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dvdtsk Member	29-Oct-2007 12:30        dvdtsk About Contact  Quote this Post!
x 0   x 0  Alert Admin	Bengster68, execellent evaluation of stock... Are we there in getting the CE mark???
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bengster68 Master	29-Oct-2007 12:02        bengster68 About Contact  Quote this Post!
x 0   x 0  Alert Admin	Hi almostthere, we share the same sentiments. Stay vested in this undiscovered gem. Every dog will have its day. Only BIG has the best DES performance. No one else has it and we are talking about medical products here.
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almostthere Member	29-Oct-2007 11:45        almostthere About Contact  Quote this Post!
x 0   x 0  Alert Admin	Hello Bengster68,  First time in any forum for me but I have been reading and appreciating the commentary, knowledge and insights that you so kindly share with us.  I have been a pre-IPO investor and am still holding to my portfolio in Biosensor.  I concur and support all that you have said.  In any portfolio, there is always a spread of risk management.  I believe investors in Biosensor should view their investment in the 'strategic' basket.  Do not mind the detractors and I continue to welcome your sharing.  Afterall, we all have a choice.  My choice is similar to yours.  One of the other forum member suggested that when we all made our $$$, you will find time to celebrate together.  Thanks again as I continue to build on this counter.
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bengster68 Master	29-Oct-2007 11:21        bengster68 About Contact  Quote this Post!
x 0   x 0  Alert Admin	I will buy and hold this grossly undervalued stock. Previous poor stock price performance does not mean anything for forecasting  future stock performance and vice versa. When investors finally realise BIG is really a hidden gem, the share price will perform. I look and study at the company itself and the industry players. I believe in 2010 BIG will a global DES powerhouse with earnings easily in excess of US$100m and a blue chip in SGX. BIG could be dual listed in NASDAQ and China JWMS listing at Shanghai/HKSE/NASDAQ soon. You can try your luck at other kelong pennies like Jade or Dr Anthony Soh related kelong counters. We have different investment criteria and strategy. I have full confidence BIG will be the darkest horse around. I will not be easily wavered as i have done all my investment homework properly. Lets wait until 2010 to see the results (provided if BIG is not bought up by stent rivals). This stock will be a multi-bagger winner. No doubt about it.
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787180 Master	29-Oct-2007 11:06        787180 About Contact  Quote this Post!
x 0   x 0  Alert Admin	It will go up to 73-74..next few days after FED's rate cut drop back again....never fall in love with a stock..it only enables U to make $$$ that's all
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poppy_toyz Member	29-Oct-2007 10:19        poppy_toyz About Contact  Quote this Post!
x 0   x 0  Alert Admin	yup....well said.... but did you guys see today's trading volume in Biosensor? I reckon somebody is slowly but surely collecting Biosensor share big time.
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dcang84 Veteran	29-Oct-2007 10:03        dcang84 About Contact  Quote this Post! Style: Combined   Mood:
x 0   x 0  Alert Admin	< Biosensor is a dead,ol horse..no point flogging it..can't move...may drop further each time mkt corrects but if mkt soars it remains unchanged or move 1 step forward and 3 steps backward.Don't fall in love with the counter..we only  love it if it can enable us to make $$$,Bro bengster..actually I pity U still adamant hanging on to it..imagine the opportunity costs...just out of cuiosity..do U get the bulk of yr shares thru pte placement prior to listing..I respect U for yr insights and knowledge of Biosensor...the problem is co is fraught with too many regulatory controls and approvals..plus the huge R&D may go to waste or not bear fruit..co has to amortise away as expense..no offence meant to antagonise anybody vested but can it's time to move off to a co that can make better returns with yr $$$ > Good point. Don't let your heart rule your investments.
