LOS ANGELES, CA / ACCESSWIRE / October 28, 2014 / Time
Magazine is
today warning investors that while developmental stage pharmas like Inovio
Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:INO , NewLink Genetics Corp. (NASDAQ:NLNK), Tekmira
Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:TKMR) and
Sarepta Therapeutics (NASDAQ:SRPT) have all generated significant interest among
stock market investors lately, there are good reasons to shy away from buying into
experimental Ebola treatment therapies. But how can this be?
According
to Scientific American, the
number of Ebola cases continues to rise because control measures in the
outbreak area are insufficient. Experts say these numbers could drop quickly if
the international community and affected countries manage to implement an
effective response.
As
such, a better answer for speculative investors may lie in betting on companies
who might emerge as front runners to develop prophylactic (not a therapeutic) vaccines
against Ebola.
The
problem is, most small-cap investors aren’t likely to afford enough shares of established
companies in the prophylactic vaccine arena. You see, the vaccine industry is
dominated by five pharmaceutical powerhouses: Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE), Novartis (NYSE:NVS),
Merck (NYSE:MRK), Sanofi Pasteur, and GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE:GSK), four of which
command over 75 percent of the market.
One
low-priced emerging player in the space, has shares trading at technically and
fundamentally “oversold” levels following a recent financing and company re-structuring.
TapImmune,
Inc. (OTCBB:TPIV) is a Seattle based biotech who
some believe may hold the key to greatly reducing the mortality rate of HER2/neu
breast and ovarian cancer - two major killers with very limited existing treatment
options.
Given
the market size and potential of their lead products (not to mention recent
clinical trial results), it’s hard to defend the firm’s low market cap valuation.
The stock has been inexplicably punished after having seen shares trade as high
as $7 recently. In fact, shares are now priced more like options that won’t
expire and there are plenty of reasons to like the upside here.
A
breakthrough in medical technology within TapImmune’s arsenal may hold the key
to silencing the world's most fearsome diseases. The firm’s PolyStart™ technology
boosts the effectiveness of existing vaccines on several cancers and infectious
diseases including influenza, H1N1, Dengue, and possibly even Ebola or Enterovirus.
Successful proof of concept studies conducted
at the Mayo Clinic have recently shown that human cells transfected with a PolyStart™
construct containing vaccinia virus ("smallpox") antigens could express
antigens on the surface of cells resulting in a marked increase in the killing
efficacy with an immune serum against these antigens. In addition, PolyStart(TM) can
be used in concert with TapImmune’s TAPvax platform which can improve antigen
presentation and confirms a significant portfolio of technology depth in this
important component of immunotherapeutic vaccine development.
The use of PolyStart(TM) can increase the
production of targeted vaccine peptides by FOUR fold, making the vaccine
present significantly more of the target peptide to the immune system resulting
in increased killing of the target rogue cells and potentially making
production of large volume vaccines more cost effective. This is a major
advance in vaccine development and confirms a tremendous platform in the
TapImmune portfolio.
The Method Behind the
Miracle
PolyStart(TM) enables a patient's immune system to better combat diseases by making the
diseased cells more visible to the immune system and because immune function plays a huge role in
the success of a vaccine, PolyStart(TM) makes new and existing vaccines much more
powerful.
Various
studies have shown that the human immune system is able to combat and rid the
body of cancers and diseased cells. Observations showed dramatic tumor
regression when the immune system is active and functioning optimally. Most
cancers fail to call the immune system to action due to a shortage of
triggering proteins on the surfaces of cancerous cells. TapImmune's PolyStart(TM) is based around helping to solve this issue.
Think
of it like a targeting system. When a person gets ill, their immune system
knows that something's wrong and it deploys Helper and Killer T-cells to
destroy the infected cells. The problem with cancer and diseases like Ebola is
that the immune system has a hard time telling enemy cells from innocent ones. PolyStart™
makes these enemy cells 400 percent more visible by marking them with specific
chemical peptides that attract T-Helper and T-Killer cells.
PolyStart's(TM) versatility is one of its most interesting traits. It not only marks infected
cell surfaces with immune triggers, but can easily switch the peptides that
make up these markings to provide much wider protection from various strains of
the diseases. Peptides play a variety of roles in the body, and are important
building blocks for vaccines. Once the right peptide is identified, scientists
can quickly develop a targeted vaccine. The technology has the potential to
save many lives otherwise lost during a pandemic or emergence of a new virus
strain.
Short and Long-Term
Goals
TapImmune
believes there is a strong market for its technology. Together with the Mayo
Clinic, corporate partners, and other supporters, TapImmune is focusing its infectious
disease program development efforts to target smallpox and other leading threats
in many countries, and could easily be ramped up to address Ebola. In fact, PolyStart's(TM) adaptability makes it a prime candidate in responding to not only viral
outbreaks but also to bioterrorism.
TapImmune’s
management has officially
indicated that they plan to initiate PolyStart™ clinical trials and to
secure a variety of new partnerships, R&D collaborations and break into the
competitive vaccine market with developers seeking a more effective treatment
tool.
Management
is confident in PolyStart's(TM) ability to power up existing vaccines and
assist in the development of new vaccines and if TapImmune successfully secures
such a collaborative research and development partnership in the near term, shareholders
could see their stock bounce back towards the published one-year target price of $6.97.
If
TapImmune fails to secure a partnership or collaboration, there appears to be little
downside risk at today’s prices. In fact, we note various news catalysts about
the firm’s pipeline progress which could easily spur more interest and positive
price inflections ahead.
Whether
they are mentioned as Ebola stock plays or not, the Time Magazine article
points out that all these clinical-stage companies tend to have limited
resources and huge cash burns which are heavily dependent upon dilutive
financing to fund their operations. Minimize risk as much as you can by doing
careful due diligence and truly weighing the value proposition being offered at
today’s prices by these firms.
Author Michael Greenberg covers emerging companies and small cap opportunities
SOURCE: BioMedReports