For 25 years, Steven Halpern, editor of TheStockAdvisors.com, has surveyed the leading financial newsletter advisors asking for their favorite stocks for the coming year. This article is one of 100+ ideas in the Best Stocks for 2008 report.

"Our favorite speculative play for 2008 is Isis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: ISIS)," says biotech expert John McCamant, editor of The Medical Technology Stock Letter.

"The main reason to own ISIS is the strong potential for an extremely attractive partnership for their exciting anti-cholesterol drug candidate, mipomersen, or an outright acquisition of the company itself at a substantial premium.

"We have seen recent evidence of acceleration in deal activity as the Sanofi-Aventis/Regeneron deal was the richest we have ever seen for drug candidates only in Phase 1 testing. In turn, this has most likely upped the ante for doing a deal with ISIS for mipomersen, which is now in Phase 3.

"We believe that ISIS has the most attractive late-stage anti-cholesterol drug candidate in development and expect the stock to be much higher on a partnership or an acquisition.

"The strong data for mipomersen that was presented at the recent American Heart Association meeting -- which showed it had the stunning ability to reduce LDL (bad cholesterol) levels an additional 48% on top of statin therapy -- has cemented mipomersen as the one of the most valuable drug candidates in development.

Continue reading Best Stocks for 2008: Partnerships and takeover appeal at Isis (ISIS)

Best Stocks for 2008: Partnerships and takeover appeal at Isis (ISIS) originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 31 Dec 2007 11:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

For 25 years, Steven Halpern, editor of TheStockAdvisors.com, has surveyed the leading financial newsletter advisors asking for their favorite stocks for the coming year. This article is one of 100+ ideas in the Best Stocks for 2008 report.

"Our favorite more conservative stock for 2008 is Celgene (NASDAQ: CELG)," says biotech expert John McCamant, editor of The Medical Technology Stock Letter.

"The company is focused on the development of new and improved treatments for various cancers and other severe, immune, inflammatory conditions, and is well on its way to becoming a major global biopharmaceutical entity.

"Over the years, we have watched management consistently deliver on its promises to shareholders and create additional value. The most notable cancer drugs at CELG are Thalidomide and Revlimid (a second-generation version of Thalidomide).

"These are oral therapies that have become the cornerstone in the treatment of multiple myeloma (MM), and which are in clinical development for many other blood-borne cancers, including non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) and CLL.

Continue reading Best Stocks for 2008: Cancer drugs and controversy at Celgene (CELG)

Best Stocks for 2008: Cancer drugs and controversy at Celgene (CELG) originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sat, 22 Dec 2007 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Each year Steven Halpern, editor of TheStockAdvisors.com, surveys the leading financial newsletter advisors asking for their favorite stocks for the coming year. This article is part of his 24th annual Top Picks Report.

Sonus Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: SNUS) is the top speculative pick for 2007 from John McCamant. The editor of The Medical Technology Stock Letter says, "Sonus is one of the more exciting companies in the biotech investment arena.

"The firm is intently focused on the development of superior versions of existing cancer drug treatments that not only offer potentially improved efficacy, but also significantly more attractive safety profiles. Their lead product candidate, TOCOSOL Paclitaxel, is a reformulated version of paclitaxel, which belongs to the taxane class of chemotherapeutics -- which are among the most successful and frequently used.

"However, existing treatments have unattractive safety profiles; Sonus's treatment may be a significant improvement, and we will not have to wait much longer to find out. SNUS just recently completed enrollment in their over 800-patient Phase III trial for metastatic breast cancer treatment. We can expect results in the second half of next year, and if positive, the company will file for approval by the end of 2007.

Continue reading Top Picks 2007: McCamant sees promise in cancer treatment

Top Picks 2007: McCamant sees promise in cancer treatment originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 21 Dec 2006 08:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.