Access Update- #52

It’s been a brutal market in 2008 as almost every stock has been beaten up, regardless of its potential or financial strength. Unfortunately, it was a necessary cleansing of the system. And as painful as it is, I believe it will make for a stronger market with some great opportunities in 2009.

Meanwhile, as I get set to welcome in family from out of town for Thanksgiving, I’m taking a look at the Access portfolio. And despite our stocks taking hits along with the rest of the market, we really do have plenty of things to be thankful for:

• Electro-Optical Sciences (Nasdaq: MELA) – We’re thankful that we should have our answer as to whether MelaFind works in the next few weeks. Assuming that it’s strong, the stock should get a big lift.

Also, last Friday, CEO Dr. Joseph Gulfo purchased 5,000 shares in the open market. Not a huge buy, I know. But still, it’s likely that he wouldn’t spend his own money to buy shares if he thought the stock was going to slide much further.

• Cytori Therapeutics (Nasdaq: CYTX) – We’re thankful that the Celution System is gaining traction in Europe and that the company has started to sell the high priced Cell Banks. Today the company announced that it is opening a sales and training facility in Europe that will be staffed with two physicians. This should greatly help the sales effort.

Last week, Director David Rickey purchased 31,000 shares, increasing his holdings by more than 13%.

• Viropharma (Nasdaq: VPHM) – We’re thankful that the company’s management once again found an excellent drug to acquire at a reasonable price. Cinryze should be a big seller for them over the years. Meanwhile, we expect Vancocin sales to remain strong as competition is still years away.

• Synta Pharmaecuticals (Nasdaq: SNTA) – We’re thankful that Synta has what is possibly a game changing technology when it comes to fighting cancer. We should get an announcement before the year’s end that the phase III study will continue. After that, we’ll be eagerly anticipating the results of the data. If it’s positive, which we expect it to be, Synta shares will be off to the races.

• SIGA Technology (Nasdaq: SIGA) – We’re thankful that the price dropped right before we recommended it, allowing us to get in at a bargain price. We expect the company to announce a $100 million or more contract with the U.S. government anytime between now and October.

• New Recommendation (Nasdaq: ????) – We’re thankful that we found a great little company with a rock solid balance sheet that has several major catalysts coming up in the next few months. We expect to have this recommendation out next week.

And we’re thankful that there are so many bright hard working scientists at these and other companies who are discovering therapies, vaccines and diagnostic tools for various diseases. The advancements that will be made in healthcare over the next few years should be nothing short of astonishing.

Have a great Thanksgiving and thank you for being part of the Access family.

Marc Lichtenfeld
Director of Research
Access Research Group

Current Portfoli

Name: SIGA Technologies
Symbol: SIGA
Current Price:$2.28
Comments: Buy up to $4.00

Name: Synta Pharmaceuticals
Symbol: SNTA
Current Price: $5.29
Comments: Buy up to $13.00

Name: ViroPharma
Symbol: VPHM
Current Price: $10.74
Comments: Buy up to $12.50

Name: Cytori Therapeutics
Symbol: CYTX
Current Price: $2.25
Comments: Buy up to $8

Name: Electro-Optical Sciences
Symbol: MELA
Current Price: $2.66
Comments: Buy up to $5.75