ACTC: The year opened for Advanced Cell pretty much where 2010 left off - on a continued run from the nickel mark after the FDA approved the start of clinical trials for ACT's stem cell based treatment for severe blindness.
Advance Cell became only the second company ever approved to commence such a trial, with Geron being the first.
ACTC shares punched through the twenty cent mark before retreating back down into the mid teens before settling right around eighteen cents.
There's still a long way to go before late stage trials and market approval for Advanced Cell's products, but the company's pipeline, patents and technology still make it a nice longer term play. It's unlikely, in my opinion, that the short term will realize the quadruple gains that have already been there for the taking.
A major partnership - or to a lesser degree a buyout - is still a possibility, but if nothing significant materializes, a slide back to the low teens could be a possibility, and the lower it goes, the better the chance to re-load.
It's been a good few months for ACTC, and it remains a pick to keep on the radar.
ACT is also one of the more legitimate penny play companies that I follow and could be a very huge company years down the road.
Disclosure: Long ACTC.
MCLN: The last significant move to the upside after dropping well below the penny mark for MedClean came last December when an announcement of a new contract pushed shares signficantly higher. The news was not strong enough to spur a sustained run to the penny mark, however, and MCLN dipped straight back down to the .002 range.
Tuesday's trading action could have MedClean back on the radar screens of penny players.
A thirty percent increase in price during mid day trading has MedClean looking about as green as its technology is supposed to be, and the move makes this stock worth watching over the coming days.
As MCET has shown us early on this year, these things can move quick after months and months of nothing, so patience can pay.
MedClean is a valid company with a growing business, although earnings have not caught up to investors expectations; hence the significant drop to way below a penny during the past year.
Chances are that Tuesday's action is a head fake, but the possibility of a quick run should put MCLN on the watch list.
Disclosure: Long MCLN.
MHAN: Another early-2011 penny mover was Manhattan Pharmaceuticals. MHAN shares stormed to eight cents from the two cent mark in rapid fashion after the company announced that a settlement had been reached with Nordic regarding the dispute over shares that kept the Hedrin joint venture from moving forward.
The joint venture between Nordic and Manhattan owned North American rights to the pesticide-free lice treatment Hedrin, although it's yet to be seen if Hedrin will ever see the light of day in the US.
The eight cent price did not last long, and it could be a good time to reload on some shares of MHAN as the stock is back to trading for a couple of pennies.
There's some pipeline potential to keep this one alive as a long term pick, but trading shares need to outnumber base shares here, based on the past operational results (or lack thereof) from management.
Disclosure: Long MHAN.
MCET: MultiCell continued its huge run on Tuesday, trading another thirty percent higher as volume passed the 100 million mark during afternoon trading.
News has yet to accompany the run making some nervous that a pump and dump is in the works, but the run has been supported by off-the-charts volume.
Those holding shares from the vicinity of the .004 mark should well have taken some profit off the table, just in case - in my opinion - because these things have been known to drop just as fast as they rose if no relevant news contributed to the run.
If something has in fact leaked behing the scenes, then the real news will be due to reveal itself very soon.
In the meantime, investors who loaded up for well below a penny are laughing all the way to Cabo right now.
Still worth keeping an eye on, but I'd be more inclined to be selling some shares right now than starting a new position, unless it was with an eye towards to long term.
But that's just my opinion.
Disclosure: Long MCET.
CTSO: Recent announcements from officials at Cytosorbents have investors speculating that the ongoing sepsis trial for CytoSorb in Europe is coming to a conclusion. The trial end date has been pushed back a few times over its duration, mostly due to slower-than-expected enrollment, but as enrollment picked up, so did the expectation that results would be out during the first half of 2011.
Shares of CTSO are knocking on the door of fifteen cents, and since there is no legitimate competition on the market for sepsis treatment, larger gains could be in store for this stock as we approach trial results - and that won't compare to the gains that may be had should the CytoSorb device be approved in Europe.
Tuesday's seven percent price rise is far from sell territory, in my opinion, and still closer to buy time.
That said, any indication that the trial was NOT a success will send this stock down to the low pennies as there's no pipeline products close enough behind the CytoSorb sepsis to justify anything higher.
Definitely worth watching over the next couple of quarters.
Disclosure: Long CTSO.
