Trying to find companies that represent the future of the biotech segment is what every investor is constantly looking for. The hard part is trying to find the right company--a company that does not over dilute shareholders, which spends its money wisely, and has an actual legitimate shot at becoming a large revenue and profit producing company. Too many small cap biotech companies show promising technology, but have bad stock and financial structures. The key in small cap investing is finding companies that structure their business with the main goal of both financial growth and technological advancement. Antares Pharma (ATRS) is my largest holding because I believe it is one of the best small cap business opportunities I have ever seen. For this article, I believe the company I am going to talk about meets the criteria that many small cap investors look for.
Pluristem Therapeutics Inc. (PSTI) ($3.20, market cap: $143.42M) is a developer of placenta-based cell therapies. The Company's patented PLX (PLacental eXpanded) cells are a drug delivery platform that releases a cocktail of therapeutic proteins in response to a host of local and systemic inflammatory and ischemic diseases.
PLX cells are grown using the company's proprietary 3D micro-environmental technology and are an "off-the-shelf" product that requires no tissue matching prior to administration. Pluristem is focusing on the use of PLX cells administered locally to treat systemic diseases and potentially obviating the need to use the intravenous route. Data from two phase I/II studies indicate that Pluristem's first PLX product candidate, PLX-PAD, is safe and potentially effective for the treatment of end stage peripheral artery disease when given locally. Additionally, Pluristem is developing PLX-PAD for cardiac ischemia; PLX-BMP for Acute Radiation Exposure; Bone Marrow Transplant Failure and Chemotherapy induced Bone Marrow Aplasia; PLX-ORTHO for orthopedic indications; and PLX-PAH for Pulmonary Hypertension in collaboration with United Therapeutics. Pluristem's pre-clinical animal models have demonstrated PLX cells are also potentially effective in other inflammatory/ischemic indications, including diastolic heart failure, inflammatory bowel disease, neuropathic pain and pulmonary fibrosis. Pluristem has a strong patent portfolio; GMP certified manufacturing and research facilities, as well as strategic relationships with major research institutions.
The company's main technology, The PluriX Bioreactor System is designed to be a system of stromal cell cultures and substrates that create an artificial physiological environment where adherent stromal cells (ASCs) can grow and reproduce outside of the human body. Unlike conventional two-dimensional (2D) culturing methods, the Company's PluriX Bioreactor creates a three-dimensional (3D) microenvironment that closely resembles the structure and function of the body's bone marrow environment. By mimicking the natural environment that exists within human bones, the system tricks stem cells into growing and reproducing in the same way they would in living organs. Because the size and scale of the PluriX Bioreactor is larger than that of human bone marrow, stem cell growth can be greatly expanded.
The company believes that intramuscular administration, which means that the cells are administered locally to the muscle and not systemically, may be suitable for a number of different clinical indications. Such indications include peripheral artery disease, or PAD, critical limb ischemia, or CLI (the end stage of PAD), intermittent claudication, or IC (a subset of PAD), muscle injuries, thromboangiitis obliterans, or Buerger's disease, neuropathic pain, wound healing, orthopedic injuries and acute myocardial infarction. Under an exclusive license agreement, or the United Agreement, with United, the company plans to participate in the development and commercialization of a PLX cell-based product for the treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension, or PAH.
On June 20th, the company said it has been in contact with drug makers to set up partnerships for its flagship blood-circulation disease treatment, PLX-PAD.
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