Amarantus Bioscience Holdings Inc (OTCMKTS:AMBS) could be an interesting play to take a closer look at right now. The company is moving closer to marketable assets in orphan-drug designated therapy research, and shares appear to be hanging around at extremely cheap levels, especially given the latest press on the name.
The company’s wholly-owned subsidiary, MANF Therapeutics, Inc., in pre-clinical development advancing the orphan-drug designated therapeutic protein mesencephalic astrocyte-derived neurotrophic factor (MANF) as a disease-modifying treatment for orphan ophthalmological conditions, Glaucoma and Parkinson’s disease, just announced the publication of a scientific article entitled “Poststroke delivery of MANF promotes functional recovery in rats” in the American Association for the Advancement of Science’s (AAAS) open access journal Science Advances that describes positive effects of MANF in an animal model of post-stroke recovery. According to the release, “the work was published by researchers at the National Institute of Drug Abuse, the University of Helsinki and the Talinn University of Technology.”
Amarantus Bioscience Holdings Inc (OTCMKTS:AMBS) trumpets itself as a biotechnology company developing treatments for orphan disorders in the areas of neurology, regenerative medicine and ophthalmology through its subsidiaries.
AMBS’ wholly-owned subsidiary Elto Pharma, Inc. has development rights to eltoprazine, a Phase 2b-ready small molecule indicated for Parkinson’s disease levodopa-induced dyskinesia, Alzheimer’s aggression and adult ADHD. AMBS acquired the rights to the Engineered Skin Substitute program (ESS), a regenerative medicine-based approach for treating severe burns with full-thickness autologous skin grown in tissue culture that is being pursued by AMBS’ wholly-owned subsidiary Cutanogen Corporation.
AMBS’ wholly-owned subsidiary MANF Therapeutics, Inc. owns key intellectual property rights and licenses from a number of prominent universities related to the development of the therapeutic protein known as mesencephalic astrocyte-derived neurotrophic factor (MANF).
MANF Therapeutics, Inc. is developing MANF-based products as treatments for brain and ophthalmic disorders. MANF was discovered by the Company’s Chief Scientific Officer John Commissiong, PhD. Dr. Commissiong discovered MANF from AMBS’ proprietary discovery engine PhenoGuard.
AMBS also owns approximately 80 million shares of Avant Diagnostics, Inc. via the sale of its wholly-owned subsidiary Amarantus Diagnostics, Inc. that occurred in May 2016.
As noted above, the company’s subsidiary just put out a presser detailing the publication of what may turn out to be indications of powerful R&D advances coming to fruition.
According to the release, “The data demonstrated that chronic delivery of human recombinant MANF (hrMANF) starting two days after stroke-like injury in the distal middle cerebral artery occlusion (dMCAo) rat model of ischemia-reperfusion injury resulted in statistically significant improvement in functional outcomes at each time points assessed (7 days, 14 days and 24 days post-treatment). MANF also demonstrated efficacy in animal models of other ischemia-reperfusion related conditions including retinal artery occlusion (RAO), and myocardial infarction (heart attack). MANF’s emerging role as an immunomodulatory protein further supports its development as a potential treatment for stroke.”
We’ve witnessed 10% piled on for shareholders of the stock during the trailing month, suggesting some positive technicals in play. In addition, the stock has benefitted from a jump in recent trading volume to the tune of approaching 140% beyond its prior sustained average level. This suggests rising attention focused on the stock right now.
Overall, this is an exciting story. The company has been working to keep debt levels manageable while it moves research toward marketability. At this stage, shares could be dirt cheap, at a market capitalization of just $10.02M, The company is pre-revenue at this point, but sitting on a growing reserve of intellectual property value.
