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The 6 W’s: Who, what, where, when, why and what of it …

Today’s Gospel:  Stocks elevated losses Wednesday but are … lower as RegMed companies share pricing drags and continue to drift.  No leader as the NASDAQ is barely up … Lower green and redder on the screen …

• Aastrom (ASTM) <$2.30> is moving up and down  again incrementally as volume dries up, speculation decreases … also, with short interest decreasing <3.09 to 3.07M> but, still high as a percentage of float … as I have said – short interests are holding this security down … sooner and probably later … they will need to cover … More news will drive them down to cover releasing this position. In relation to other securities … ASTM has NOT utilized any ATM offering!

• Athersys (ATHX) is up <$0.02 or 1.44% to $1.41>as Aspire Capital may offer up to $8M of its shares after down draft based on ATM financing from the Aspire purchase agreement … which provides for … “that in no event will any shares of common stock be sold at a Purchase Price less than $1.45, or the Floor Price, unless and until such time as the stockholders of the Company approve the transaction contemplated by the Purchase Agreement”. However … “We (ATHX) has the right, in sole discretion, to present Aspire Capital with a purchase notice directing Aspire Capital to purchase up to 100,000 shares of common stock per trading day, provided that the aggregate price of such purchase shall not exceed $500,000 per trading day, up to an additional $19M of common stock in the aggregate at a per share price calculated by reference to the prevailing market price of common stock I would not be surprised … if the agreement will eventually drive the stock DOWN …and putting more selling pressure on the shares after the huge trading volume last week. What is good today … will be bad for … the future!

• Minimal upward moves … are BioTime (Amex: BTX); ImmunoCellular (OTC BB: IMUC) and   NeoStem (Amex: NBS)

• Verastem (VSTM) took a hit yesterday – but, regaining position … <+$0.09 <+0.88%> to $10.26;

The weakness in the sector was partly due to … low interest and volume(s) …  to speculate … with some traders cashing in on Tuesday’s few gains amid lingering uncertainty about their financial situation and sustainability without dependence on toxic and ATM financings.

Mid-Day: The NASDAQ is DOWN -10.62 (-0.35%) to 3,032.20 while the Dow is DOWN -59.41 (-0.45%) to 13,056.13.

Mid-Day Market Commentary:  Stocks are still moving to the downside in … mid-day … trading on Wednesday, giving back … even more … ground after ending the yesterdays session slightly higher. The major averages all slid into negative territory but, there isn’t … much follow-through on downward moves.

Who is UP … Mid-day:

• Athersys (ATHX);
• BioTime (Amex: BTX);
• ImmunoCellular (OTC BB: IMUC);
• StemCells (STEM);
• Verastem (VSTM)..

What’s new in the regenerative medicine/stem cell market … 3 … to know today …

Stem cell agency CIRM earmarks $30M: http://www.bizjournals.com/mobile/sanfrancisco/blog/biotech/2012/04/cirm-stem-cells.html . A $30M effort from California’s stem cell research funding agency will dole out awards to help biotech or pharmaceutical companies or venture capital firms take research into early clinical trials. The 3 or more Strategic Partnership Awards would provide up to $10M each. Successful applicants must match those funds, either dollar-for-dollar or by providing in-kind services like manufacturing and product development. The most likely candidates to attract industry funding would be CIRM’s “disease team” grant winners, who face a deadline of 2014 to bring a project to the point of first-in-human clinical trials. CIRM has weighed options for pushing those projects — there are 13 of them now — deeper into the FDA approval process. The 13 projects, which face milestone deadlines that could result in a loss of their $5.6M – $20M grants, range from potential treatments for AIDS and cancers to therapies for sickle cell anemia and amyotrophic later sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig’s disease.

TiGenix completes 3rd and final phase of the Orthomimetics acquisition:  NYSE Euronext Brussels: TIG) announces that it has completed the 3rd and final phase of the Orthomimetics acquisition. In 11/09, TiGenix acquired all the shares in Orthomimetics Limited (currently TiGenix Limited) through a share deal. The consideration due by TiGenix was payable in TiGenix shares, a 1^st tranche of which was issued in 11/09, a 2nd tranche in 11/10.  The Bottom Line: 536,534 new TiGenix shares were issued. The registered capital of the company was increased with EUR 525,803.32 and an issuance premium of EUR 1,770,561.44 was recorded.  The 536,534 new TiGenix shares will be admitted to trading on NYSE Euronext Brussels. Following this transaction, the total number of shares outstanding is 91,659,201.

 Scottish firm acquires equipment and patents for supplying stem cells: http://www.heraldscotland.com/business/company-news/pharmacells-aims-to-lead-world-in-stem-cell-supply.17305360 .  Pharmacells acquired the assets of fellow Scottish company Immunosolv in a move that could turn the former into one of the world’s major suppliers of stem cells for research. The Bottom Line:  The deal gives Pharmacells rights to Immunosolv’s high-tech equipment and research and product patents, including for the cell-extraction method Dead-Cert.