Weight loss drugs are back in the news with Arena Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: ARNA) finally winning Food and Drug Administration approval on Wednesday for lorcaserin, which will be sold under the name Belviq by Eisai Co. Ltd. (Pink Sheets: ESALY), a division of Arena. The FDA has been very hesitant to approve any new weight loss therapies, with Arena’s victory marking the first effort in 13 years to garner the approval of the regulatory agency. Belviq now joins Roche’s (OTCQX: RHHBY) Xenical as the only FDA-approved anti-obesity drugs on the market today. With the new approval, and anticipated near term approval of Qnexa, a therapy being developed by Vivus (NASDAQ: VVUS) investors are taking the opportunity to focus on a few other companies, such as Orexigen Therapeutics (NASDAQ: OREX) and Athersys, Inc. (NASDAQ: ATHX), that each have innovative portfolios containing promising anti-obesity products that could represent the next wave of innovation. Read More

The stock chart for Athersys (NASDAQ: ATHX) is particularly interesting because it is sitting on a solid support level and a bullish cross of the MACD happened recently. The bullish cross has historically been accompanied by an upswing in price per share, which has not happened on this occasion. As such, the chart remains on radar for the support to hold and for the MACD/PPS pattern to repeat itself. Read More

Graft versus Host Disease (GvHD) is an area of great unmet medical that represents a significant risk to cancer patients throughout the world.  The condition occurs when patients receive a bone marrow transplant following radiation and/or chemotherapy, and the transplanted immune cells begin to attack the patient, causing significant pain and disability, or even death. Read More

There’s no arguing that stem cells therapies have been a hot button topic of controversy for years.  The days are few and far between where there isn’t something in the media that highlights some aspect of the debate, whether it’s promising research results; a new clinical study being authorized by the FDA; a high-profile athlete heading overseas for some type of stem cell therapy through the practice of Read More