This Weeks Stock Pick
7-6-2010 STW Stock
Recommendation ACTC
ACTC may have the largest
upside potential of all of the biotechnology stocks priced under $1.00. The
technology, scientists and pipeline of this company are outstanding. They
not only own a unique patented stem cell extraction method but are working
on a drug pipeline that could cure many cases of blindness, double survival
rates after heart attacks as well as new program to manufacture blood. The
profit potential as well as life changing ability of any one of these would
be one of the biggest medical breakthroughs and profit makers of the decade.
There is pending news expected in several areas for ACTC including approvals
from the FDA and NIH that should lead to a doubling or tripling of the share
price in the near term.
ACTC is led by Dr.
Lanza who many consider to be greatest mind ever in stem cell research. The
only reason we can see for the stock to continue to trade in the .067 to .10
range is the fear of future dilution, but their balance sheet has improved
in the past year. They are beginning to get increased non diluting
Government funding and are on the verge of having new stem cell lines
qualify for more funding in the near future.
TA shows that the share
price has likely bottomed and this recent down move after last months price
increase on a double dose of good news is simply a correction. We see it as
possibly the last opportunity to get in below .08 and are adding to our
position.
Excerpts from Recent
Press Releases
June 16, 2010,
WORCESTER, MA – Advanced Cell Technology, Inc.
(“ACT”; OTCBB: ACTC), a
leader in the field of regenerative medicine, announced today that it has
been issued U.S. Patent Number 7736896, which is broadly directed to
processes developed by ACT scientists for the
production of retinal pigment epithelial (RPE)
cells from human embryonic stem cells (hESCs). Issued with 35 claims, the
patent covers what the company believes are the fundamental methods for
producing RPE cells from hESCs in a manner that is
suitable for use in human patients. The Company expects to use
RPE cells in its Phase I trial to treat patients
with Stargardt’s Macular Dystrophy (SMD)
and in other pre-clinical applications.
WORCESTER, Mass.,
Jun 11, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Advanced Cell Technology, Inc.
/quotes/comstock/11k!actc
(ACTC
0.07,
-.00,
-2.63%)
announced today that human embryonic stem cell (hESC) line MA135 was
unanimously approved for federal funding at the 100th Meeting of the
Advisory Committee to the Director (ACD) National Institutes of Health (NIH).
In addition to MA135, seven additional stem cell lines derived at ACT are
currently under review by the NIH. Five of these lines were produced without
embryo destruction using ACT's proprietary single-blastomere "embryo-safe"
Link to Detailed ACTC Overview from May 2010
Presentation
http://www.advancedcell.com/documents/0000/0250/Rodman_2010_-_for_posting_-_no_video.pdf
Information On Dr. Lanza of ACTC
Lanza was born in
Boston,
Massachusetts. Lanza "altered the
genetics of chickens in his basement", and came to the attention of
Harvard Medical School
researchers when he appeared at the university with his results.
Jonas Salk,
B. F. Skinner, and
Christiaan Barnard mentored Lanza
over the next ten years. Lanza attended
University of Pennsylvania,
receiving BA and MD degrees. There, he was a Benjamin Franklin Scholar, and
a
Fulbright Scholar.
Lanza was part of the team that
cloned the world's first early stage human embryos for the purpose of
generating embryonic
stem cells and he demonstrated
that techniques used in
preimplantation genetic diagnosis
could be used to generate
embryonic stem cells without embryonic
destruction. In 2001 he was also the first to clone an endangered
species and in 2003, he
cloned an endangered wild ox from
the frozen skin cells of an animal that had died a quarter-of-a-century
earlier.
Lanza and his colleagues were
the first to demonstrate that nuclear transplantation could be used to
reverse the aging process and to generate immune-compatible tissues,
including the first organ grown in the laboratory from cloned cells. Lanza
showed that it is feasible to generate functional oxygen-carrying red blood
cells from human embryonic stem cells under conditions suitable for clinical
scale-up. The blood cells could potentially serve as a source of “universal”
blood. His team discovered how to generate functional
hemangioblasts from human
embryonic stem cells. In animals, these cells quickly repaired vascular
damage, cutting the death rate after a heart attack in half and restoring
the blood flow to ischemic limbs that might otherwise have required
amputatation.
