7:30...They report Friday so I will hear what this Drug Store..t/a sideways.

7:30..GOT TO GO TO THIS ONE..this is down 30% from last JPM, t/a in sideways, not much interest on blogs, good qtrs..they are branded and generic drugs...this is from seeking alpha..Fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) is an enormous market opportunity for pharmaceutical companies. The competition is low and the medical need is significant. Forest Labs (FRX) is currently waiting for FDA approval of milnacipran, a potential blockbuster drug with key differentiating characteristics for the treatment of FMS. If approved, Forest Labs will owe an estimated 15% royalty plus milestones to Cypress Biosciences (CYPB). Once milnacipran gets rolling, Forest should look to acquire Cypress later in 2009................. CYPB and Forest Labs (FRX) announced positive Phase 3 results earlier this month for milnacipran in the treatment of fibromyalgia, which was statistically significant compared to placebo. CYPB has about 4 bucks in cash, zero debt, over 10 years of patient data for milnacipran outside the U.S., and a large database of milnacipran trial data confirming its benefit in the treatment of fibromyalgia. At current levels, the risk/reward ratio strongly favors the upside on milnacipran approval compared to the downside risk of more delays by the FDA – as an outright rejection appears highly unlikely given the statement by the agency at the time of the PDUFA date

7:30..down 10% from last jpm conf...Medical Supplies The Bard, they make Stents, Catheters, etc..not much interest on the boards..formation heading to the apex.

7:30...down 38% from last jpm conf.Yet, they had good earnings today and could be a cup and handle tomorrow.....Jan 8 (Reuters) - American Medical Systems Holdings Inc (AMMD.O), a supplier of urological medical devices, reported better-than-expected preliminary fourth-quarter sales, boosted by growth in its women's health business, sending its shares up 7 percent. The company reported preliminary fourth-quarter sales of $134 million, topping its own forecast of $126 million to $132 million. The strengthening of the U.S. dollar hurt revenue by $3.8 million compared with the year-ago period, the company said. Women's health business rose 8 percent to $45.1 million. The company still expects a profit of 21 cents to 25 cents per share, excluding items, for the quarter ended Jan. 3. Analysts on average expect a profit of 22 cents a share, before items, on revenue of $129.5 million, according to Reuters Estimates. The company expects a full commercial launch of its vaginal prolapse product, which was approved by the U.S. health regulators on Thursday, by the third quarter of 2009. Shares of the Minnetonka, Minnesota-based company were trading at $9.50 after the bell. They closed at $8.90 Thursday on Nasdaq. (Reporting by Vidya L Nathan in Bangalore; Editing by Deepak Kannan) ..

7:30...Try and check this one out to see what they say about Medicare Advantage and Obama...t/a sideways formation. No interest on the boards. Only 4 analyst..upgrades. P/E 15 v industry 8. This is the company from their site..Universal American offers a diverse range of healthcare products – including health insurance, managed care, and prescription drug benefits – through its subsidiaries. Its companies are collectively among the leading providers of Medicare Advantage and Medicare prescription drug plans in the U.S., as over two million seniors rely on Universal American's products for their health or prescription drug coverage. For more information on Universal American

