goldfinger
- 01 Sep 2004 15:33
This ones a heck of a specualive investment but it seems that the institutions are willing to stomp up the cash to back it in the long term.
Heres the latest news from Killik stocbrokers on the company..........
MEDICAL MARKETING Joint Venture
We recently highlighted Medical Marketing (MMG) as worthy of attention. The company, in which I have a personal share holding, has this morning announced the formation of a joint venture, Genvax, to develop a novel DNA vaccine platform technology.
Human trials have been underway since 2001 in areas such as Lymphoma and Myeloma but the technology has broad applications in cancer, viral and bacterial infections (hence the term platform). The technology works on boosting the immune system by teaching it to identify hard to recognise cancer proteins as foreign and destroy them. Early results from the 25 patient trial in lymphoma are encouraging and evaluation of the result is expected by March 2005. Successful results should mean big pharmaceutical groups will start to take financial and commercial interests around that time.
This looks to be the first of a series of announcements due from Medical Marketing as it has a range of predominantly cancer trials moving into the clinical stage. (news flow could push the price higher)
The stock has made good progress in recent sessions up to the mid-80p level where the company is valued at just under 40 million. ENDS.
Please DYOR
cheers GF.
goldfinger
- 18 Apr 2005 16:07
- 1301 of 2444
No late run up from this one yet, mind theres still time.
cheers GF
rob308
- 18 Apr 2005 16:18
- 1302 of 2444
considering the dow is now southward bound mmg is holding up well
rob
goldfinger
- 19 Apr 2005 00:17
- 1303 of 2444
The last but one Insinger note, we know they have now updated to 275p.
Insinger de Beaufort 131 Finsbury Pavement
Tel +44 (0) 20 7190 7000 London
www.insinger.com EC2A 1NT
UK Equity Research 22 February 2005
Trading View
Independent Banking
Source: Insinger de Beaufort, Bloomberg
Accelerating development pipeline
Significant commercial potential: MMI is an emerging biotechnology company
focused in cancer and infectious diseases, both areas of significant commercial
potential. MMIs strategy is to develop drugs to Phase II clinical trial stage and then
commercialise via out-licencing agreements with pharmaceutical companies. Thin
pipelines and patent expiries have acted as a catalyst for a large number of deals
with small cap biotechs such as MMI, even for products which are relatively early
stage. For example a deal with Oxxon Therapeutics could potentially be worth up to
44m in up-front and milestone payments in order to access Xenovas early stage
cancer DISC HSV vector technology. It is also interesting to note recent benchmark
deals for pre clinical early stage compounds with promise - Novartis paid c.$157m to
Xenon and J&J is paying up to $295m in a deal excluding royalties to Arena.
MMI has four R&D divisions:
a) Oncosense (wholly owned) - technology based around the precious metal
ruthenium which is potentially up to 15 times more efficacious than the
most potent platinum anticancer drug.
b) Genvax (JV) - developing DNA vaccines for cancer with Southampton
University/Cancer Research UK Leukaemia Research Fund
c) Viratis (JV) - viral infections with Kings College London
d) Endozyme (wholly owned) - drug resistant Infections working with
Cambridge University/Novartis
MMI also provides technical services to UK academic and commercial institutions
which apart from generating revenues, also provides a stream of potential in -
licensing opportunities.
Tight cost control: Given a current cash balance of 2.6m, MMI has enough cash to
last until Q1 06. Whilst it would not be prudent to discount a future fund raising,
additional cash inflows may come from licensing deals. Furthermore MMIs R&D
expenses are contained via collaborat ions outlined above and also contracting out
to CROs (clinical research organisations).
Strong management: MMIs management has been strengthened recently with the
appointment of Dr James Hoeschele (co-discoverer of Carboplatin, a platinum based
anti-cancer treatment) to work on MMI's leading ruthenium compounds which are
expected to reach the market during 2008.
