Low Price Double Pack Of Fun! Cege & Cpst*

Discussion in 'Stocks' started by stonedinvestor, Apr 16, 2008.

  1. Ladies and gents it's taken me all damn week but I've finally come to terms with myself. Early this week the gift of buyout graced my door with MLNM and so a bio replacement was in need for my account... additional news from Antigenics in Russia sent me on a dizzying path of research in which I read all the clinicals from DNDN CEGE and AGEN and even went as far as consulting a professional chart reader to make sure what I was seeing on the chart lined up with someone with many, many years in the biz.... CELL GENESIS wins for me.... because it is a platform to many places and thus will receive the most for it's technology if bought and recent news bolsters their multi anitigen approach the opposite of DNDN's....

    GVAX is their baby, is a revolutionary platform for developing cancer vaccines for a substantial number of different cancers. Prostrate being #1 now.... here's some out takes from a SeekingAlpha piece & I'll follow that up later with yesterday's press release which did not move the stock but did move me.

    GVAX has differentiated itself from the herd by presenting a truly innovative and elegant concept for cancer vaccines. Although being unique is by no means a guarantee for clinical success, there are several attributes, which make GVAX a very promising platform.

    One of the most important features in GVAX is its universality. The concept behind GVAX is applicable to numerous cancer types, since theoretically, any type of cancer cell can be genetically modified to secrete GM-CSF, making it a potential cancer vaccine. For example, in order to create GVAX for pancreatic cancer, Cell Genesys chose a pancreatic cancer cell-line, inserted the GM-CSF gene into the cells, irradiated them and the vaccine was ready. For the treatment of leukemia, the company did the same with leukemia cells and so on. However, each type of cancer includes so many types of available cell-lines, that choosing the right cell-line is of extremely high importance. Furthermore, since it is possible to combine more than one cell-line per vaccine, GVAX’s diversity potential, as a platform, is tremendous.

    Another apparent advantage is the fact that in GVAX’s case, all the stages of the immune response occur inside the patient’s body. The first stage of every anti-cancer immune response involves the exposure of a special group of immune cells, called Antigen Presenting Cells (APCs) to cancer antigens. This exposure is the basis of enhancing any immune response, making it extremely crucial. Some cancer vaccines like Dendreon’s Provenge and Northwest’s Biotherapeutics DCVax, involve taking out APCs from the patient’s body and conducting the exposure stage in vitro (outside of the body). These activated cells are then re-administered into each patient and will hopefully ignite a specific immune response against cancer cells inside the body. Cell Genesys takes a different approach, similar to that of traditional vaccines, by injecting patients with the cancer antigens themselves (in the form of cancer cells). Thus, the immune cells are exposed to the cancer antigens in vivo (inside the body), in their natural environment.* This is a bigger point than it sounds folks.... And this next one is the BIGGEST...

    An additional key differentiator of GVAX is its multi-antigen approach. While many cancer vaccines are aimed at manifesting an immune response against a specific cancer-related antigen, Cell Genesys is using whole cancer cells as antigens. Each cancer cell has countless potential antigens that can be targeted by the immune system. By using whole cancer cells, and sometimes even more than one strain, the amount of potential cancer antigens is immense. Thus, the immune response generated by GVAX might be less focused, but much broader and has the potential of impacting a wider population of cancer cells. Stimulating the immune system to recognize multiple antigens may result in a response against cancer cells, which would otherwise evade a single-antigen oriented immune response.

    GVAX can be patient specific, where cancer cells are taken specifically from each patient, genetically modified to secrete GM-CSF followed by irradiation and re-administered to the specific patient only. GVAX can also be non- patient-specific with the same types of cells used for all patients. Though the company has developed both patient-specific and non-patient –specific candidates, it has decided to focus on the latter.

    Being a non-patient specific treatment makes production more reliable and cheaper, as the company does not have to deal with logistics such as getting each patient’s sample and shipping it back to the treatment facility on time. In addition, it is not always technically possible to generate a patient-specific GVAX cancer vaccine for every patient. Antigenics’ Oncophage® is a good example of a patient-specific cancer vaccine, as each patient undergoes surgery, to remove part or all of the cancerous tissue, followed by shipping of the tumor tissue to Antigenics’ manufacturing facility in Massachusetts. (those Russia to Boston mail routes can be murder! especially when you are dying)

