Analysts cut Cardiome price target

Versant Partners and Dundee Securities have lowered their price targets on Cardiome Pharma (TSX:COM; NASDAQ:CRME) after it and partner Astellas Pharma halted a 470-patient Phase 3 trial testing an IV formulation of vernakalant or Kynapid for rapid-onset atrial fibrillation. Versant Partners analyst Doug Loe writes that the decision was “clearly disappointing because halting (the trial) [...]

BIOTECanada’s Peter Benders on the state of the sector

What top three big-picture issues face biotech firms in Canada in the foreseeable future?  Top of the list is, of course, financing.  Even after an economically difficult year that saw global markets shy away from “risky” investments like biotech, within the industry, much scepticism remains about capital coming back.  On the one hand, we see [...]

Biotech’s new normal is search for efficiency

Coming out of a harrowing financial crisis and recession, the outlines of a “new normal” are starting to emerge in the general economy and biotech industry, Ernst & Young says in its global biotechnology report for 2010, Beyond Borders. On the surface, E&Y says it would appear that the worst is indeed over for biotech. [...]

Dundee reinstates buy on Cardiome

Reflecting new Phase 3 data from Cardiome Pharma (TSX:COM; NASDAQ:CRME) and Merck (NYSE:MRK) on Friday, Dundee Securities reinstated its “buy” rating on Cardiome, raising its 12-month price target to $10 from $8.  The stock closed at $8.24 on the TSX Friday. Analyst David Martin writes that he previously had the stock “under review,” pending the [...]

Cardiome and Merck release pivotal data for Brinavess IV

In a new Phase 3 study, Brinavess (vernakalant) intravenous, an investigational compound being developed in the European Union by Cardiome Pharma (NASDAQ: CRME; TSX: COM) and Merck (NYSE: MRK) to treat atrial fibrillation, was shown to be superior to amiodarone injection in converting patients’ heart rate from AF to sinus rhythm within 90 minutes of [...]

Cormark ups Cardiome price target

Cormark Securities has raised its price target on “buy-rated” Cardiome Pharma (TSX:COM; NASDAQ:CRME) to $10.50 from $7.50, citing a positive outlook from several catalysts expected this year.  The stock closed at $8.28 on Tuesday. According to analyst David Dean, those catalysts included European approval in mid-2010 of the IV version of Cardiome’s vernakalant drug to [...]

In conversation with Noël Brown

They say three’s a charm and that certainly applies to Noël Brown.  Born in Winnipeg and raised in southern Ontario, he first tried his hand at medicine as a pre-med student and then at securities law in Toronto before opting for investment banking on Wall Street.  He rose quickly through the ranks of Morgan Stanley, [...]

Merck advances $25 million to Cardiome

Cardiome Pharma (TSX:COM; NASDAQ:CRME) has tapped a $25 million (U.S.) advance from marketing partner Merck & Co. (NYSE:MRK) under a previously announced secured, interest-bearing credit facility of up to $100 million. In a statement, Cardiome said it may, at its option, repay all or a portion of the advance from time to time without premium [...]