Peregrine Pharmaceuticals...

Peregrine Pharmaceuticals is without a doubt one of my favorite companies to hate. I've been following the company for close to three years and I have yet to see them get any of their drug products out of Phase I testing.

What really bothers me about this is the fact that they may be sitting on the wonder drug of this century, Bavituximab, a monoclonal antibody that can detect and alert the body's immune system to "stressed cells". That wikipedia link doesn't provide near enough information. For a complete reading list I suggest the PPHM board at the Investor's Hub. The moderator there has done a yeoman's job of collecting links and information.

The concept of "stressed cells" and the cell wall inversions that they display is not new knowledge. When I first heard about this drug, way back when it was called Tarvacin, I asked my wife about this idea. She just handed me one of her medical textbooks. The textbook dated back to when she was in medical school and that was over 20 years ago. The fact that Dr. Philip Thorpe figured out how to target them is outstanding, but his initial patent is now almost three years old.

For those of you who haven't started reading that list of links from the IHub let me cut to the chase. Those "stressed cells" are an indication of viral infection, or a cancerous cell. Initial testing of the concept, in animals and humans, supports the patent and yes this drug really works. So, where is the urgency here? Peregrine isn't doing much more than repeating tests that they've already done, calling them Phase Ia, Ib tests.

Let me put this even more clearly. This drug is the kind of thing that every one of us should take, probably on a yearly basis, like on your birthday, in order to cure any virus that you may have picked up, or to kill any starting cancers. It could be a wonder drug and Peregrine Pharmaceuticals is sitting on it.

As far as the stock is concerned, well, you can see the round trip it made over the last couple of years, from $1 to $2 and back again.


The stock will occasionally run a few percent on news but overall it's been tough trading for well over a year, until the end of last month. At the end of last month we got a spike that was probably month-end window dressing by a fund with a new position. If that is the case, that spike could become a regular occurrence as that fund dresses up their books. We'll know more in a couple of weeks, at the end of the financial quarter.