8..JPM note.I am jumping between here and JJC blog so I don't crowd either one...watching CEO....Strategy....Looking for Best in Class ...a "build a better mouse trap"...Footprint in ROW...strong revenues...Avonex has doubled in sales...Value Drivers Tysabri...pml story...ONLY product that saw IMPROVEMENT in MS patients...walking w/out cane...Doctors now per CEO..he is reading thank you letters. 69% Improvement....great stories...man get his sight back with drug. ABCR patients change drug CEO hoping will go to Tysabri...this room is only half full this morning..they are in the main ballroom...Pipeline...Cecil Picket, MD is going to talk R and D...Novel Theup...Licence and in-house..best in class Molecules...all these guys love their Molecules...20 preclin, 5 first in human First half 09..7 drugs...BG 12...Phase 3 in MS, Phase 2 in RA...it is a stabilizer of a protein ...Define enroll complete in 1/2 of 2009, Confirm enrollment second half of 2009...PEGylated Interferon 1a will presnt at 2009 AAN planned...Lumiliximab...again an antibody that binds with protein...Heart Failure Molecules....cong heart failure...found 2 causes..they are working on both those...Adentri oral formula likes the A2b receptors in the kidney ..Trident and Poseidon (starting 2nd half of year)...They also have a Hsp90 Inhibitor..small molecule..tumor cell signaling...Plan Phase 2 number of studies in solid tumors in 2009...6 Potential Readouts for 2009 and 2010....robust pipeline...IMHO they are shopping around for Molecules at this conference too...looking for best of class....Well it is lunch time...fast morning...I got my wireless going again...yeah!!....had a chance to read col conversation just now...Adam caught the news in BIIB...the CEO didn't make that much a deal of it....from cc..."SAN FRANCISCO -- I've been in meetings so a bit late to the news, but Biogen Idec (BIIB) announced that the growth rate of new patients taking the multiple sclerosis drug Tysabri slowed in the fourth quarter to 6%, down from 11% in the third quarter. The stock appears to be moving higher, in part because there's little surprise in this Tysabri news. It was widely expected ever since new cases of Tysabri patients coming down with the brain infection PML were announced last year. " .Biotech..t/a sideways formation...traders stock, good qtrs..per seeking alpha..) Pfizer Ltd. (PFE) is sitting on over $30 billion in cash and the Lipitor patent expiration in 2012 is bearing down like a freight train. Management needs to find new areas of growth. Pfizer has also mentioned in the past that they are keen on expanding the biologic business. With "all deal sizes" on the table, the best move we see for Pfizer in 2009 is to acquire big-cap biotech firm Biogen Idec (BIIB). We have heard rumors of a Pfizer-Amgen (AMGN) combination, but Biogen would be a lot easier to swallow. The deal would give Pfizer several new revenue drivers and an enormous biologic pipeline for about a fourth of the price of Amgen. Biogen's core focus in central nervous system disorders, oncology, and inflammatory disease is just what Pfizer is looking for. Biogen also bring a massive biologic manufacturing footprint that will help Pfizer commercialize its next-generation portfolio. ...........down 24 since Asco which notes are..Finally, we have active INDs for TYSABRI in multiple myeloma and Anti-Cripto-DM4 for solid tumors. We also published an in vitro study of Neublastin in Nature Neuroscience. Neublastin promoted regeneration of damaged sensory nerve cells and restored sensory and motor function. And also keep on the lookout for a number of abstracts from us at the upcoming ASCO and UR [ph] meetings

8...Medical Supplies, Needles, wound care, medical devices..Jan 26 Earn Release..t/a sideways formation. not much interest on boards..this is from seeking alpha..Covidien reported Q4 2008 earnings on November 18th of $0.73 compared with $0.62 the year before. Sales rose 13.0% to $2.6 billion. Chairman Richard Meelia said that growth was well diversified, with “three of our four segments reporting double-digit increases.” Medical devices and pharmaceuticals led the way with sales growth of 10% and 37% respectively. Foreign exchange rates contributed 3.0% to sales in the quarter. Full Year Revenue Guidance: Reduced to $9.9-$10.2 billion Full Year EPS Guidance: $3.02 2009 P/E: 12.367 5 Year Historic P/E Lows: (Spun off Tyco less than 2 years ago

