Portfolio Manager Oliver Marti is Managing Director of Columbus Circle Investors. Mr. Marti specializes in investing in Healthcare Stocks. In his latest interview with TWST, he had some interesting things to say about Healthcare in politics, and what this means for investors:

Mr. Marti: Many in Washington see the under-investment in information technology across the healthcare space as part of the reason for many of the medical errors and inefficiencies in the system. As a result, there is a large effort to increase the utilization of HIT to prevent these errors and reduce costs in the healthcare system. However, as I mentioned above, in the near term, the environment for HIT products and services continues to be difficult, given the negative impact that weak economic conditions are having on HIT customers, i.e.,hospitals, doctors. Furthermore, there is still much uncertainty regarding important terminology and logistics around the funding, which is causing a further slowdown in purchasing of HIT. As a result, we believe that expansion of
HIT might not be as rapid as people think; we see the positive impact for these companies not coming until 2010.

For the latest Investing Strategies report, including a full interview with Mr. Marti as well as a variety of other portfolio managers, click here.

As part of our special focus this week on Medical Devices, we spoke with analyst Junaid Husain of Soleil Securities Group, Inc. Husain focuses his research on a wide variety of topics, but one of he monitors closely is Radiation Oncology. His top pick in this space is a company called Varian Medical System (VAR). Here’s why:

Mr. Husain: Varian invested in new technology and they have what I like to refer to as one of the best product rollouts in radiation oncology history with their RapidArc software. This is a software that is bolted onto their radiation oncology box. Basically what RapidArc does is that it makes radiation oncology that much more efficient; you can get 50% more patients through the radiation oncology suites than before. So in this tough hospital spending environment, when a Varian sales rep goes into a hospital and says to the CFO, “I can improve your patient throughput in your big box radiation oncology suite to the tune of 50% or more,” that’s a very compelling sales pitch. So I think that Varian has had a lot of success with RapidArc. The RapidArc launch has been very good for them and I continue to expect this rollout to proceed well. 

For the complete Medical Devices report, including a full interview with Mr. Husain and interviews with a variety of other portfolio managers, click here. 

In a recent interview with Spencer Nam of Summer Street Research Partners we discussed the newest Cardiovascular devices to hit the market. He considered Thoratec’s Heartmate II the front runner for late-stage heart failure;

Mr. Nam: In the LVAD space targeting the late-stage heart failure patients, there are several products, but the frontrunner is Thoratec’s (THOR) Heartmate II (HM II) LVAD. They just received an FDA pre-market approval (PMA) for use of HM II among patients waiting for heart transplant. We call that bridge-to-transplant indication, literally implying bridging the gap between the time when a patient becomes a candidate for a heart transplant and when the patient receives the heart transplant.

The space for LVADs or LVAD-like products seems to be a very active space with five to six other companies conducting trials

We recently spoke with Matt Dolan of Roth Capital Partners about Small Cap Medical Device Companies as part of our Medical Devices Report. When discussing his list of interesting companies at the peak of his list was Volacno Corporation;

Mr. Dolan: … we believe one interesting company is Volcano Corporation (VOLC), which sells into the cath lab where a number of minimally invasive cardiovascular procedures are performed. Diagnostic catheterizations and stent procedures remain a significant area of medical care today, and Volcano provides imaging modalities that provide feedback to the physician as to the type of lesion being assessed and improve a physician’s ability to place a stent appropriately. Clinical outcomes have supported the use of the company’s IVUS (Intravascular Ultrasound) imaging and functional measurement (FM) devices, suggesting that these technologies can improve patient outcomes significantly. We think this is particularly important, considering some of the recent concerns surrounding stent safety, with issues like late stent thrombosis and in-stent restenosis often being debated at medical conferences. One could also make an argument that this technology reduces the cost of care by improving patient outcomes and allowing physicians to use stents more selectively, which speaks to some of the issues regarding cost effectiveness that we discussed earlier.

With the company generating 75% of it revenue on a recurring basis through disposable catheters and a growth rate of 20% expected Volcano could be a acquisition target over time, and any company that sells catheters and would name themselves Volcano can’t be half bad.

In the latest issue of TWST, we focus on Medical Devices. While many in the healthcare industry are quaking in their boots at the prospect of how the new administration will transform the sector, Mr. Nam is not, especially on one key issue: The FDA.

