When most investors think of cancer stocks, names like Amgen, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) or Roche Holding Ltd. (OTCMKTS:RHHBY) come to mind. And to be fair, they're both top-of-mind names for good reasons. Five of the world's top-ten selling cancer drugs are from Roche Holding, and Amgen is the world's biggest biotech company; it just spent $10 billion on the acquisition of an entire company almost to add just one cancer therapy to its library. Thing is, while Roche Holding Ltd. and Amgen, Inc. make top-notch drugs to treat cancer once acquired, neither actually does anything to prevent the development of cancer through metastasization. Indeed, the prevention of the spread of cancer isn't on the biopharma industry's radar at all, save one company - a little outfit called MetaStat Inc. (OTCBB:MTST).
The basis for MetaStat is brilliant in its simplicity. The company's research has determined that the amount of good mena (a protein found in all cells) and bad mena can determine the risk of a particular cancer patient's cancer spreading to other parts of the body. In other words, MTST can judge the risk of a cancer metastasizing, which can guide a patient and doctor through preventive measures.
The know-how isn't just good for grading metastasization risk, however. The company also hopes to use the idea to develop its own drug specifically aimed at preventing metastasis.
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The 'bad' mena, or MenaINV (for INVasive) raises a particular cancer cell's ability to break off from a tumor, put itself into the blood stream, and then lodge itself into another area of the body where it can start to grow a new tumor. By suppressing tumor cells' production of MenaINV, the odds of a cancer cell breaking off and spreading from an existing tumor to a new site are greatly reduced. The idea has already shown efficacy in preclinical trials. MetaStat Inc. expects to be in Phase 1 trials by 2017. Yes, it's still well off in the future, but as veteran biotech traders can attest, the market rewards milestones... and MTST has several in the foreseeable future.
More than that though, the very idea of prevention is a game-changer for the oncology industry. While there are many effective drugs out there for all sorts of cancers and tumors, none of them are preventive - a patient must wait until cancer occurs or reoccurs (or spreads) before beginning a treatment regimen. Once cancer begins to grow, however, it's already an uphill battle. It's worth battling pre-emptively, as just one statistic convincingly suggests - systemic metastasis is responsible for ~90% of all solid tumor cancer related deaths. No other stats are needed to undserscore the need for preventive measures.
As for an investment in MTST, the company's not going to cure cancer overnight, so the stock won't dole out massive rewards overnight either. But, as was noted already, the market rewards progress in the biotech realm, and the distant endzone is a meaningful one. This ground-floor opportunity may require patience, but it's worth the wait.
For more on MetaStat, visit the SCN research page here. Or, you can visit the company's website here.
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