BVTI: Biovest International announced on Wednesday that it has established a research collaboration agreement with Ordway Research Institute, a leading biologics research, with a specialized focus on biodefense and emerging infections.
Biovest has been developing BiovaxID to treat non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, although the product has yet to be brought before the FDA for approval following the completion of a Phase III trial.
According to the press release, "Biovest and Ordway will jointly conduct manufacturing studies using Biovest’s proprietary hollow fiber bioreactor systems, including the AutovaxID™ system, in viral growth studies for the purpose of establishing further data confirming the efficiency of Biovest’s instruments for the production of a variety of potent virus-fighting products such as vaccines and virus-like particles (VLPs)."
In plain english, not PR-speak, Biovest and Ordway are going to look for ways to utilize the AutovaxID system to bring in government money to fund research and operations for as long as they can.
The agreement does not mean that any government contracts or money has been awarded, but that is undoubtedly the goal. After all, once a company is in with Uncle Sam, then it can survive for a heck of a long time without producing much in terms of results.
Avii BioPharma, for example, has been surviving for years on government contracts and money.
BVTI is at a relatively attractive price for a speculative buy right now, in my opinion, as the stock has been known to experience significant increases in price at times. Sometimes the price swing comes as the result of news, but on other occassions there have been swings with no news being released that were most likely created by a big investor gaming the market.
That said, Biovest's parent company - Accentia Pharmaceuticals - also doesn't look too bad about now.
Still a high risk, speculative buy, but if BiovaxID every makes it to the mainstream, then large percentage gains would be in store.
The announcement of the collaborative agreement, however, doesn't impress me much. It's just in the natural course of events for a small biotech to want to find a way to bring in some taxpayer dollars.
Disclosure: No position.