8..Biotech, could be owned by AAPlus..Adam F said this about it answered my first reader email about Exelixis in a Feb. 10, 2007 Biotech Mailbag. At that time, Exelixis was a $10 stock. Here's what I had to say back then: I like Exelixis for all the reasons F.M. states. The company's pipeline of targeted cancer drugs is deep -- 11 compounds in or near clinical development, including four drugs in phase II trials. Another three drugs should be entering clinical development in 2007. All the drugs are designed to interrupt multiple signaling pathways that cause tumors to grow. Many of these drug targets have been validated by drugs currently on the market. And then there are partnerships with Genentech(DNA Quote - Cramer on DNA - Stock Picks), GlaxoSmithKline(GSK Quote - Cramer on GSK - Stock Picks) and Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY Quote - Cramer on BMY - Stock Picks). Some of these Exelixis drugs are going to fail. Blowups in biotech drug development are inevitable, and cancer is especially tough. But Exelixis' deep pipeline provides some cushion from failure. I see the company as a way to diversify risk with a single investment. There are some things I worry about with Exelixis. The stock sports a market cap just under $1 billion already, so it isn't cheap. Developing all those drugs costs a lot of dough, too, which could mean significant dilutive financings ahead. (To its credit, Exelixis has used some creativity to raise money while sparing shareholders a ton of dilution.) Finally, I worry that while the pipeline provides diversification, all the drugs are still emanating from a single lab and technology platform. If that's flawed, it could mean trouble. For all these reasons, a conservative way to invest in Exelixis is to take advantage of drug-development stumbles or dips in the stock price to buy shares. Last November, for instance, Exelixis temporarily suspended patient enrollment in one of its phase II studies because of an unexpected adverse event. The stock dipped from $9-plus to around $8 per share. If you had bought the stock on the day the bad news hit the tape, you'd be up more than 25% today. Exelixis closed trading Thursday at $3.62. That $1 billion market cap has been whittled down to under $400 million. My worries came true. Exelixis turned out to be an expensive stock with an early-stage pipeline. The company has a voracious and never-ending appetite for cash. And that pile of promising cancer drugs in the portfolio, far from being a "cushion from failure," has actually been a hindrance to intelligent clinical development. Exelixis has too many drugs in the hopper, to the point that nothing is getting done quickly enough. If there's good news to come from this, Exelixis at around $4 is a more compelling investment than it turned out to be at $10. That's small comfort for those who owned the stock higher, I realize. Don't be fooled into thinking that there isn't downside risk to Exelixis even at this level. The company has to start making meaningful progress with the cancer drug pipeline or the stock will go lower. A phase III trial -- the company's first -- was initiated in July for XL184. The problem is that the drug is being tested against a rare form of thyroid cancer which means a very small commercial opportunity. And the study is going to take two years to enroll fully. Exelixis needs solid clinical data from its other drugs so that larger phase II and III studies can get started. Watch to see what the company announces at a European cancer conference later this month. Glaxo is also expected to make a partnering decision on XL184 later this month. Last week, Exelixis announced plans to bring another new cancer drug into human testing. Stop! How about moving faster with the drugs in the pipeline already? That's what investors want to see. ..down 37% since ASCO..which I had..1. XL647 - there weren't any surprises here since Exelixis has been talking up this compound lately and the abstracts are congruent with their recent statements. XL647 may be a decent 2nd or 3rd line drug for NSCLC and there are signs that it would be a good 1st line drug for a certain sub-population of patients. 2. Fantastic results for XL880 for PRC. They had 20 of 20 patients showing benefit from the compound. The abstract for Gastric Cancer was not as clear. If I'm understanding it correctly 6 of 12 patients had stable disease and 2 of these had tumor shrinkage of 20%. 