Looks good for next week and should be getting news on the MicroBank full launch...My, guess is that we see a lot of green going into the rest of the year...Congrats to all who have been buying down here
"We are also working to contract with physician's offices to carry our Stem Cell MicroBank(TM) Service and believe that cosmetic surgeons, cardiologists, and orthopedists will be excellent distribution sites. With these agreements, we believe we will be ready to make an explosive entry into this marketplace as we perform the first collections in June."
CalbaTech, Inc., an emerging life sciences company concentrating on banking adult stem cells for possible future therapeutic uses and providing products and platforms to the biotech, pharmaceutical research market and to academic institutions, in a letter to all shareholders said that a comparison of sixteen companies in the stem cell arena showed CalbaTech third in EBITDA (Earnings Before Income Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization) and first in average daily trading volume.
However, the study shows CalbaTech had the second lowest market capitalization. "We believe this means that CalbaTech has tremendous stock upside potential. If our revenues and profits begin to reach pro-forma projections, particularly with LifeStem's Stem Cell MicroBank(TM) Service to open this month, the stock price should respond accordingly," wrote James DeOlden, CEO. The entire letter follows:
Dear Fellow Shareholder:
We at CalbaTech, Inc. thank you for your investment in our Company. The goals at CalbaTech are two-fold: To acquire revenue generating Life Science "tools" companies, that provide products and platforms to researchers, forming a profitable base by which to provide the Company with cash flow and allow it to seek higher reward projects; and to develop those higher reward projects that will provide the opportunity for a greater upside to our shareholders. We believe we are well on our way to accomplishing both of these goals.
Research Reagents Division
In 2003, we acquired Molecula, LLC, a company in Sterling, Virginia, that sold transfection products. In 2004, we acquired KD Medical, a company in Columbia, Maryland, that supplied research products to more than 300 National Institute of Health (NIH) laboratories, as well as most of the major pharmaceutical companies. While both were generating revenue when acquired, neither was profitable. In the past year, we have worked diligently to make the Research Reagents Division the profitable base we intended.
The first step was to incorporate a new Molecula, Inc. in Nevada, and then combine the operations of Molecula and KD Medical into one facility to more efficiently capitalize on their synergistic operations. Next, marketing efforts were coordinated to take advantage of common markets. Finally, redundancies in the management teams of the two companies were eliminated. The result is that the Research Reagents Division reported a net profit for 2005 and again in the first quarter of 2006. Furthermore, this Division is reporting a 25% growth in revenue for the quarter ended March 31, 2006, as compared to the same period in 2005.
The next move is, literally, a move, into a new location. This Division will be moving into a new facility with two validated Class 100 clean rooms and a complete quality control laboratory that will be used to grow revenues in two different ways. One clean room will be used to increase the manufacturing capabilities of the KD Medical product offerings, so as to manufacture a higher quality of product, and to expand the current custom product offerings to the NIH as well as major universities and pharmaceutical companies. The second clean room will be utilized for other potential growth in revenue by allowing the Division to perform contract research for the many pharmaceutical companies located in this region.
Finally, the Research Reagents Division should also experience growth and greater profitability due to a recent understanding with a large media company to produce some of KD's routine media products. This is intended to allow KD to more aggressively sell these routine products, with greater profitability due to a decrease in redundant labor, and to enter markets that were previously unavailable due to cost competitiveness. This should result in an increase in revenues and allow KD to focus more attention to manufacturing custom products.
In summary, we believe that the Research Reagents Division has become a steady, growing, profitable foundation upon which we can build a greater return for our shareholders.
Cellular Therapies Division - LifeStem
In 2004, we purchased I-Stem from Dr. Jason R. Van Tassell, M.D. I-Stem owned the intellectual property to the Stem Cell Delivery Device, an endoscopic device capable of delivering adult stem cells directly to infarcted cardiac tissue. Dr. Van Tassel created the concept after hearing about an Illinois teenager who became a cardiac cripple after being shot in the heart by a nail gun. The teenager had adult stem cells injected into his blood stream resulting in cardiac tissue regeneration. While the teenager does not have completely normal cardiac function, the results were significant, allowing him functionality. Dr. Van Tassel reasoned that if stem cells injected into peripheral blood could cause significant cardiac tissue regeneration, then cells injected directly into the cardiac tissue would have even greater efficacy.