Strong newslow: During the course of 2005 MMI aims to bring 6 new products into
Phase I/II clinical trials including compounds from MMIs ruthenium based
anticancer programme. The JV Genvax is due to report on Phase II trials treating
follicular lymphoma on the 18th March. These results are expected to be positive
and as such could drive the share price higher despite the recent good run. MMI is
also currently negotiating with a number of potential licensee companies for the
ruthenium technology. Conservative target price of 200p (DCF) generates 50% plus.
cheers GF.
goldfinger
- 19 Apr 2005 08:57
- 1304 of 2444
A positive start for MMG lets hope with a week to go to the company R&D day that the stock picks up in price and blasts through 200p.
cheers GF.
goldfinger
- 19 Apr 2005 10:03
- 1305 of 2444
Bought myself a few more not a lot, NICE.
cheers GF.
chad
- 19 Apr 2005 10:30
- 1306 of 2444
Looking to top up on one of my stocks too GF. Either MMG, VML, or MOI. Any suggestions?
Chiva20
- 19 Apr 2005 10:34
- 1307 of 2444
Chad MMG if you ask on this thread :o). Personally I think this is set to rocket in the next month despite the market conditions. Agreed GF?
goldfinger
- 19 Apr 2005 10:38
- 1308 of 2444
I think it will rise up to the R@D day as long as we dont get bad results this evening in the US RE TO INTEL. lOOKS TO ME LIKE A LOT ARE WAITING FOR DIRECTION IN THE MARKET AT PRESENT. sorry about the caps lock, got to go.
cheers GF.
mickeyskint
- 19 Apr 2005 13:27
- 1309 of 2444
From the other place. A bit long but worth a read.
DAFAD - 19 Apr'05 - 07:13 - 5077 of 5082
RNS Number:2124L
Medical Marketing Int'l Group PLC
19 April 2005
For Immediate Release 19 April 2005
Medical Marketing International Group plc
MORE GLOBAL LEADERS PARTNER MMI'S LABHOTEL
"OFFICAL LABHOTEL OPENING IN CAMBRDIGE ON WEDNESDAY 27 APRIL 2005"
Medical Marketing International Group plc (MMI), (LSE: MMG), the Cambridge,
UK-based pharmaceutical development company focussed on commercially attractive
therapeutic areas such as cancer and infection announces that four more
global-leading laboratory equipment manufacturers have become 'partners' to
MMI's LabHotel.
The new LabHotel 'partners' are Invitrogen, New Brunswick Scientific, Associates
of Cape Code Inc, and VWR International. Existing LabHotel partners include Pall
Corporation and Corbett Research. In addition to these global-leading laboratory
equipment manufacturers, service providers such as The Royal Bank of Scotland
Group, one of the worlds largest banks, and Mewburn Ellis, Europes largest
biotechnology patent firm are also supporting LabHotel by providing special
terms for client companies.
Commenting on these new agreements, David Best, Chairman of MMI Group said: "The
latest partnership with more global leading businesses is a further endorsement
of MMI's business model. In return for MMI showcasing these products and
services in its LabHotel, we gain free access to extremely valuable equipment
that our biobabies such as Genvax and Oncosense need to use. In addition,
LabHotel enables other young biotech companies to use the equipment thereby
generating income for MMI. These two aspects of LabHotel contribute to MMI's
comparatively low burn-rate for a company that already has its Genvax DNA
vaccines in four clinical trials and expects to have some ten clinical trials
for cancer therapies ongoing this year."
For further information, please contact:
David Best - Chairman
MMI Group Tel: +44 (0)1223 477677
www.mmigroup.co.uk
Lisa Baderoon/Rebecca Skye Dietrich
Buchanan Communications Tel: +44 (0)20 7466 5000
Notes for Editors:
About MMI:
Medical Marketing International Group (MMI) is an emerging UK-based
biopharmaceutical company focussed principally on the development of potential
therapies in commercially attractive therapeutic areas, such as cancer,
infectious diseases, rheumatoid arthritis and asthma. The Group also offers a
range of technical support services to UK academic and commercial bodies, which
generate revenue and provide a flow of new potential in-licensing opportunities.
Further information regarding MMI can be found on-line at www.mmigroup.co.uk
About The Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS):
RBS is one of the worlds largest banks. NatWest is part of RBS. Valerie Dring
OBE, Associate Director of Business Development at Natwest commented: "MMI is an
innovative company with long-term vision and the new LabHotel's venture is a
testament to its ability to grown and change in a competitive and highly
specialised market. The strengths of MMI Group were recognised back in the early
1990s by the technology specialists at NatWest Commercial Banking in Cambridge,
and the relationship between them has continued through to today. MMI is a
valued customer with an excellent product offering. We are delighted to support
the team and congratulate them on the new LabHotel development which will bring
pioneering ideas and products to the region. NatWest is dedicated to supporting
Cambridge Technology businesses, which continue to lead the way in innovation
and expertise."