3. Fantastic results for XL184 for MTC. 10 of 10 patients had stable disease or better. I'm betting GSK will opt-in on this one later this year. I think the only reason they would pass is that MTC is not too common and they didn't believe that there are other indications where XL184 would be efficacious. 4. The abstract for XL765 was very preliminary. It showed that the compound was tolerated and that maximum tolerated dose has not yet been achieved. There were also signs of some activity for a patient with NSCLC and another with testicular cancer. I am hoping there will be more up-to-date efficacy information in 2 weeks. There should also be information on some other compounds (I forgot which they were) in a couple of weeks when Exelixis holds their press conference at the ASCO conference. Having a big miss..Not Sexy at all...For XL 6478053 Citation: J Clin Oncol 26: 2008 (May 20 suppl; abstr 8053) Author(s): N. A. Rizvi, M. G. Kris, V. A. Miller, L. M. Krug, S. Bekele, A. Dowlati, K. M. Rowland, R. Salgia, N. Aggarwal, S. M. Gadgeel Abstract: Background: XL647 is a small molecule inhibitor of EGFR, HER2, and VEGFR2. Oral administration of XL647 results in dose-dependent, sustained inhibition of these target enzymes in preclinical studies. Increasing evidence of a close relationship between EGFR- and VEGFR2-mediated signaling pathways suggests that simultaneous inhibition of these pathways may provide improved efficacy. Methods: XL647 is administered orally as a single dose of 350 mg on Days 1-5 of each 14 day cycle (intermittent cohort). A second cohort will receive 300 mg daily. The primary endpoint is tumor response by RECIST. Pts with previously untreated advanced NSCLC (Stage IIIB or Stage IV) with adenocarcinoma histology that meet at least one of the following demographic criteria: Asian, female, minimal ( 3 months was observed in a total of 36% of patients. Common adverse events reported to date are Grade 1/ 2 diarrhea, fatigue, rash, nausea and clinically asymptomatic QTc prolongation. Conclusions: This study supports a clinical selection strategy to enrich a NSCLC population for EGFR mutations. XL647 has anti- tumor activity in selected NSCLC pts, demonstrating a 28% PR rate and 36% SD for > 3 months, for an overall clinical benefit rate of 64%. All 8 pts with EGFR activating mutations experienced tumor shrinkage (7 with PRs and 1 SD). Three pts without an EGFR mutation experienced a PR. XL647 is well-tolerated in this patient population. Data from the daily dosing cohort will be presented... Second trial..50% failure..4572 Citation: J Clin Oncol 26: 2008 (May 20 suppl; abstr 4572) Author(s): M. P. Jhawer, H. L. Kindler, Z. A. Wainberg, J. R. Hecht, R. O. Kerr, J. M. Ford, C. Henderson, T. Mueller, H. N. Keer, M. A. Shah Abstract: Background: XL880 is a potent, orally available small molecule inhibitor of MET and VEGFR2/KDR. Gastric cancer cell lines with MET amplification at 7q31 are sensitive to MET inhibition. Since, in retrospective clinical series, 7q31 amplification has been associated with PDGC, this phase II study examines the safety and efficacy of XL880 in pts with metastatic PDGC. Methods: The primary endpoint is response rate (RR), with 30 pts required to test the hypothesis that the RECIST confirmed RR with XL880 is 29% with 81% power and type I error of.041, versus Ho RR 11%. Eligibility requirements include: 0-2 prior chemotherapy regimens, adequate organ function, measurable disease, and ECOG 0-2. Pts receive XL880 240 mg/day on d1-5 of 14 day treatment cycles, and response is assessed every 8 weeks. MET amplification, determined by FISH of archival tissue, is defined as > 3 copies of 7q31. Optional pre- and on-treatment tumor biopsies are analyzed by immunohistochemistry for XL880 effects on direct and downstream drug targets. Plasma markers are analyzed for effects of anti-angiogenic therapy including VEGF-A and sVEGFR2. XL880 pharmacokinetics are evaluated as well. Results: As of 12/28/07, 18 pts have enrolled, 16 with tumor available for FISH. XL880 was well tolerated: all AEs were grade 1 or 2, most commonly hypertension, nausea, anorexia, fatigue, and asymptomatic liver function abnormalities. No related grade 4 or 5 AEs have been observed. Four of 16 pts had MET amplification by FISH: 2 evaluable pts demonstrated 20% decrease in tumor size, one progressed prior to XL880 treatment initiation, and one has not yet had the first efficacy evaluation. Overall, of 12 evaluable pts 2 patients had 20% decrease in tumor size at the first 8-week evaluation. Of these 12 pts, 6 remain on study (2 for > 12 wks, 4 for 8+ wks) and 6 had disease progression at