Shares of ACTC have settled in the high teens after having spiked to nearly thirty cents over the past four months when the company historically received approval from the FDA to commence an embryonic stem-cell based trial for it RPE program in treating severe vision loss.
Shortly after receiving the first FDA go-ahead, Advanced Cell Tech was cleared to begin a second trial for its embryonic stem cells.
Needless to say, the past few months may have been the most significant in the company's history.
Advanced Cell took advantage of the good times an paid down some debt which left the company closing 2010 in its best financial position ever, according to the recently-announced 2010 numbers.
Building on the solid pipeline and financial news, the company announced that China's State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO) has granted ACT a patent covering its RPE program in China.
The move into China may be an encouraging development, although I don't place too much credence in any product related to China because of the corruption over there and the fact that you never know what you're getting out of that country.
Case in point being that its only Chinese stainless steel that rusts in weeks.
Yes, the pharmaceutical market is expected to boom in China, but with global unrest dominated the news these days, it could be only a matter of time before China's 1.3 billion people take to the streets and look for a little freedom of their own.
If that does happen, then who knows where the false Chinese economy ends up.
So the China patent news is a good "oh, by the way" announcement, but the real meat and potatoes behind ACT is the development of its pipeline in relation to the recently-approved trial commencements.
After already rewarding patient investors with the run from six pennies to over twenty cents over the past few months, ACTC could still end up realizing huge gains as the pipeline develops.
Disclosure: Long ACTC.
