Biosensors   

Is Biosensors a good buy?

I am not exactly sure about  how J & J coats the Cypher stent, but as far as I know, abluminal coating has only been mentioned in Bio-matrix, and the words of Prof Ostojic on the Cypher Stent is ' Coating - Entire Stent Surface'.

For info only.

 

Mr Investor, you mean JNJ is coating their Sirolimus drug around the entire Cypher stent surface including non-ablumenal surface? This is freaking stupid thing to do. Sirolimus (immuno-suppressent / anti-proliferative drug) will actually slow down / hinder endothelial regrowth on the non-ablumenal stent surface. Plus, the drug coating on non-ablumenal stent surface would have been partially washed away by the blood stream, thereby causing "systematic" drug effect on the entire body system which is definitely no good for the patient. Cannot believe JNJ stent engineers are so bird to coat Sirolimus drug on non-ablumenal stent surface! I think the OCT scan sure can see a huge endothelial regrowth difference between Biomatrix and Cypher.

 

To further elaborate on the 'Atrial Pacing' sub-study in the Nobori Core Clinical Trial.

The study was done by Prof Miodrag Ostojic from Clinical Centre Serbia, Belgrade. He thinks that the reasons why the Biomatrix shows better recovery in Endothelial Functions than the Cypher stent are :

1)    The Abluminal coating on the Bio-matrix stent versus the entire coating on the Cypher stent. This will allow the 'homing of endothelial progenitor cells to be LESS IMPAIRED' in the case of the bio-matrix. (In layman's language - it probably means that the inside of the vessel is not exposed to the biolimus drug, thereby allowing endothelial recovery.

2)  Having a bio-degradable polymer in Bio-matrix versus a permanent polymer in Cypher.

3)    Drug Release Profile.

4)   Higher lipophilicity of Biolimus versus the Sirolimus.

This presentation by Prof Ostojic was done during the Nobori Symposium held in the Europcr conference in May 2008.

For info - Not a call to buy/sell.

 

In the mornning really tempting, at 0.53, good for avg.

But kena the burger before, scare is the word. Stay sideline with this joker first, esp the current market is so volatile.

 

looks very tempting... but scare false bull... anyone can see market depth? BB playing or juz retailers??

 

now at 0.590. Chiong very fast

 

hopefully tonight result is fantastic, then, tomorrow another round of bull run..

 

well, looks like cheonging up now.. Hopefully, this time round is not smoke only

 

i am thinking seriously of your comments below.... hope this time round is right... marketing time, baby.. if they don't show& sell well, fire the marketing manager.

bengster68      ( Date: 21-Aug-2008 10:52) Posted: ***Forumer BetterFATA: Actually if u look at the vol recently, these 2wks the vol is rather high, for eg yestd it was 7+million shares... Seems something is happening, the Q is what? ***Bengster: BIOSENSORS WILL BE PARTICIPATING IN EUROPEAN SOCIETY OF CARDIOLOGY CONFERENCE ESC2008 FROM 30/08 TO 03/09/2008 IN GERMANY. ESC IS THE LARGEST CARDIOLOGY CONFERENCE IN EUROPE. BIOSENSORS WILL BE THE LIMELIGHT AT ESC2008. SOMETHING VERY STUNNING WILL BE PROVEN THAT WILL MAKE THE REST OF THE DURABLE POLYMER D.E.S OBSOLETE. BIG's M&A WILL DEPEND ON THIS EVENT. BIOSENSORS WILL SCORE 100%. STUPID SELLERS NOW SURE REGRET LATER. MARK MY WORDS. Duno why BIG didn't inform the public shareholders here. The funds are quietly buying cheap!

 

novena_33, I only know biosensor always give us surprises... that's it .. full stop, ha ha..

 

seem like is having some impact on the price.....

RoundStar      ( Date: 26-Aug-2008 13:56) Posted: http://info.sgx.com/webcoranncatth.nsf/VwAttachments/Att_1CF1E0AC0F2A3D57482574B10019415B/$file/LEADERS_RELEASE_Announcement.pdf?openelement

 

http://info.sgx.com/webcoranncatth.nsf/VwAttachments/Att_1CF1E0AC0F2A3D57482574B10019415B/$file/LEADERS_RELEASE_Announcement.pdf?openelement

 

I have the same concern as you have all along. The problem is many retail investors or so-called traders who trade on fundamental news refuse to believe in the technicals of it.

singaporegal      ( Date: 26-Aug-2008 11:15) Posted: Study the volume of Biosensors and you'll see that it is inconsistent. Sometimes very high and sometimes very low. This fact, coupled by its penny stock status, makes it a very risky counter for retail players.