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787180 Master	28-Oct-2007 23:51        787180 About Contact  Quote this Post!
x 0   x 0  Alert Admin	Biosensor is a dead,ol horse..no point flogging it..can't move...may drop further each time mkt corrects but if mkt soars it remains unchanged or move 1 step forward and 3 steps backward.Don't fall in love with the counter..we only  love it if it can enable us to make $$$,Bro bengster..actually I pity U still adamant hanging on to it..imagine the opportunity costs...just out of cuiosity..do U get the bulk of yr shares thru pte placement prior to listing..I respect U for yr insights and knowledge of Biosensor...the problem is co is fraught with too many regulatory controls and approvals..plus the huge R&D may go to waste or not bear fruit..co has to amortise away as expense..no offence meant to antagonise anybody vested but can it's time to move off to a co that can make better returns with yr $$$
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tiptop123 Member	28-Oct-2007 22:55        tiptop123 About Contact  Quote this Post!
x 0   x 0  Alert Admin	This article on "Taking the pulse of the stent market" was published last year, 16 Oct 2006. If we look back, nobody would have expected Biosensors and its licensee, Xtent, share prices to have performed so badly a year later.
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tingtang5 Member	28-Oct-2007 20:35        tingtang5 About Contact  Quote this Post!
x 0   x 0  Alert Admin	Taking the Pulse of the Stent Market Gerelyn Terzo October 29, 2007 As any healthcare watcher knows, after a contentious, months-long bidding war, Boston Scientific swooped in this January and snared Guidant for $27.2 billion, winning the deal from industry rival Johnson & Johnson. However, when the company secured that deal, it certainly didn't foresee that just nine months later it would have to warn of lackluster demand globally in the coronary drug-coated stent market, citing US market retrenchment in particular. But on Sept. 21, the company did just that, saying it expects worldwide sales of its drug-eluting stent to come in between $550 million and $580 million in its third quarter, which it will report Wednesday, Oct. 18. That represents nearly a 10% drop in drug-coated stent revenue versus a year ago. Boston Scientific's drug-eluting stent, Taxus, is one of only two such devices on the US market, the other being J&J's Cypher. The company remains adamant that its US market share in drug-coated stents is "stable," but keeping that position will only be more difficult over the coming months and years, as the battle for market share is being waged on three fronts by the leaders, start-ups and emerging independents.   Next Generation Stents Although the big boys currently own the drug-eluting stent market in the US, with Boston Scientific holding a slight edge at 55%, it is the start-ups that often define the next generation of medical device technology. The stronger players are often snapped up by the larger players, and of course, given their prominence in financing circles, private equity firms are active in the early-stage stent market, placing bets on their favorites. "Clearly, there is a need for better drug-eluting stents. That's where we would invest, into companies with superior products," says Stephen Shapiro, a special venture partner with private equity shop Galen Associates and venture capital firm Advanced Technology Ventures (ATV). One prominent early-stage company is Biosensors International Group, which reported $8 million in sales in its most recent fiscal quarter. Biosensors, which has no venture affiliations, is developing what it believes will be the next generation of stent technology. Its stent, BioMatrix, uses a proprietary biodegradable polymer that does not remain in the body after the drug is eluted, so ultimately a bare metal stent remains. Biosensors has also developed its own antirestenotic drug, dubbed Biolimus A9 and designed to prevent renarrowing of the arteries, to be used in conjunction with the stent, and it has its own stent delivery platform technology. By developing the entire stent-delivery package, Biosensors is able to diversify its revenue stream with upfront licensing fees for its drug and its biodegradable polymer. "We have received north of $80 million combined from all of our partners," Yoh-Chie Lu, CEO of Biosensors, tells IDD. Lu's company has an exclusive partnership with Terumo in Japan through which it agrees not to license its products to anybody else in that region. It has not, however, opted to take that route in the US, where the opportunity is just too large to pursue with one partner. Biosensors is in the midst of a breach-of-contract lawsuit with Guidant, which once had exclusive rights to Biosensors' biodegradable polymer. The product will debut in the European market, and Biosensors' management is anxiously awaiting CE Mark approval, the equivalent to FDA approval in the US. "We don't have 100% control over [the product] when we get it, but we think it will be soon," says Lu. Once the European regulatory hurdles are cleared, he plans to target Euro-Asian countries where his company can achieve quick approvals from local authorities. "The growth for drug-eluting stents in India is much faster than once imagined," Lu adds. And all this while Lu keeps his sights set on the alluring US market. In an effort to make its US splash known, Biosensors has teamed up with two venture-backed specialty platform developers in the US: Xtent, a Menlo Park, Calif.