Oncothyreon ($ONTY): Raising Capital as Rodman Re-itts the Buy Rating: "Down but not out - PX866 to drive value in 2012"

Oncothyreon ($ONTY) is a biotechnology company dedicated to the development of oncology products that can improve the lives and outcomes of cancer patients. The company is currently developing multiple therapeutic candidates designed to target cancer in specific and effective ways. The pipeline includes both synthetic vaccines and small molecules for a variety of cancer indications. 

Rodman & Renshaw has released a report on Oncothyreon, classifying it as "Outperform" with a "Speculative Risk." The report includes the following investment opinion:  

 

"We are reiterating our Market Outperform rating and 12-month price target of $10 per share for Oncothyreon. Our price target is based on a 2015 discounted revenues and earnings per share multiples analysis. Although the second interim analysis did not live up to investor’s expectations, we continue to believe in the Stimuvax story. The recent data highlights the therapeutic value of Stimuvax, and also serves to validate Oncothyreon’s MUC1 based vaccine technology platform. In addition to Stimuvax and ONT-10, Oncothyreon possesses a broad oncology pipeline, which includes PX-866 (an irreversible inhibitor of PI3K) and ONT-701 (a newly acquired pan Bcl-2 inhibitor)." 

Our Thoughts: Ovarian is a great indication, unmet medical need but tough to crack. Oncothyreon has postponed results but that may not be  bad thing, perhaps patients are living longer. We saw some news of a capital raise underwritten by Cowen and Stifel Nicolas.

Watch this name and the data as it rolls out, it will also impact dendritic cell company, Prima BioMed that chasing the same MUC-1 target.

Rodman Renshaw Report on ONTY

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Prima BioMed ($PRR) Granted Japanese Patent for Cripto-1 Antibody; $PRR

Prima BioMed (ASX: PRR) is an Australian health care  company focused on technologies in the fields of cancer immunotherapy and immunology. Prima’s lead product is the CVac (tm) ovarian cancer therapy treatment. It has completed two successful clinical trials and is progressing toward eventual commercialisation in the United States, Australia, Europe, and globally. The Company’s broader, long term goal is to develop commercial cancer treatment technologies and programs for global markets.

One of the company's three programs in place is focused on the identification and development of a monoclonal antibody to cripto-1. Monoclonal antibodies have been a major success in recent improvements of cancer treatment. Cripto-1 is a component of the endothelial growth factor complex, and neutralizing this important protein will enable Prima to target multiple tumour types.

The company announced that it "has received Notification of Grant by the Japanese Patent Office for its antibody to cancer antigen Cripto-1. Patent number 4854912 is titled, Antibodies against Cancer and expires in March 2022. The patent has also been granted in Australia, New Zealand, China, South Korea and the USA."

The granted patent claims "protect the use of an antibody directed to the cancer antigen Cripto-1. Cripto -1 is a protein found in high levels on the surface of many different kinds of cancer cells and is also found to circulate in the blood stream of cancer patients. The antibody works by binding to the Cripto-1 molecule and interfering with cell signalling, resulting in the death of the cancer cell. The antibody may additionally be coupled to cytotoxic drugs to deliver a more lethal combination of drug and cell signal to cancer cells."

Read the full release on PrimaBioMed.com.