Tuesday, April 24, 2007

Stocks Involved in Parkinson's Treatment

A good friend of mine was written up in the newspaper about a new Parkinson's disease treatment he is receiving, which involves having two holes drilled in his head. Fortunately, there are many companies researching other treatments and cures for this degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that impairs motor skills and speech. Here are some of them.

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (TEVA), an Israeli based company which was founded in 1901, develops and manufactures a variety of pharmaceuticals. They received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for AZILECT® (rasagiline tablets) as a treatment for Parkinson's disease. P/E is 54 and PEG is 1.1. The stock has been paying dividends quarterly and yields 1%.

Cell Genesys, Inc. (CEGE) is an investor in Ceregene, which developed CERE-120, its lead program for Parkinson's disease. Earnings for CEGE are negative and the price sales ratio is an extremely high 225.

Novartis AG (NVS), a very large Swiss pharmaceutical company, has developed Comtan® (entacapone), a medication for the treatment of Parkinson's Disease. P/E is 19 and the PEG is 1.5. Yield is 1.6%.

Acadia Pharmaceuticals Inc. (ACAD), based in San Diego, is working on ACP-103 in patients with Parkinson's disease suffering from treatment-induced psychosis. Negative earnings, P/S of 53.

Sanofi-Aventis (SNY) is the third largest pharmaceutical company in the world. It is working on SR57667B for treatment of symptoms. PE IS 23, PEG is 2.3. Yield is 2.1%.

SkyePharma plc (SKYE) developed once-daily formulation of Requip® utilizing SkyePharma's Geomatrix™ technology. Requip is used for Parkinson's treatment. No earnings, P/S is 3.5.

Valeant Pharmaceuticals International (VRX) markets Zelapar® [selegiline HCl] Orally Disintegrating Tablets, a once-daily adjunct therapy for Parkinson’s disease patients being treated with levodopa/carbidopa. Forward P/E of 16.6 and a PEG of .8. Yields 1.7%.

Author does not own any of the above.

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