Mr. Nam: My feeling on the FDA side right now is that they’re not going to try to rattle the cage too much. I believe that the FDA is going to review many of the existing processes to ensure that they avoid some of the controversies that they have faced in the past, but I don’t think the FDA is going to suddenly change the parameters of the current trials or start questioning the trial protocols that they have agreed to with the manufacturers involved in the trial. The peripheral aspects of the FDA approval processes of products currently in the midst of clinical trials could change somewhat with the new Administration, but with respect to the core approval process, the FDA typically listens to the
panel on these matters and I believe that the panel is going remain quite independent.

For the complete Medical Devices report, including a full interview with Mr. Nam as well as a variety of other analysts and CEOs from top companies in this space, click here. 

In a recent conversation with Dr. Stanislaw Burzynski of Burzynski Research Institute, Inc. he explained the research and development focus of the company;

Dr. Burzynsku: Currently, our research and development is focused on cancer treatment and we have four drugs in our pipeline. The names of this group of drugs are antineoplastons; we abbreviate this as ANP. Currently, we have one Phase III trial, which is ready to start very soon. We also have 14 Phase II clinical trials under way, which are nearing completion. We’re hoping that within a year, all of these trials will be closed. We estimate at least 12 of the Phase II trials can progress further to Phase III, if it’s necessary, of course.

The cellular mechanism underlying the anticancer effects of ANP continues to be investigated in both BRI’s own basic preclinical research program and in independent laboratories around the world

We recently spoke with Dr. John Cormier of Picomole where we discussed the company’s technology and future plans

Dr. Cormier: There is really nothing like LifeSens out there. Our portable instrument is easy to move around, it    plugs into an ordinary electrical wall socket. Breath sampling is very patient friendly, there is absolutely no pain, discomfort or embarrassment to the patient whatsoever and the results can be generated within minutes… It’s about taking lab quality tests and bringing them right to the patient or bedside in a way that’s cost effective and easy to use for front-line healthcare workers who might not know much about gas analysis technology, but know how to collect a breath sample properly. Those are all attributes that I think make this a unique proposition.

Quick breath test and no pain sounds like a technology we can all embrace.

To read the full interview with Dr. Cormier click here 

As part of our Invest Northwest issue, this week TWST interviewed Richard Rylander of Enject, Inc.

Enject is a company that was incorporated for the purpose of developing auto-injector pen systems for the delivery of emergency glucose to diabetic patients in emergency situations.

The companies latest effort is a device called the Glucapen. Mr. Rylander tells us a little about it:

Mr. Rylander: Given the emergency nature of the situation, the third-party is under a high degree of stress and pressure to act fast. There are a number of mistakes that can (and do) occur that have garnered a large number of complaints from medical professionals as well as caregivers. These include dropped materials, broken needles, secondary needle sticks, and a host of other issues. Our solution is to put all of the components into a pen device that has a concealed needle. It’s a one-time-use disposable, and requires only two clicks to activate and administer the injection. We call our product GlucaPen.

Click here for the full Invest Northwest report, including a complete interview with Mr. Rylander as well a host of other top CEOs in the biotech space, click here.

This week The Wall Street Transcript offers exclusive coverage of Invest Northwest 2009, the region’s premier life sciences investment conference.

If you were unable to make your way to Seattle for the conference  TWST has Interviews with 28 of the presenting companies available now to subscribers.

One of our special focuses in the latest issue of the Wall Street Transcript is on Specialty Pharmaceuticals. We asked several analysts to talk to us about what the economic downturn is going to mean for this space. Louise Chen of Collins Stewart, LLC had this to say:

Ms. Chen: I think what you’re seeing in health care in general is that health care is no longer a defensive space. A lot of healthcare companies in the space that I cover, the spec pharma companies, get a portion of their income from discretionary spending. Allergan (AGN) and Medicis (MRX) have medical aesthetic products, and as a result of the economic downturn, consumers are pulling back on spending for these things. Advanced Medical Optics (EYE), which is being acquired by Abbott (ABT), that company did lasik surgery and that’s thousands of dollars out of pocket. So you’ll see that stock also getting hurt by the economic downturn. That’s a trend that we’re seeing going forward in the spec pharma space.

For the complete Specialty Pharmaceuticals report, including a complete interview with Ms. Chen as well as interviews with analysts covering a variety of aspects of this space, click here.