The Wall Street Transcript > Sectors > Healthcare Sector

Biotech Off the Record Picks: Celgene & Genzyme

2009-06-03 16:25:40

A feature here at TWST, in addition to our traditional roundtables and one on one interviews, is Off the Record. Here the analysts and CEOs speak on the condition of anonymity, telling us the picks they wouldn't necessarily be able to share otherwise. Here's what they picked as part of our Biotech special focus: Celgene (CELG)-

• "I would give kudos to Sol Barer at Celgene. I think when they announced their acquisition last year of Pharmion, there was quite a lot of scrutiny on that, and I think the deal has worked out very well for them in terms of getting the competitive advantage of their drug Vidaza."
• "Celgene bought Lifebank and I think they have a fabulous management team in their stem cell division and cellular division"

Genzyme (GENZ)-

• "I would point to Genzyme's Henri Termeer as one of the good guys. He has kept costs down at Genzyme and has really figured out ways to grow the business and diversify his revenue stream, so he would be on the top of my list."
• "I'd have to mention Henri Termeer at Genzyme. I think the company has been very aggressive in going out and embarking on licensing deals for potentially best-in-class drugs for their long-term pipeline. They've been able to manage costs very well through some volatile markets recently. He should be viewed as top class management."

For the full Biotech issue, including a roundtable forum on investing in Biotech stocks, as well interviews with top CEOs, click here.

Marti Talks About Healthcare in the New Adminstration

2009-05-20 17:42:09

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.

Husain Choses Varian in Radiation Oncology

2009-04-14 17:29:28

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. 

 

Thoratec's Heartmate II is the Front Runner for Late Stage Heart Failure Patients

2009-04-14 09:46:41

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

Volcano Corporation's IVUS (Intravascular Ultrasound) Imaging and Functional Measurement (FM) Devices Improves Patient Outcomes

2009-04-13 14:09:31

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.