-based stent manufacturer that recently filed for an IPO (its shares are expected to begin trading in November), and Irvine, Calif.-based Devax, which is also planning its public-market debut, says an analyst. "In terms of market size and usage, the US represents the largest market, and we will have to find a way to enter into it," Lu says. "The company expects to begin human trials for its biodegradable polymer stateside in coming months." Biosensors is listed on the Singapore Exchange but not yet in the US. With no debt on the company's balance sheet, Lu is weighing the best approach to the US equity market and has been approached by intrigued domestic bulge-bracket firms. "We've not entered into anything official," he says. "We are talking to a lot of bankers and trying to decide the best course of action for us." "Clearly, there is going to be a struggle for market share with new products coming to market," says Robert Andrews, director of healthcare banking at Houlihan Lokey. "That's a testimony to the size of this market. These are expensive, large clinical trials, and you don't spend that kind of money and take that kind of time for small markets." Although the timing of Biosensors' US debut may be unclear, it's facing competition from others that already have a foothold in the US drug-eluting stent market. Like Biosensors, Conor MedSystems, a publicly traded company with a $900 million market cap, is developing its own biodegradable polymer for drug-coated stent delivery, analysts say. The company, which has a drug-eluting stent in the European market, is on the radar of the industry giants as a takeover candidate, according to those same analysts. Troubles for Current Products The promise of the new products can't be discussed without acknowledging that the market has its share of problems. Most recently, Boston Scientific's Taxus has been linked to late stent thrombosis, a blood clot that can cause a potentially fatal heart attack. Theories differ about the cause. One is that the layer of polymer attached to the metal that remains in the body may cause the clot. The US Food & Drug Administration is in the process of defining the risks tied to coated stents in light of the Taxus scare. This has called into question the efficacy of drug eluting stents over bare metal stents, the first generation of this technology. Despite the Taxus setback, however, the worldwide opportunity in stents is forecast to widen to some $6.3 billion annually by 2010 from $5.6 billion today. This has created an atmosphere conducive to M&A and new offerings in a crowded market with a string of new products in various stages of clinical trials coming down the pike. "Investment bankers are seeing a mixture of capital raising and M&A," says Holly Sheffield, an investment banker at Credit Suisse. "Large companies have the economic muscle to afford multiple shots on goal. Earlier stage companies have the option of remaining independent, or monetizing in a sale to a larger company." And despite the controversy surrounding coated stents, market players have no intention of abandoning these devices, and they continue to invest heavily in R&D and clinical trials. "The market is not going back to bare metal stents, and anyone who says otherwise is kidding himself," says Gary Shaffer, a partner in the life sciences and components teams at Morgenthaler Ventures. However, despite the vigorous efforts of medical device makers, not every new product sees the light of day. Abbott Labs, which paid $4.1 billion for Guidant's vascular business earlier this year (a deal necessary to win regulatory approval for Boston Scientific's purchase of Guidant), put the brakes on one of its coated stents only weeks ago. Abbott stopped clinical trials for ZoMaxx, its drug-eluting coronary stent system, in order to focus its development effort on Xience V, the drug-eluting stent it picked up in the Guidant deal. Xience V was launched in most European countries on Oct. 3, and Abbott hopes to introduce Xience V to the US market in the first half of 2008. "Once they get their drug-eluting stent approved in the US, I think they will be viewed as a significant player," says Keay Nakae, an analyst at CE Unterberg, Towbin. Also, through the acquisition of the Guidant division, Abbott assumed development of a biodegradable stent, which would permit the drug, polymer and actual device to break down in the body. Abbott is in the midst of a clinical trial called Absorb that will enroll up