Lombard Medical : Grafting For SuccessLombard Medical Home Page



Biotech and medical device stocks are way out of favour at the moment but must be due a bounce some time. Lombard Medical has been massacred by the market yet has had NO product failures to justify that. It is worth a look. To get the thread started, below is a cut and past from the Traders' Room.

Cheers
2Bob

The "internals" on this stock actually improved today with Durlacher moving their offer from 6.75p to 7p leaving Peel Hunt alone on 6.75p. How long can they feed the market with some reasonable buying going on today?

Prof. Hopkinson who has implanted many of the LOM AAA grafts is back on the lecture circuit in a couple of weeks time. He has a couple of papers being presented and he is also co-hosting Session VII with Dr Veith of Veith Symposium fame.

https://www.endovascularcongress.org/new2002/program.asp

Cheers
2Bob

more buying this week, buy price moved up slightly

I note the volume has picked up in this stock lately.

For info
-->What is a AAA stent graft?

The aorta is one of the main arteries of the body. When it becomes diseased it thins. As it thins it starts to balloon out under pressure from the blood flow. This is called an aneurysm of the aorta. Most aneurysms occur in the abdominal cavity hence abdominal aortic aneurysm or AAA or triple A for short Many aneurysms eventually rupture leading to catastrophic blood loss and death in many cases.

If an aneurysm is detected it can be treated by open surgery repair, but this is an invasive and complicated procedure not without its dangers for the patient. An alternative is the use of what is called a stent graft. A stent graft is a metal device, which gives the piece its strength, and is coated with cloth, often polyester, which when in place stops the blood gaining access to the ballooned area of the aorta.

The stent in the Anson AAA stent graft is made from nitinol, a shape memory alloy. If you think of your bathroom sponge at home when squeezed into the tiniest ball possible reverts back to its original shape when the pressure is released. The Anson graft is the same. The graft is inserted into the groin using a catheter and maneuvered into position before the protective sheath is removed and the graft expanded into shape. This minimally invasive procedure causes less trauma for the patient and is becoming the de-facto standard.

What is special about the Anson graft?



- It is so flexible it can go around 90 degree corners that most if not all other grafts can't.
- It is a single piece device rather than a modular device which are assembled in the aorta, perhaps through two access holes. One hole is better than two. Some modular devices have suffered fractures due to the stresses placed on them in the aorta
- Some devices are so rigid that the rings that make up the stent have fractured which is bad news for the patient.

Cheers
2bob

Article today in Shares mag
Shares Mag link

-->All
There has been quite a deluge of information from the company via articles published in The Wall Street Transcript, Shares Magazine, Clinica and Medical Device Technology this past week.

I note that the Medical Device Technology article can now be accessed here:-
Medical Device Technology

and more importantly the Clinica article which is a good balanced view of pospects in my opinion can be accessed here. It may take a minute for the pdf to download:-
Clinica - World Medical Device & Diagnostic News

One can access the TWST transcript summary here:-
The Wall Street Transcript

and the Shares article is reproduced here summarised as may be worth a speculative punt:-
Shares Magazine

Cheers
2Bob

-->All
Investech see a postive share trend.
LOM Chart

-->All
Merrill Lynch have done a short review of AAA stent graft adverse events reported through the FDA in 2002.

ML report that the US market in 2002 was worth 216M with $153M or 71% going to Medtronic's AneuRx and $63M or 29% going to Guidant and their Ancure device. ML estimate that MDT implanted 12,750 devices with a selling price of $12,000 each and GDT implanted 6300 devices at $10,000 each.

Of the total estimated 19,050 devices implanted there were 480 adverse events reported to the FDA of which 58 were deaths. This gives an adverse event rate of 2.5% for all devices implanted and a death rate of 0.3%. The death rate compares favourably with a typical 4% level for surgical repair but that may include more difficult cases. The death rate for both devices is similar. But the GDT device has overall a higher adverse event rate of 3.6% compared to 2.0% for the MDT device.

Clearly there is room for a safer device in the US market.

Cheers
2Bob

There have been positive movements. If you are a Lombard Medical plc holder who did not convert to LMT shares then email me at 2Bob@iname.com and I can provide you with more detail of your holding and its worth.

LOM shareholders (not LMT) now have postal mail calling an EGM on 28th Feb. If your holding is in a nominee account check with your advisor.

Cheers
2Bob :-)