 

Study the volume of Biosensors and you'll see that it is inconsistent. Sometimes very high and sometimes very low.

This fact, coupled by its penny stock status, makes it a very risky counter for retail players.
 

 

There was some kind of confusion because BIG did not put up SGX announcement for thye benefit of retail shareholders. After listening to their webcast and calling BIG's office reception, I discovered interim 9 months LEADERS results will be discussed at ESC2008. 12 months LEADERS results will be discussed at TCT2008. Most likely by 04/09/08 BIG will let us know the 9 months LEADERS results.

 

Hi Bengster, earlier you have posted : BIOSENSORS WILL BE PARTICIPATING IN EUROPEAN SOCIETY OF CARDIOLOGY CONFERENCE ESC2008 FROM 30/08 TO 03/09/2008 IN GERMANY. ESC IS THE LARGEST CARDIOLOGY CONFERENCE IN EUROPE. BIOSENSORS WILL BE THE LIMELIGHT AT ESC2008. I have noted that the LEADERS result will be announced in Mid-Oct at TCT 08 in USA. The LEADERS trial result will be announced in early Sept. 08 in Germany or in mid Oct in the US ?

 

26-Jul-2008 13:16

Biosensors   /   Is Biosensors a good buy?      4Go to Message

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Article below shows that the medical community is more and more concern about INCOMPLETE endothelialization as a factor in Late Stent Thrombosis, as well as strut coverage. Xience seems to fare better than Cyper, Taxus and Endeavor, in this study, although the Bio-matrix was not included in the study.       Key Points: Incomplete endothelialization a factor in late stent thrombosis Among DES, strut coverage better for Xience and Endeavor Biomarkers of endothelial recovery support strut findings By Kim Dalton In a rabbit model, differences in arterial healing following drug-eluting stent (DES) implantation suggest that the risk of late stent thrombosis may be somewhat lower with the new Xience and Endeavor stents compared to first-generation DES. Differences in the degree of strut neointimal coverage and expression of several biomarkers of incomplete endothelialization favor the newer DES designs, according to a study published in the July 29, 2008, issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. To assess the effect of various polymer-based DES on endothelialization, researchers led by Renu Virmani, MD, of CVPath Institute (Gaithersburg, MD), first used a balloon catheter to denude the endothelium of the iliac arteries of adult rabbits. They then implanted a sirolimus-eluting (Cypher, Cordis/Johnson & Johnson, Miami, FL), paclitaxel-eluting (Taxus, Boston Scientific, Natick, MA), zotarolimus-eluting (Endeavor, Medtronic Vascular, Santa Monica, CA), or everolimus-eluting (Xience V, Abbott Vascular, Santa Clara, CA) stent. The bare-metal cobalt-chromium Multi-Link Vision (Abbott Vascular) stent served as a control. After stent retrieval at 14 or 28 days, the stented arteries were bisected, with half examined via scanning electron microscopy and half immunostained. Other stented arteries were harvested after the same periods for culturing. (Although 28 days in rabbits is often considered the equivalent of 1 year in humans, the investigators suggest that the shorter 14-day duration may reveal more about the course of vascular healing with DES.) Coverage Gap Differences in total surface area of uncovered struts for the various DES vs. bare-metal stents were most pronounced at 14 days. At that point, the uncovered strut area was smallest for Xience, while Cypher, Taxus, and Endeavor each showed at least a 5-fold greater uncovered area compared to bare-metal controls (table 1). At 28 days, the total uncovered area had decreased ~50% in all DES, although the difference persisted in Taxus. Table 1. Total Area of Uncovered Struts (mm2)   Cypher Taxus Endeavor Xience V Bare Metal 14 Days 5.17 ± 0.36a 7.26 ± 2.04a 5.66 ± 0.70a 2.75 ± 2.37 0.85 ± 0.90 28 Days 3.08 ± 1.80 3.84 ± 1.46b 2.54 ± 2.61 1.33 ± 1.60 0.12 ± 0.12 aP < 0.0001 vs. bare-metal controls. bP < 0.05 vs. bare-metal controls. Longitudinal coverage of DES was poorest in the middle regions, whereas the ends were generally well endothelialized—except for Cypher. Biomarkers Signal Delayed Endothelialization In addition, levels of biomarkers indicating the stage of endothelial recovery varied among the different DES along lines similar to those for strut coverage. Expression of platelet-endothelial cell adhesion molecule-1 (PECAM-1) over struts was generally poor in Cypher and Taxus at both 14 and 28 days, suggesting inhibition of endothelial cell proliferation and migration, endothelial cell injury, and/or increased cell turnover. Likewise, expression of thrombomodulin, which regulates platelets and coagulation, was weak or absent in DES, rendering the endothelium thrombogenic. On the other hand, expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) was especially elevated in Cypher, Taxus, and Endeavor, an indication of incomplete endothelialization. While acknowledging that the risk of stent thrombosis is associated with a variety of factors, including procedural, lesion, and patient characteristics, the researchers conclude: “[A]ttention should focus on stent strut coverage rather than late loss alone because the persistent lack of coverage . . . may serve as a nidus for thrombosis. Improved stent designs with thinner struts, more biocompatible polymers, or elimination of polymers with optimized drug elution profiles will likely have a profound impact on endothelial coverage."

