the big biotech hope g ross, page-22

Orion-x
I did not see your post until just now.
Thanks.
This company has tremendous potential.

It is a Warren Buffett beauty.

(1) Monopoly business in a world wide context...Would not Warren love that!!!!
The only competitor is TST....around for 115Yrs.
If it was applying for FDA approval now it would not get it. The English test (Elispot) is a good test , but it slow, expensive and not suitable for mass usage. It will have a niche following. I am told that the technology is such that it cannot be mass applied...and won't be able to

(2) Good well focussed management. They have steered this company in shark infested waters to get regulatory approval worldwide. They have not brought in a 'big boy' to promote the test. And that will be seen as a very good move. Look what happened to a very good product in RELENZA (Biota) when they game promotion to GSK in the UK.
The management are both good business people and good scientists...a rare feature

The share capital is tightly held. Management owns a lot and never give themselves options and pay themselves reasonably.

(3) The market is MASSIVE.

According to WHO 2 billion people suffer from either

...LATENT TB


....TB


At the moment CST's focus is on ...

(1) USA....where it has FDA and CDC approval....A new model of the product QFTG-IT has FDA approval pending....(Jan-June 2007)...The market there is estimated to be 30-40M tests annually

(2) Japan. QFTG has all the approvals necessary . Japan has a sifnificant LTBI problem CST estimates 12M tests annually

(3) EU.....I am still researching this market. Question...do you have to get approval in each country separately or is there an FDA type authority


(4) Just this year CST signed a MOU with MIND (a Bill Gates foundation for fighting TB in the third world) The profit margin from this will be less but it will be a form of advertising the brand.

(5) Barriers to entry.
Today getting a good idea to market is a very expensive process. With Patents in place CST can expect to garner a bigger slice of the market each year



....and lastly...IT IS A LITTLE AUSSIE BATTLER