VWR International
"VWR International are a market leading global laboratory supply business, with
250,000 customers, over 6000 employees and operating within 18 countries. We are
privileged to be able to support the activities of MMI.
Being preferred supplier to the ERBI, biotechnology partnering network in the
Cambridge region VWRI have been fortunate enough to work with the MMI team on
the new purpose designed facilities, we have been extremely impressed with the
professional approach of Mr Dearsley and MMI.
Product performance, delivery schedules etc have been given fantastic
attention to detail to ensure the individual scientist is able to come in and
start work on day one. VWR have truly recognised the value that this unique
concept brings to the scientific community in Cambridge, and hence were
delighted to accept the offer to partner MMI in its unique venture".
Lisa Johnson, Account Manager
Associates of Cape Cod, Inc
"For over 30 years, Associates of Cape Cod, Inc. (ACC) has been a leading global
supplier of analyte detection products, including Limulus Amebocyte Lysate (LAL)
for the detection and quantification of bacterial endotoxins. ACC was the first
manufacturer licensed by the FDA to manufacture LAL for use as a quality control
test for endotoxin in the pharmaceutical and medical device markets. ACC has a
strong technical support and training ethos and feels that the LabHotel concept
is the perfect base for up and coming biotech and pharma business ideas. ACC
wants to offer its expertise to these companies to help them realise their
goals".
Mark Childs, UK Manager
Invitrogen
"Invitrogen, providers of High Quality and Innovative Products and Services to
the Life Science Industry, is delighted to collaborate with MMI in LabHotel.
This fits perfectly with our mission to accelerate research by delivering key
and innovative tools to the hands of Research Scientists, such as those who will
pass through LabHotel".
Andrew Barber, European Product Manager
New Brunswick Scientific
New Brunswick Scientific (NBS) is a world leader specialising in the manufacture
of research through production-scale equipment for culture growth, detection and
storage.
Pall Corporation
"Pall Life Sciences is part of Pall Corporation, the largest and most diverse
filtration, separation and purification company in the world, and a global
leader in the supply of separation and purification technologies for the
production of biotechnology and biopharmaceutical products.
Pall is proud to support MMI LabHotel, and assist biotech companies in the
critical process of new product development."
Tony Orchard, Marketing Vice President
Corbett Research
Corbett Research is an Australian Biotechnology company at the forefront of the
development of genetic analysis laboratory equipment. "The Lab Hotel is the
ideal venue for us as an organisation to showcase our latest equipment and to
work with emerging companies to help them develop new technologies".
John Corbett, Director of Corbett Research
Mewburn Ellis LLP
"As one of the longest established providers of intellectual property services
in the Cambridge area, Mewburn Ellis LLP welcomes MMI's initiative in support of
the development of the biotechnology industry in the region and wishes them
success in the establishment of LabHotel"
Adrian Brasnett, Partner
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
END
MS
goldfinger
- 19 Apr 2005 15:36
- 1310 of 2444
More good news then Mickey, itl all add up when investors get their confidence back. If we gwet today away and we have good news from Intel it will add to the better than expected inflation news in the US and we will be away again.
cheers GF.
rob308
- 19 Apr 2005 17:27
- 1311 of 2444
Thanks Mickey. good post.
We crept past my last buy price today (just), showing tremendous resiliance.
But please everybody do not forget how many products this company has on trial.... this really is retirement material.
Keeping the faith...... Rob
doughboy66
- 19 Apr 2005 21:01
- 1312 of 2444
Just recieved an email from interactive investor with Evils diary comments on MMG stating that the bosses of MMG are twits the people on the bulletin are buffoons and he remains short on MMG.He also has a pop at people who back blue sky hopefuls with no assets which did amaze me as he has stated his long position in GMC.I realise the potential of GMC but why can`t he realise the same about MMG. Who would any caring normal human being wish to succeed? a company that could create a problem with an addiction ,or one that could cure a problem.One day even the Evil one may suffer with an illness that MMG are trying to cure ,then he will wish he had backed it rather than tried to screw the company into the ground.
Sorry if i have got a bit deep and sentimental on this one but thats what happens to me sometimes when i sit on the computer with a bottle of wine .
To all MMG holders i raise my glass and give a toast to MMG future and Evils downfall.
