Those who remember when antiviral compounds were as life fulfilling as Louis Pasteur’s work in microbiology and immunology almost surely have seen their attention spans and their investments shrivel.
I am one of those folks. In companies such as BioCryst Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: BCRX, Stock Forum), branded in the minds of most as developer of an alternative avian flu treatment, I saw the promise of a new generation of drug discovery methods.
I was wrong. Developers of novel molecular compounds that could treat psoriasis, leukemia and an array of autoimmune disorders, such as Biocryst, spend many millions of dollars each month attempting to advance their drug candidates to human trials. They lose money mercilessly.
In the case of Biocryst, whose shares sell for less than US$2 and for which I paid several times that amount, on average, over the years, ‘tis a painful case of doubling down, and doubling down again. I feel like a private placement investor who must keep some cash in the kitty for when the stock of a favored investment hits the skids big time.
The caveats that have emerged with Biocryst, about half of whose originally purchased shares we still own here at chez Calandra, and have for several years, could fill a cavity in the tooth of the Beanstalk Giant.
Biocryst, for one, used needles that were too short in one trial. Its headquarters were so far into the Deep South of the U.S., it had trouble attracting talented lab workers and doctorates. (Biocryst has since moved its facilities north a bit.) The company changed CEOs. The government, via the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is at odds with some cost reimbursements linked to Biocryst’s short-circuited trials with intramuscular peramivir, the Avian Flu treatment for H5N1.
Biocryst’s balance sheet loss for this year’s first nine months is on the order of $35 million. Biocryst “burns” (a term I despise) through $25 million or more of cash each year. And so on.
Pasteurizing the story
Yet there is a sign (no, not from above, I’m afraid) that this Biocryst, whose drug discovery profile bears a resemblance to Louis Pasteur’s methods, is poised for investor attention. I am disclosing that “sign,” which is available to any scientist or investor willing to do about a minute’s worth of due diligence, is Ticker Trax™, the new service. Issue Number 3 of Ticker Trax will be published today (Friday) and delivered to subscribers. (See: www.TickerTrax.com.)
Monsieur Pasteur more than a century ago developed the process now called crystallography, the study of organic crystals. The chemistry of crystallography allowed Pasteur to "separate" amino acids into mirror images, or stereo-specific forms.
Biocryst uses X-ray crystallography and combinatorial chemistry to conduct structure-based drug design in hopes of creating a synthetic molecule that blocks a given target, preventing a normal chemical reaction that ultimately halts the progression of a disease.
Pasteur created crystallography yet forever will be known as the scientist who discovered the rabies vaccine and "pasteurized" milk. Biocryst remains "that bird flu company." Its injectable peramivir could be more potent than the other pandemic flu inhibitor, Roche's oral capsule, Tamiflu.
I believe – and have believed for what my wife says might be far too long -- that Biocryst’s paltry value ($60 million) eventually will reflect the increasing worth of the company's work in diseases such as oncology, auto-immune ailments and transplant rejection.
That is it for now. Ticker Trax By Thom Calandra™, our subscription service, will be out today with its next issue.
For those sitting on the fence, please take a look at the Ticker Trax™ discussion group on Stockhouse.
On The Ticker Trax™
Ticker Trax By Thom Calandra™ explores planet Earth for those few stakes that offer the prospect of excellent, in some cases cosmic, returns. It is for those who are entirely at ease with stratospheric levels of risk. (Please see www.TickerTrax for charter sign-up.) Ticker Trax is for those who make select, high-octane investments and honor those stakes with on-spot research, patience and due diligence. Until Monday December 15, the service is available via Stockhouse for $199 yearly, the charter member price.
Please see inaugural sample issue of Ticker Trax™.
HOLDINGS: Thom’s cosmos of holdings is listed for free Stockhouse members on www.Stockhouse.com under the “portfolio setting” for user TCALANDRA. He and his family also own recently minted gold coins. Thom is a long-term believer in bullion and platinum. For more ThomWatch, please click here.
THOM’S STORY: Thom Calandra helped his audience find value in a quagmire of investment choices. He also settled a valid complaint with the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission in 2005. Thom co-founded CBS MarketWatch, MarketWatch.com and FT MarketWatch in Europe. As the voice of Thom Calandra's StockWatch and The Calandra Report, Thom fancied $300-ounce gold before that metal became an investment rage. Thom visited bioscience companies, metals mines and scores of thin-crust pie joints across the planet in a search for profit, fashion and pizze de trippa gorgonzola. Thom's novel PABLO BY NUMBERS was completed in summer 2008.