to 60 patients in Belgium, Denmark, France, New Zealand, Poland and the Netherlands. Early Bird Investors Biosensors' VC-free development process is an anomaly. Several stent start-ups rely on early-stage capital to fund their R&D process, which includes capital-intensive clinical trials. However, while the opportunity in the stent market is appealing to some, it carries just too much risk for others to stomach. "We don't invest in the pre-revenue-stage stent market," says David Jahns, a managing director at Galen, a firm devoted to healthcare. "It's a risky market, and there are lots of competitors. The actual time to realization on a regulatory approval process is risky and time consuming." Les Funtleyder, a healthcare strategist at Miller Tabak, an institutional trading firm, has similarly avoided this segment to date, but may change his tune come the next generation of drug-eluting stents. "Biodegradable stents might be the Holy Grail in the stent market," he says. "But there are some engineering challenges." Shapiro, on the other hand, is not convinced that the next wave of stent technology will favor biodegradable polymers. "I'm not convinced the next generation is biodegradable stents," he says. "I'd say it presents an interesting opportunity and has theoretical potential to address the needs of a large market." ATV, the VC shop in which Shapiro is a partner, is among the investors in Xtent, a stent maker (and Biosensors partner) that has raised $76 million in venture funding. Lead underwriters on the Xtent IPO include Piper Jaffray, Cowen and Co., Lazard Capital Markets and RBC Capital Markets. Morgenthaler has been investing in the stent market for the past four years and is Xtent's majority shareholder. "Building significantly better mousetraps for the major stent makers - that's our business," says Morgenthaler's Shaffer. "Companies like this are of interest to both corporations and the public market because historically there has been considerable room for innovation." Xtent's claim to fame is its size-adjustable stent, which allows cardiologists to customize the stent to the diseased sections of the artery, or lesions. Morgenthaler is also backing CardioMind, another California-based stent developer that is considering an IPO. The VC shop was co-lead investor alongside Latterell Venture Partners in the first two rounds, and CardioMind plans to raise its third round of venture capital next year. CardioMind has developed a promising stent delivery system that eliminates an entire layer of the stent system - the catheter. The stent is minuscule - the size of the guide wire - and therefore no balloon catheter is needed. "The million-dollar opportunity is in the delivery system," says Shaffer. "With positive human clinical data, there will be strong corporate interest." CardioMind is targeting the European market first, where regulatory approval is much faster, and expects to market its stent in the next year. Then management will focus on FDA approval in the US. "The next wave of IPOs specifically in this category will be focused on third-generation stents and beyond," says Credit Suisse's Sheffield.   Looking Ahead Next week, top cardiologists from around the globe, along with top corporate players and bankers, will be gathering at the year's most important meeting for interventional cardiology when the Cardiovascular Research Foundation hosts its annual Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) convention in Washington DC. One of the highlights of the symposium will be a roundtable discussion devoted to the topic of late-stent thrombosis. That discussion will include interventional cardiologists and FDA panel members, including Kenneth Cavanaugh. Investors and analysts expected to attend include Steve Shapiro and Credit Suisse's Sheffield. Also, the FDA has convened a formal panel to define the proper use of drug-eluting stents in response to the Boston controversy, a pathway that could very well dictate the directions that the next generation of stent technology takes. And whether the softening in the coronary stent market that Boston Scientific is experiencing evolves into a trend will also become clearer in coming months.   (c) 2006 Investment Dealers' Digest Magazine and SourceMedia, Inc. All Rights Reserved. http://www.iddmagazine.com http://www.sourcemedia.com Third Quarter 2007 League Tables | Top Legal/Financial    Advisers Second Quarter 2007 League Tables | Top Legal/Financial    Advisers | Global Rankings | Domestic Rankings First Quarter 2007 League Tables | Top Legal/Financial    Advisers First Half 2006 League Tables | Global Rankings |Domestic Rankings | Municipal Rankings | M&A Tables | Global Loans First Quarter 2006 League Tables | Global Rankings | Domestic Rankings | Municipal Rankings Fourth Quarter 2006 League Tables | Top Legal/Financial    Advisers M&A | Global/US Rankings First Half Loans Rankings | Loan Rankings First-Half M&A | M&A Rankings You will need to have Adobe Acrobat reader to view the league tables.