Keep the faith
DB66
andysmith
- 19 Apr 2005 21:26
- 1313 of 2444
EK better hope the big C doesn't afflict himself or his family. Cancer doesn't give a flying f**k how rich you are. As gf says, he is one sick git shorting a company like MMG with the work that they are carrying out.
I was right to take my profit when I did and the dosh is still sat there waiting and itching to be re-invested but this week hasn't helped judge re-entry into MMG, bloody yanks!!, and EK still short.
Well done to all on here for sticking by the good work at MMG.
goldfinger
- 19 Apr 2005 23:22
- 1314 of 2444
I wouldnt worry about Evil and his predictions DB he always goes well over the top just to stimulate interest and get a few numptys from advfn following him. Talking about booze Id forgoten I had one in the chiller thanks guys, see ya later.
cheers GF.
goldfinger
- 20 Apr 2005 00:15
- 1315 of 2444
Cambridge News 19/04/2005 ....
Being a millionaire in Cambridge is getting to be a bit like being a jockey in Newmarket, it is unsurprising; yet there are still familiar figures on the business scene whose success has not been trumpeted, who have somehow managed to win the 5,000 Guineas without anyone particularly noticing.
David Best is currently worth somewhere between 35 million and 60 million - it's a moveable feast. He was already a multi-millionaire before the end of last month when the share price of his company, MMI, stretched up towards 300p, having once languished at 3p.
He is heading a company of only 12 people, and yet he is quite comfortably telling me that MMI is in a powerful position to rival the pharma giants.
"We want to stay lean and mean," he says, "fleet of foot." He goes on to point out that MMI currently has more products in clinical trials than some of the biggest names in the drugs sector.
More important, MMI has hit upon the Holy Grail, which is why the share price increased 40 per cent overnight at the end of last month when news broke about its cancer vaccine. Imagine being vaccinated against cancer, just like having a jab for polio and measles, the reality is already here.
Mr Best cuts a dapper figure. The day I go to see him at The Bioscience Innovation Centre in St John's Innovation Park, he is looking out of his office window and asking why the trees by the A14 roundabout have just been savagely felled. His outlook has been changed from leafy to bleak, a bit like the "dark satanic mills" he mentions more than once when talking about the area of Manchester where he grew up in the 1950s and 1960s.
"My father was an engineer and my mother made parachutes. Where we lived it was very Lowry-like, the north side of Manchester, the grotty bit."
He was the first in his family to go to university. A grammar school boy, he went on to study medicine at Edinburgh but after three years realised he did not want to be a doctor.
"I did not like the grand ward rounds with the consultants insulting the patients. It was just like those old Carry On films."
He switched to statistics and epidemiology, the spread of disease, and got his first job as a sales rep with Pfizer.
He spent 16 years selling drugs, moving from what is now Aventis, on to Roche in Welwyn Garden City, where he started making contact with the clever Cambridge chemists, those lighting the touch-paper of biotech. Sidney Brenner was one and Karol Sikora.
"Even in those days, in the 1980s, it was clear that the drugs pipelines were getting pretty thin. Research was in decline and there was a lot of amalgamation, I think Aventis was a grouping of about 12 companies.
"It was my job at Roche to bring in new technology from the universities, and I was incredibly lucky to find the people I did in Cambridge."
By this time he and his wife Margaret and their family had bought a modest home in a village south of the city, and by 1988 the couple had decided to start their own business, Medical Marketing International, which began life in the Bests' study before moving into St John's Innovation Centre.
Initially the business was a fee-earning consultancy, helping universities to commercialise their science by introducing them to drug companies. It was not until the mid 1990s MMI was asked to start spinning out companies, with the first, Polymasc, a spin-out from the Royal Free, floating on AIM in London in 1996.
The company, which has since been bought by a US corporation, was expected to realise a market capitalisation of 10 million, but by the end of the first day's trading, this had risen to 28 million.
"Other universities spotted what had happened and wanted us to do the same for them."
This is how MMI has developed, each time taking an equity stake for its own portfolio, and now, after years of careful nurturing, the blossoming does not look far off.
At this point Mr Best tells me how he was approached by St John's College in 1997 and asked to set up an incubator for biotech companies at the innovation park.
Prince Philip came to open it. Mr Best is one of his star Duke of Edinburgh Award winners, with Bronze, Silver and Gold, and now a world fellowship.