Subsequently the Company formed LifeStem, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary, to further I-Stem as well as to enter the new emerging field of banking adult stem cells for autologous use. This was determined after canvassing current stem cell banking services and realizing that there was a tremendous void to be filled, as the market had competitors at opposite poles. There are several companies collecting umbilical cord blood from newborns, which contain fertile stem cells, and there are other companies that are collecting autologous stem cells from adults in extremely inconvenient, invasive, costly, and time consuming ways. The former only helps those of the generation being born today whose parents have the foresight to take advantage of storing cord blood, and the latter does not provide non-invasive and convenient collection and storage of adult stem cells at a reasonable price.
We also determined that there were not any companies offering to collect adult stem cells from more than one tissue source. Some stem cells are more likely to develop into blood cells and similarly related tissues, while others are more likely to develop into bone, cartilage or muscle tissue. We therefore developed the process of harvesting stem cells in micro quantities to be cryopreserved for future transplantation into the client. We filed a patent application for our Stem Cell MicroBank(TM) Service, which is promulgated on the belief that it is unnecessary to collect an amount of stem cells sufficient to fully reconstitute one's entire immune system at the time of collection. LifeStem's Adult Stem Cell MicroBank(TM) is the only company to offer "micro" collections of stem cells from two different tissue sources thereby offering greater potential for treatments for multiple diseased conditions.
To a large degree, we believe that the adult stem cell collection and storage market mirrors the cosmetic surgery market, with its emphasis on proactive and preventative healthcare. People likely to have cosmetic surgery are concerned about quality of and longevity of life, they are health conscious, college-educated, and tend to seek non-traditional medical services. To this end, in December 2005, we signed a distribution agreement with Solana MedSpas, a developer and syndicator of medical spas, with 25 medspas currently open and operating and plans for more than 50 additional locations to open during 2006. In accordance with this agreement, adult stem cell collections will be performed at medspa locations using our Stem Cell Microbank(TM) Service. We are also working to contract with physician's offices to carry our Stem Cell MicroBank(TM) Service and believe that cosmetic surgeons, cardiologists, and orthopedists will be excellent distribution sites. With these agreements, we believe we will be ready to make an explosive entry into this marketplace as we perform the first collections in June.
First Quarter 2006 Financial Results/Stock Performance
The first quarter of this year is reflective of our belief in the CalbaTech model, as well as the actions we have taken over the past year. KD Medical, Molecula, and another of our other wholly-owned subsidiaries, Molecularware, Inc., all were profitable and as a whole experienced a 25% growth in revenue. LifeStem is primed for success as the pricing and cost structure of the Stem Cell Microbank(TM) Service will be profitable from each collection.
Recently, an industry source published information regarding each of the public companies competing in the stem cell arena. Of the sixteen companies listed, CalbaTech was listed third in EBITDA (Earnings Before Income Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization), and first in average daily trading volume, yet had the second lowest market capitalization. We believe this means that CalbaTech has tremendous stock upside potential. If our revenues and profits begin to reach our pro-forma projections, particularly with LifeStem's Stem Cell MicroBank(TM) Service set to open in June, the price of our stock should respond accordingly.
We have put the building blocks in place and have begun building a truly successful company. We are pleased that you have chosen to invest in CalbaTech. Thank you for the trust and continued support.
CLBE...adult stem cell funding voted and approved 100 to 0 That's all CLBE deals with.
Embrionic stem cell approved but will be vetoed by Bush.
Here's the article.
Senators approve funding for stem-cell research By Margaret Talev
McClatchy Newspapers
(MCT)
WASHINGTON - Senators summoned their family ghosts Tuesday, and for a few moments they almost lived again - relatives who trembled helplessly, slowly lost their minds or withered away from incurable diseases.