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ROI25per Master	28-Oct-2007 14:39        ROI25per About Contact  Quote this Post! Style: Flexible   Mood:
x 0   x 0  Alert Admin	well said.
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bengster68 Master	28-Oct-2007 14:25        bengster68 About Contact  Quote this Post!
x 0   x 0  Alert Admin	BIG's business strategy has been to go solo and do it themselves and not depend on takeover to realise their dream (which i feel should be the righty way). Never depend others to realise your dreams. BIG has the resources to do it themselves. We have US$70m cash in bank right now and Axxion DES has been the testing bed for eventual launch for our flagship Biomatrix DES. If more funds are needed to realise our ambition, BIG can raise more $ via dual listing in NASDAQ. Delay in product commercialisation will reduce the product useful life with competitors coming up with something new and better. But there are other so called "revolutionary stents" but their technology is questionable and rather "iffy". Wait until they can have proven superiority clinical trials against other DES then we talk. Many "revolutionary" technology were highlighted to raise money from investors but less than 1% of them will eventually make the cut to produce world class clinical results. BIG is one of the 1% that make the cut to have potential to become world class. Most of these "revolutionary discoveries" eventually flop and all the investor's money gone down the drain. Bare metal stents (BMS) has been in use since the 1980s but hey people are still using them now (20 year old technology). With blood clot problems of first generation DES, BMS is back in vogue again and sales are actually rising! BIG has Biomatrix-Freedom (polymer free) and fully bioabsorbable DES in the pipe-line. BIG is visionary and will not be a one hit wonder. BIG is clearly on the way to become a global DES powerhouse.
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ROI25per Master	27-Oct-2007 21:59        ROI25per About Contact  Quote this Post! Style: Flexible   Mood:
x 0   x 0  Alert Admin	will this stent's tenchnology be obsolette; there may be other wonderful products...
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garfgarf Member	27-Oct-2007 20:53        garfgarf About Contact  Quote this Post!
x 0   x 0  Alert Admin	Agree with bengster's view of Biosensors' potential. However, the question is whether Biosensors will be able to realise its full potential if JNJ or other potential takeover party refuses to offer a higher price. If so, Biosensors may not have the resources to market its product in a BIG way.
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bengster68 Master	27-Oct-2007 15:45        bengster68 About Contact  Quote this Post!
x 0   x 0  Alert Admin	This is a VC stock and i recommend you come back 2 years later (provided BIG don't get bought up by stent rivals) instead of one month later. VCs don't put in their money and every month come and check company's valuation. BIG's top class  and proven stent technology comparing with other global DESs and BIG's potential as a major global DES player should be what investors are looking at when buying into BIG. You can check what the 3 VC funds say when they invested US$45m into BIG via convertible loan stock (conversion rate at $1.05 per share). If you want quick returns, i suggest you try other stocks instead of BIG.
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bengster68 Master	27-Oct-2007 15:28        bengster68 About Contact  Quote this Post!
