March 28, 2012

FORGET LIPITOR, HERE COMES THE NEXT BIG THING

In 1971, a Japanese biochemist, Akira Endo, started work on what turned out to be the next big thing in the prevention of heart attacks and strokes, known as statins.

In 1978, Merck (MRK) isolated lovastatin from fungusAspergillus terreus. Lovastatin is naturally contained in red yeast rice, a traditional Chinese fermented rice that is bright reddish purple in color. Lovastatin was first marketed as Mevacor in 1987. Merck started perhaps one of the most successful health related campaigns to convince the public and doctors of the dangers of high cholesterol and the effectiveness of statins to control it.

Another statin, atorvastatin, marketed under the name of Lipitor by Pfizer (PFE), became the bestselling drug for a number of years.… Please click here or the title below to read more.

March 28, 2012

FACEBOOK IPO A GREAT BUY, BUT NOT WITH LONG LOCKUPS AND FAT FEES

I have been advocating backing up the truck and buying all the Facebook (FB) shares an investor can get in the IPO. (For background please see:Facebook IPO Is Nigh, Should You Buy?)

When an IPO is as white hot as Facebook, plenty of scams are bound to raise their ugly heads. The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) has done a good job of warning investors about scams. I encourage investors to read the write up by FINRA before considering pre-IPO Facebook shares.

In the United States, securities offerings such as shares of Facebook must be registered with the U.S.… Please click here or the title below to read more.

March 28, 2012