Current ACTC
Programs
RPE Program
ACT is focused on
commercializing its
Retinal Pigment Epithelium
therapy (RPE) for degenerative retinal disease. The company has filed an
Investigational New Drug (IND) application with the US Food and Drug
Administration (FDA)
for a human
clinical trial to use its RPE
cells to treat
Stargardt disease, a form of
inherited juvenile
macular degeneration.
Myoblast program
ACT is developing its Myoblast
program, a stem cell therapy for the treatment of chronic
heart failure, advanced
cardiac disease,
myocardial infarction, and
ischemia. This program has been
approved by the FDA for Phase II clinical trials
Hemangioblast platform
The company is developing its
Hemangioblast platform for the
treatment of
blood and
cardiovascular diseases. This
program is in the
pre-clinical development phase.
Company Information
and Detailed Overview
www.advancedcell.com
Advanced Cell Technology, Inc., a biotechnology company, engages in the
development and commercialization of human embryonic and adult stem cell
technology in the field of regenerative medicine. Operations The company's
business is focused on both the development and commercialization of adult
stem cell transplantation therapies and embryonic stem (ES) cell based
technologies. Its adult stem cell-based products are specifically targeted
at therapies for heart and other cardiovascular disease and are at advanced
stage of development than its human ES cell based technologies. Human ES
Cell Programs The company’s research and technologies are focused on solving
this obstacle by creating stem cell therapeutics with compatible tissues.
Compatible tissues are referred to as being histocompatible. The company has
developed a method to derive human embryonic stem cell lines at the
blastomere stage that does not result in the destruction of the
preimplantation embryo. Its ES cell technologies are at the level of basic
research or in the pre-clinical stage of development. ES Cell Research
Programs The company’s ES cell research programs are divided into three core
categories: cellular reprogramming, its reduced complexity program, and stem
cell differentiation. Cellular Reprogramming: This research program involves
development of therapies based on the use of genetically identical
pluripotent stem cells generated by its cellular reprogramming technologies.
These technologies can be used to generate patient-specific pluripotent
cells and tissues for transplantation. Its fusion technologies involve the
fusion of the cytoplasm of one cell into another. Stem Cell Differentiation:
The company intends to pursue differentiation approaches both in-house and
through collaborations with other researchers who have particular interests
in, and skills related to, cellular differentiation. These efforts include
using both animal and human stem cell lines. The company’s research in this
area includes projects focusing on developing many different cell types that
may be used in the future to treat a range of diseases. The company’s
researchers have generated retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) cell lines for
use in its clinical retinal program and are working on projects to generate
cell lines with particular focus on blood lineage and vascular epithelial
cell lines from hemangioblast cells. The hemangioblast program is in
preclinical development. Adult Stem Cell Program: The company’s adult stem
cell-based program is developing an autologous myoblast transplantation
therapy delivered using a catheter injection system to restore cardiac
function in patients with advanced heart disease. The key target for the
therapy would be heart failure patients with
New York
Heart Association (NYHA) scores Class II to IV. The company’s
transplantation therapy involves extraction through biopsy from a patient's
thigh of myoblasts, which are non-embryonic, skeletal muscle stem cells that
can be expanded in culture and injected back into damaged and scarred
regions of the heart. It has received approval to proceed with its Phase II
clinical trial, to evaluate the applications for myoblast transplantation in
slowing and/or reversing the impact of heart failure.
ACTC Stock Chart and
Technical Analysis
Price Channel
ACTC is trading above the lower end of its price channel indicating a short
term bottom has been established.
Momentum
The chart shows that ACTC has maintained the positive direction of momentum
even though the price has fallen. This indicates a correction nearing
its end and is a bullish signal.
Stochastics
The Stochastic Oscillator is registering a weak bullish signal as the %K has
crossed above the %D. However, the oscillator is currently below the
critical value of 20, identifying ACTC as oversold. An oversold condition
means that the recent downwards momentum is not sustainable. Investors
should watch for the oscillator to move above 20 which will increase the
bullishness of this signal.
On Balance Volume
The On Balance Volume indicator (OBV) shows that longer term selling
pressure has given way to near term accumulation.
Price Channel
ACTC is trading near its lower price channel band. This suggests that the
stock price is low relative to the action over the last 5 day period.
Ultimate Oscillator
The Ultimate Oscillator is currently at 35.18% which indicates that the
stock is neither overbought nor oversold. You should note the trend of the
Ultimate Oscillator to see if the internal strength of ACTC is improving or
weakening.
STW is long ACTC
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