procedure for enlarged prostate should have this stock moving. Looking for sales to increase to 60 million from present few million by 1998. Procedure done in 45 minutes in doctors office vs 5 day hospital stay for standard surgical procedure with few or no of the complications associate with standard surgury or with laser treatment. Here's the article: RADIO RELIEF VidaMed's Prostate Treatment Promises Less Pain, Low Cost Men suffering from enlarged prostates can now feel better faster, thanks to a new product by VidaMed Inc. Earlier this month, Menlo Park, Calif.- based VidaMed won U.S. approval for a system that uses radio waves to treat a noncancerous swelling of the prostate gland, known as benign prostatic hyperplasia, or BPH. The system, called TUNA, is meant to be a cheaper, quicker and less invasive alternative to current treatments. With TUNA - which stands for transurethral needle ablation - a doctor threads two small needles into the prostate using a probe in the urethra. The needles then emit radio waves that heat and kill a part of the enlarged gland without any incision or bleeding. BPH, which causes pain or discomfort and makes it hard to urinate, is a common condition among older men. Roughly 30% of men in their 50s suffer from symptoms of BPH; that figure grows to 75% in men over 80. Until recently, patients have had three main treatment options: conventional surgery, laser surgery or lifelong drug therapy. Surgery, though the most effective option, is often the least appealing. Patients need general or spinal anesthesia and have to stay in the hospital for up to five days. They also may face complications. The TUNA system, by contrast, lets doctors treat patients in their offices in 45 minutes using a local anesthetic. In clinical trials, TUNA eased symptoms as well as surgery did. But while 13% of surgery patients suffered from impotence and 4.3% became incontinent, no TUNA patients had complications. What's more, the TUNA treatment costs less than $3,600, while surgery costs about $8,000, said VidaMed President and CEO Jim Heisch. He said TUNA ''eliminates the operating room and the need for an anesthesiologist. There's no costly hospitalization and virtually no side effects'' which have to be treated later. Laser surgery was touted in the early 1990s as a better alternative, but it hasn't met expectations, analysts say. Though cheaper and faster than conventional surgery, it often causes irritation that lasts for weeks. And lasers sell for $50,000 to $150,000. The TUNA system will cost about $29,500, cheap enough for even small medical practices to buy, said Phillip Nalbone, an analyst at Volpe, Welty & Co. ''Lasers are definitely declining in use,'' Nalbone said. ''Urologists have been waiting for better . . . drugs and new-wave therapies like VidaMed's.'' BPH drugs, including Merck & Co.'s Proscar, have gained popularity because they're noninvasive and are free from many of surgery's side effects. But they have to be taken every day to be effective, and even then they help only about 50% of patients. They also cost up $1,000 for a year's supply, Heisch said. ''A lot of men don't want to have to take medication every single day from the age of 55 or 60 until the day they die,'' he said. TUNA's closest rival is microwave therapy, a new outpatient treatment that beams microwaves up a catheter to kill tissue with heat. In May, Edap/Technomed won approval for its microwave system, called Prostatron, which appears to work as quickly and painlessly as TUNA. Nalbone, however, said Prostatron's effectiveness was ''less than compelling.'' A recent study showed that nearly half of the men treated with Prostatron needed treatment again within five years, he said. The microwave system also has a hefty price tag - about $395,000 - which could sharply limit future sales, Nalbone added. The BPH market is put at about $4 billion yearly, and analysts expect it to grow as the population ages and people continue to live longer. BPH afflicts about 14 million men in the U.S., and each year about 800,000 of them are treated for it. Analysts expect ''new-wave therapies'' like TUNA to snatch market share from other methods as well as attracting new patients who otherwise would not have sought treatment. VidaMed could see annual sales of $60 million for 1998, Nalbone said. The TUNA system is cleared for sale in 20 countries in Europe and Asia. In the second quarter ended June 30, VidaMed had a net loss of $3.6 million, or 34 cents a share, compared to a loss of $3.7 million, or $1.54 a share, a year earlier. Total shares outstanding rose 336%. Sales fell 34% to $603,000 from $910,000 - the result of VidaMed's Scionex unit no longer selling electronic gear to high-tech companies. Scionex now focuses solely on making radio-wave generators for TUNA systems. The stock, priced near 11, trades by VIDA. TUNA sales for the quarter climbed 21% year-over-year. Nalbone expects the company to start turning a profit in the fourth quarter of 1997. George | ||||||||||||||
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