ARCA: May All Your BioPharma Dreams Come True

Biopharmaceutical stock are the new age dot-coms, the public companies that took little internet firms with no revenue so high that the NASDAQ moved above 5,000 in early 2000.

Most biopharma companies are cheap one-trick ponies that get a modest patent or decent Stage I trail results, a sort of auction with the FDA that usually goes nowhere.

Today, ARCA biophamra (ABIO) made that case that it is the real deal, the one in 1,000.

Shares in the company are up 223% on 42 million shares, the kinds of numbers that internet IPOs used to deliver in 1999. Even with the run-up, the ABIO shares are no where near their 52-week high,which means that the company lete investors down in the past. And, it did. From last May, when the stock hit $13.45 until mid-July, it took a sickening slide to $2.28. Today, as the share moved to $9, management got some measure of redemption.

At 8.30 this morning, ARCA biopharma announced that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office had issued a patent on methods of treating heart failure patients with bucindolol based on genetic testing. The patent (USP# 7,678,824) entitled “Methods for Treatment with Bucindolol Based on Genetic Targeting” is a new approach to the treatement of patients with heart failure. “We are obviously pleased with the USPTO’s issuance of this patent which we believe will extend our pharmacogenetic intellectual property protection around bucindolol and, if approved for marketing, provide Gencaro market exclusivity into 2025,” said Michael R. Bristow, President and Chief Executive Officer of ARCA.

But, the treatment has not even gone into clinical trials. ARCA may even need to obtain additional funding for the tests.

Over the course of the last few months, ARCA has received a notice about listing problems with the NASDAQ and a “going concern” letter from its auditors. ARCA had a loss from operations last year of $37 million on no revenue.

May all of its shareholders dreams come true.

Douglas A. McIntyre