"He closely follows what we do, he's absolutely wonderful to us."
He reckons it was the Duke of Edinburgh Awards which gave him the skills he needed to make a success of MMI, although he also says he believes entrepreneurs are born, not made.
The Bioscience Innovation Centre provides wet lab space to start-up biotech companies in much the same way the original Innovation Centre has so successfully provided space for high tech start-ups.
This is being taken a step further with this month's opening of LabHotel, where companies will be able to rent wet labs in the way the name suggests.
For the portfolio of spin-out companies in which MMI has a stake, the emphasis is very much on cancer.
"There is a lot of unmet need. Cancer is now the biggest cause of premature death in the western world, it's overtaken heart disease."
Mr Best calls his portfolio companies "biobabies", and they are putting on weight nicely. Oncosense in Edinburgh is galloping towards a multi-billion dollar market with ruthenium-based drugs replacing platinum, which currently leads the field.
Ruthenium is dug out of the ground in Siberia as a by-product of platinum, but it has already been found to be much more powerful.
"We bring in cancer cells from Porton Down - they collect them there, cells from human tumours - and the testing is done in Cambridge. Ruthenium is four or five times more effective than platinum in fighting some tumours, and 100 times more effective against certain cancers."
Can't these new drugs be rushed through?
"Safety comes before efficacy," he says, and we both know how fatuous that would sound to someone with a tumour. These new drugs will not be on the market for three years.
But what has really got the market in a state of high frenzy over MMI is last month's announcement about the anti-cancer vaccine.
Genvax is a joint venture with Southampton University, where Prof Freda Stevenson and her team have, hopefully, hit the jackpot, although Mr Best always cautions against anything which sounds like "a cure for cancer", "it can only be in remission".
The concept of a cancer vaccine is not new, but results from other sources have not been very exciting. Prof Stevenson approached the problem in a different way.
"She asked 'What does the body really hate?' Tetanus. So, a bit of dead tetanus is injected into the body which thinks it is the real thing, so it develops all these killer cells, which stay in the blood specifically to target tetanus."
The clever bit is to put dead tetanus into cancer tumours. Those killer cells don't know the difference, yet there is nothing the body can make to fight tumours in the same way if they are not disguised as tetanus.
The big news last month was that 25 lymphoma patients who had been receiving the jabs since 2001 were all still alive, whereas it would have been expected that at least half would have died during this time.
These cancer patients have not only survived but are in complete remission, with no signs of the disease, and the only side-effects, mild flu symptoms.
Trials are now to go ahead on patients suffering from all kinds of cancer.
I ask whether the time will come when everyone will be vaccinated against cancer. Mr Best says he does not think everyone, but certainly anyone who has cancer in the family.
This new vaccine programme has already been hailed as world-leading and a "flagship technology". It is life-saving, and lucrative. We spent $420 billion last year on cancer drugs.
The world's big drug companies will pay
billions for smaller firms with just one potential blockbuster in the pipeline; so what will happen to little MMI, with its 500,000 annual turnover, its 150 million valuation on the stock market and its stunning portfolio of drug candidates?
Mr Best will not say whether or not he has been approached by interested buyers, he talks of doing licensing deals. He likes what he does, he is not aware of another business model in the world like that of MMI, it suits him and his wife.
He and Margaret live in a grand house these days, but otherwise their lifestyle has not changed. They like climbing mountains, he likes running, three times a week - there is the hint of a good torso through the shirt. Here is Biotech Man. ENDS.
cheers GF.
mickeyskint
- 20 Apr 2005 07:57
- 1316 of 2444
Nice one GF. Brings us all up to speed with the main man.
MS
goldfinger
- 20 Apr 2005 08:17
- 1317 of 2444
Yup and an excelent start to the day up 3.5 already.
cheers GF.
bhunt1910
- 20 Apr 2005 08:42
- 1318 of 2444
What a good article GF - thanks for digging that out
Baza
goldfinger
- 20 Apr 2005 09:09
- 1319 of 2444
Cheers Lads. Really moving on up now, Evil is in deficit on his second purchase.
Wont be long before all his lemmings are out.
cheers GF.
goldfinger
- 20 Apr 2005 10:53
- 1320 of 2444
Not yet getting the big volume but it will come. It would pay to get in before next tuesdays meeting. We already have an idea from Mitzy that the Ruthenium results are going to be good.
cheers GF.