x 0   x 0  Alert Admin	Many retail investors still think BIG is a concept stock with no earnings. I feel BIG is not like a dot.com company on internet craze days with no outlook for future earnings or kelong penny stock controlled by local zhengkay. BIG is in a high barrier of entry industry, DES is very lucrative business and there is real huge global demand for BIG's products. DES is the most successful (in terms of sales) medical product invention in the history of medical product devices and this is a fact. We have seen how Boston Scientific became a US$50B company market cap in 2004 by just selling DES. Mind you Boston's Taxus is the worst DES and they licenced their stent technology from Angiotech (have to pay Angiotech royalties). BIG's market cap now is only  US$0.5B. BIG has proven best DES clinical trial performance and owns all proprietary drug and biodegredable polymer technology with well guarded IP and patents. No need to pay royalties to other parties. BIG is currently still at pre-earnings stage but the future earnings potential is very huge and expotential. I estimate DES market in year 2010 will go back to US$5B a year. Biomatrix's FDA approval expected on somewhere Q2 of 2009. Biomatrix is the best performing DES so far and i believe in year 2010 BIG can capture 10% of global DES market easily. That translate to sales of US$500m. We give a net profit margin of 20% of gross sales which means net profit of around US$100m. China JWMS should be making about US$50m for the year 2010 and our 50% share gives us US$25m attributable net profit. Plus, we have also milestone/royalty payments from our licensee Terumo, Devax, Xtent (which will be a significant amount) but i will not include in for net profit calculation as i assume income streams from them will be offseted for clinical trials and R&D. So, US$125m in 2010 times at least 30 PE (being high growth company) should give us US$3.75B market cap in 2010. BIG will become an SGX blue chip in 2010 if takeover doesn't happen. Maybe that is why BIG's management is confident of achieving this target and rejecting JNJ previous offers which seem very attractive. When you buy into pre-earnings company, the risk involved is always higher. That is why i have been saying many times investors should buy BIG only when they believe BIG has the best global DES technology and will become a main DES player globally. I think the chances are pretty high judging from the results of all the clinical trials comparing with other main DES players. BIG is will eventually be a winner. You can wait until BIG start showing serious huge profit in 2010 but by then the share price would be around $5 per share. So now you know why BIG's major shareholders has rejected JNJ's very attractive offers. Anything below $3 will not interest BIG's key shareholders at this present moment.
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dcang84 Veteran	27-Oct-2007 13:00        dcang84 About Contact  Quote this Post! Style: Combined   Mood:
x 0   x 0  Alert Admin	Bengster68, I dun share your optimism but I like the way you convince others with your arguments and assumptions. From a retail investor's point of view, the cost and risk of holding on to this counter increases with each passing day. Couple that with the opportunity cost and the figure escalates. When I come back to this forum in a month's time, it will probably be much of the same-one step forward and two steps back. For those who are vested, I honestly hope I'm wrong.
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bengster68 Master	27-Oct-2007 00:02        bengster68 About Contact  Quote this Post!
x 0   x 0  Alert Admin	That CIMB guy very anti-BIG. The market's perception now is BIG's share price now hinges on CE as the main focal point. If BIG don't get it approved, now matter how well they do at clinical trials and how good JW really is, the share price will not move much as too much media/investor focus was put on CE approval. It is a matter of time (of course time is of important essence) CE will be approved. CE / IDE delay and poor investor relation aside, this company has done very well. JW will be one of BIG's prized asset and i think it is a very good and smart acquisition. There are a lot of things happening now in China and the full benefit of JW's acquisition to BIG will be seen next year. I said before BIG's 50% JW is actually worth US$375m. If events happening in China turns out very favourable, we can see JW's value at least double up. This is the real potential of JW. We will see full potential of JW when things start to slowly unravel next year.
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swissvic Member	26-Oct-2007 17:07        swissvic About Contact  Quote this Post!
x 0   x 0  Alert Admin	Bengster68 please pass your information to two company covering biosensor CLMB-GK RESEARCH PTE LTD KHOO CHEN HSUNG  email chenhsung.khoo@cimb.com  tel 6210 8685 CLSA ZHENGJIE ZHUO email zhengjie.zhuo@clsa.com tel 64167812 so that they can write out reports
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bengster68 Master	26-Oct-2007 14:20        bengster68 About Contact  Quote this Post!
x 0   x 0  Alert Admin	dcang84, you better sell your BIG shares now. If you don't own any BIG shares, don't ever buy them. There are many top volume pennies you may want to consider.
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