    Although the trend in cancer therapy is clearly towards personalized therapy, an off-the-shelf product like GVAX is not necessarily therapeutically inferior to its patient-specific counterpart. In fact, it might have a significant advantage in the long run, considering the immune memory that can be created by cancer vaccines. Genetic instability is one of the hallmarks of cancer, as cancer cells constantly evolve by acquiring mutations and modifying exhibited antigens. These changes are a fundamental cause of treatment-resistance and disease recurrence, often demonstrated by cancer. A patient with early-stage disease who receives a cancer vaccine based on cells of advanced-stage disease could develop immunity against the advanced stages of the disease. Thus, non-personalized cancer vaccines have the potential of functioning as preventative treatments, blocking the formation of advanced-stage tumors. Such a preventative effect, which is still in the form of speculation, could be a huge differentiator for non-patient-specific cancer vaccines. Think about it- the preventative market if unleashed well.... the sky is the limit but that's a long term goal.

    *Microturbines later and how CAPSTONE TUBINE CAN SAVE BIG BUSINESS IN THIS TIME OF HIGH OIL AND POWER CONSUMPTION AND PERHAPS MAKE YOU AND ME RICH WHILE THEY DO IT! ~ stoney
     
  2. magicz

    magicz

    good luck waiting out for the drug. it's still in the begining of phase II. Have fun sitting on dead money for 3-5 years.
     
  3. what holding timeframe are you looking for, on CPST and CEGE? I looked at their charts and it looks like they've been building up very heavily this past month alone.
     
  4. mazgicnewbie you obviously don't have a handle on the story don't read yahoo message boards for info...

    In fact, Cell Genesys is so optimistic about GVAX as a remedy for prostate cancer that the company asked for and was granted Fast Track status by the FDA in May of 2006. A Fast Track designation helps to expedite the review process and Biologics License Applications (BLAs) for potential life-saving drugs and procedures.

    Cell Genesys is currently conducting two Phase-III trials of GVAX immunotherapy for prostate cancer.

    The first (VITAL-1) began in July 2004 and compares GVAX to Taxotere® chemotherapy administered with prednisone (an immunosuppressant), while the second (VITAL-2) commenced in June 2005 and compares GVAX plus Taxotere® to Taxotere® plus prednisone.

    We are in phase 3 not 2 and these trials as you can see are long in the tooth and winding down. We SHOULD have more info shortly and approval by 2010. In bio terms 2010 is around the corner, especially when the company could be bought out by Tekada their JAQPANESE DRUG GIANT PARTNER PROVIDING financing... YES THE COMPANY HAS CUT A HUGE financing deal that got very little press and furthermore certain hospitals have offered to pick up the costs for further research for a piece of the royalty stream... there is no cash burn situation here and the potential is so huge and the players involveD now so large- I feel this company has the best chance and breaking the real cancer vax wall-- by BEING THE FIRST TO GET approval RIGHT here in the good ole's USA!

    I expect to hold CEGE for three to six months.

    With CPST I have more modest but big % goals the stk would be better bought at the $2.50 level for a pure ride to $4.50. I am buying now because the chart is telling me to not because I want to... still $3.00 to $4.50 is nice! ~ stoney
     
  5. These picks suck.. no surprise

    CPST is a train wreck waiting to happen

    CEGE is equally bad.
     
  6. Cell Genesys Inc. 3.75 0.28
    Today 5d 1m 3m 1y 5y 10y
    (8.07%) 04/22/2008 14:58......

    haven't had the guts to look up Capstone T got a weird vibe... but take a look at that CEGE chart!
    ~si
     
  7. Yummy I just checked up 8% on our CAPSTONE too... that's near 13% total on CEGE & 8% on CPST... That My friends would be fine for some... but don't forget this is a Double Pack Of Fun... and I expect so much more.
    And so should you! ~ stoney
     
  8. CEGE kissed $4 a couple of times today sig jan resist already 2 mil shares plus with loads of time to go. If we can close above $4 today there's not much more to say. Here comes our first test and since the bio news has been good that is in our favor... Take a look at the 5 day.~ stoney
     
  9. I went long on CEGE yesterday right before the close. Small bite (500 shares) but right now the stock's on a tear, up almost 7 percent. Love it.

    I was never quite as convinced with CPST. I put $3000 into it when you posted the thread but after it went pretty much nowhere I dumped the shares for about a $50 loss. If I held longer, I would have profited some. Real money trading is such a learning experience, neh?
     
  10. What a day. Up 16%. Should have thrown $20,000 at it.
     
    #10     May 2, 2008