Voting 63-37, the Senate gave final approval to expanding federal funding for embryonic stem-cell research, which many scientists believe offers the potential for finding cures for Parkinson's, diabetes and other illnesses that afflict millions of Americans.
President Bush says he'll veto the bill Wednesday. It will be his first veto since he took office in 2001. He opposes the research because it involves destroying human embryos, which he considers taking life, White House Press Secretary Tony Snow said Tuesday.
Within hours of Bush's veto, the House of Representatives will vote to override it, but it's certain to fall short of the two-thirds majority needed.
The president will sign two other modest stem-cell bills, one preventing embryos from being harvested solely to extract stem cells for research, and the other encouraging research that doesn't destroy embryos.
Even if the main bill's fate is clear, at least for this year, Tuesday's Senate debate was dramatic, as many Republicans joined Democrats and various celebrities in urging Bush to reconsider, while others stood with the president, saying morality demands no less.
"We will all die," said Sen. Gordon Smith, R-Ore., noting that Parkinson's felled three of his relatives, including Morris K. Udall, the late Democratic congressman from Arizona and 1976 presidential candidate. "But no one should have to die as they died."
"This is about the value of human life," countered bill opponent Sen. Rick Santorum R-Pa., who said he thinks many scientists lack sufficient moral standards.
Advocates argued that allowing federal money to be spent researching new stem-cell lines from embryos that fertility clinics otherwise would destroy is better understood as offering mercy to the living than as destroying nascent life.
Sen. Thomas Carper, D-Del., described the pain of losing his mother to Alzheimer's, a brother-in-law to Lou Gehrig's and a grandfather to Parkinson's. He remembered that his grandfather kept working as a butcher even as his fingers shook and the family wondered "if he was going to chop one off."
"I suspect we could go from desk to desk, from member to member, and each of us could tell a personal story from our own family," Carper said.
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger sent a letter Tuesday to Bush warning that a veto "would send a disastrous message to limit the role the federal government must play in pursuing the most promising forms of basic scientific research."
"Mr. President," Schwarzenegger wrote, "I urge you not to make the first veto of your presidency one that turns America backwards on the path of scientific progress and limits the promise of medical miracles for generations to come."
Actress Mary Tyler Moore was at the Capitol, cheering a bill she called "pro-life."
Behind the scenes, senators said, former first lady Nancy Reagan made calls urging support for the research.
In a statement released after the vote, she said, "The pleas of so many suffering families have finally been heard. Time is short, and life is precious, and I hope this promising research can now move forward."
In 2001, Bush limited federal support for research to stem cell lines already in existence. But scientists say those lines are contaminated and of limited use, and that the private sector and a handful of states can't do nearly as much research without federal backing.
Religious conservatives opposed to the legislation predicted that adult stem cells and umbilical cord blood would become more promising, but for now scientists say embryonic stem cells are far more versatile.
As for the argument that the embryos come from fertility clinics, Santorum said: "I know people will dismiss that (by reasoning), `Well, they would be discarded anyway.' All I can suggest is that every life, whether it's in a suspended state in an IVF clinic, whether it's standing on the floor of the United States Senate attempting to defend and protect those suspended lives, every life has meaning. Every life deserves protection."
Despite facing a veto, pro-research senators said they were confident that, with Congress' continuing support, Bush's prohibitions ultimately would be lifted, if not under him, than the next president.
"We're going to see increased federal funding both for embryonic and adult stem-cell work," predicted Sen. Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., who's a physician.
House Majority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, disagreed, predicting that science soon would find a less controversial way to develop equally promising cell therapies. "I don't think it will be an issue in the future," he said. "I think science is moving way down the road in a big hurry where this will no longer be an issue."
Adult stem cells are adaptable and can convert into any tissue just as embryonic can!! Now that just pounds the last nail in the coffin for embryonic stem cell R&D!
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