 

This is the article. Good stuff! Check out the red highlighted data. At 28 days, the BMS is completely healed but look at the healing progress of Cypher and Taxus. Very jialat. That is why late-thrombosis cases from Cypher and Taxus is also jialat. Comparing BMS VS Endeavor and Xience, BMS healing is still much better. Biomatrix is a BMS at the endothelisation healing stent surface. Start to appreciate more of BIG's DES technology better now?

 

Both Cypher and Biomatrix are using Stainless Steel BMS. As i mentioned before, Stainless Steel material seems rather outdated compared to newer metal alloys like Chromium Cobalt but the major plus point of Stainless Steel is the recoil factor after balloon expansion. Chromium Cobalt has a recoil of around 9% while Stainless Steel has very minimal stent recoil. So my guess is the "vessel constriction" when performing "Altria Pacing" like fast walking exercises which increases the heart rate and blood flow could be due to the endothelisation healing progress. This healing progress is on the stent surface where the blood is flowing inside the vessel. If the endothelisation healing is poor, we will see incomplete healing (some covered with healthy regrowth cells, some stent surface still exposed). This effectively causes uneven and rippled surface where the blood is flowing. Hence, there will be more difficulty and "constriction" for blood flow as compared to nice and smooth endothelisation healing totally covering the stent surface.

I remember Mr Investor posted an article by Dr Renu comparing endothelisation in animal models whereby she di-sected the vessel between various DESs and BMS. She discovered BMS has a much much higher healing progress compared to DESs and Cypher and Taxus has the worst endothelisation healing. Biomatrix is essentially a BMS on the non-abumenal surface are which endothelisation healing occurs. Endothelisation healing has high corelation to late-thrombosis blood clot cases. That means the better the endothelisation, the lesser chance of late thrombosis cases. That is why i have highlighted earlier that BIG's manufacturing process using direct precision coating is a very good manufacturing technology. All other DESs uses spraying method for drug coating manufacturing process and particles of anti-restentosis drug may actually land on non-abumenal surface which will affect endothelisation healing. BIG is not only top class in DES technology and also top class in DES manufacturing method.   

 

The Nobori Core Trial against Cypher was notable for a sub-study, where they did 'Atrial Pacing'. My understanding of 'Atrial Pacing' is that they monitor the stented vessel constriction, while subjecting the patient to increasing heart rate excercise. In this excercise, there was vessel constriction for the Cypher DES, ie the vessel seems to narrow, while the Bio-matrix stented vessel appears to be normal. This is suppose to imply that there is good endothelialisation for the Bio-matrix, such that the stented appears to be working normally, even under excercise, while there might be something in the cyper stented vessel that cause the blood vessel to constrict (probably inflammation, caused by incomplete endothelialisation). This is my understanding of the 'Atrial Pacing' concept - If there is anyone who knows about the topic, pleae correct me. Not a call to buy/Sell.

 

ha ha 68, u look like Doc. Tks for the valuable info.

may consider to avg this burger after the coming IPO on Qualitas, a regional medical group.