Are Hot Dogs From Kraft Foods and Sara Lee Choking Risk For Kids?

A new policy statement from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), published in the February 22 online issue of Pediatrics, takes a closer look at preventing choking among children. Their startling find is on average, a child will die every 5 days in the United States from choking on food. Fear-mongering for political ends, or plain truth in advertising?

The AAP is now calling on food manufacturers of hot dogs and other high-risk foods to affix “choking hazard” labels to packaging, and urging that companies redirect some research and development expenses toward the redesign of foods, such as drafting new shapes, sizes, and textures less to get wedged in a kid’s passage airway.

Some hot dog brands, such as Oscar Mayer (Kraft Foods) or Ball Park Franks from Sara Lee, already have warning labels about choking. Not enough is the apparent sentiment vocalized by the policy paper’s lead author Gary Smith.

It turns out, though, that the AAP took that data from a paper almost thirty years old! Read more at BNET Food > ….

Editor David J Phillips does not hold a financial interest in any stocks mentioned in this article. The 10Q Detective has a Full Disclosure Policy.

First Solar Turns To New World for Solar Growth

In 2009, First Solar (FSLR-$105.90) generated almost 65 percent of its $2.06 billion in sales from German photovoltaic (PV) projects, from roof-top panels to arrays of solar panels on farms, according to its annual regulatory filing. In 2010, the cadmium-telluride (CdTe) thin-film module manufacturer will still derive about 40 percent to 50 percent of module sales from German customers, despite best efforts to open windows to other sunshine markets. Most of its business from Germany will be front-loaded, CEO Robert Gillette said on the fourth-quarter ending 2009 earnings call, to beat the planned June 1 feed- in subsidy cuts.

Contrary to optimism expressed by First Solar management on its earnings call, installation volume capacities in other European markets, such as France (12 percent of its business) or Italy (6 percent of sales), were too small to absorb lost mega-watt sales from Germany.

“For the big players, there is no real way around Germany, to be honest,” SES Research analyst Karsten von Blumenthal told Reuters.

First Solar expects to ramp up aggregate manufacturing capacity to 34 production lines by 2012, with annual worldwide production capacity of approximately 1.8 gigawatts. Longer-term performance could be hampered by obstacles in other markets outside Europe.

Continue Reading > ….

Editor David J Phillips does not hold a financial interest in any stocks mentioned in this article. The 10Q Detective has a Full Disclosure Policy.

Avoiding Cannibals at Johnson & Johnson

As patients with auto-immune disorders cycle through anti-TNF therapies and the failure pools increase, there is ample room for Johnson & Johnson’s (JNJ-$63.45) Simponi and Stelara to grow prescription share in their respective markets without cannibalizing sales of the healthcare conglomerate’s flagship drug Remicade (infliximab) sales. As the two drugs expand their labeling to address unmet needs in other markets, their orbits will eventually collide with each other and with Remicade.

However, can Simponi (golimumab) and Stelara (ustekinumab) evolve as dominant therapies and steal share over time from Amgen’s Enbrel (etanercept) and Abbott’s Humira (adalimumab) instead? Read more > ….

Editor David J Phillips does not hold a financial interest in any stocks mentioned in this article. The 10Q Detective has a Full Disclosure Policy.

Petrohawk Energy Promises Free Cash Flow By 2012

Petrohawk Energy (HK-$22.16) is nursing a mighty hangover after awaking from a 2 ½-year buying binge — $5 billion spent on acquiring leasehold interests in unconventional pay zones, specifically the Haynesville Shale, Fayetteville Shale, and Eagle Ford Shale plays. Petrohawk is like the U.S. Treasury in some respects, having funded its expansive appetite with paper — common stock outstanding has almost doubled since 2006 to 300 million shares — and deficit spending: At September 30, long-term stood at approximately $2.4 billion, roughly 73 percent of stockholder equity. And, interest expense to service this debt totaled $174 million through September, up from $88.4 million in all of 2006, according to regulatory filings.

“Today we stand with an excellent liquidity position sufficient to execute our 2010 drilling program,” chairman and chief executive officer Floyd Wilson proclaimed to analysts on the February 1 operations call. Management also anticipates turning free cash flow positive (operating cash flow less capex) come 2012.

Wilson gave a similar speech in May 2006. Can he deliver this time around? Read More >….

Editor David J Phillips does not hold a financial interest in any stocks mentioned in this article. The 10Q Detective has a Full Disclosure Policy.

Revlimid Keeps Celgene Healthy

Celgene (CELG-$60.11) chief executive Sol Barer predicts Revlimid will win regulatory approval as front-line treatment for newly diagnosed multiple myeloma (MM) patients in both U.S. and European markets. However, to win broader labeling and expand its European footprint, Celgene’s best-selling product will need to show a six to eight month difference in progression-free survival to be considered significant, said oncologists surveyed by Pharmawire.

Wall Street analysts are falling all over each other to trumpet the growth prospects for the drug with approved maintenance dose settings. But what happens to Celgene if final results of the MM-015 trial fail to reveal significant differences between induction with its flagship drug Revlimid and without it? Continue Reading….

Editor David J Phillips does not hold a financial interest in any stocks mentioned in this article. The 10Q Detective has a Full Disclosure Policy.

Southwest Airlines "Cop Out" in Kevin Smith Feud

Before backpedaling in a tweeted apology, Southwest Airlines (LUV-$12.29) insisted in a public retort that airline employees removed movie director Kevin Smith from a flight last Saturday for violating the carrier’s “Customer of Size" policy, which calls for a large passenger to be bumped from a full flight if the customer cannot comfortably lower the armrest and infringes on a portion of another seat.

Will the film auteur settle for the airline’s mea culpa or prolong his manipulated cause célèbre another week, when his new film “Cop Out” is released? Read More at BNET Media….

Editor David J Phillips does not hold a financial interest in any stocks mentioned in this article. The 10Q Detective has a Full Disclosure Policy.

Petrohawk Energy's Gas Reserve Valuations in Dispute

Petrohawk Energy’s (HK-$22.78) experienced significant growth in production and reserves in 2009, chairman and chief executive officer Floyd Wilson said. Proved reserves (98% natural gas) grew 122 percent to 2.75trillion cubic feet equivalent (Tcfe), most of which was added through drill-bit activity in its Haynesville Shale. The company exited 2009 producing 600 Mmcfe per day, up from an approximate exit rate of 366 Mmcfe per day in 2008.

The volume of gas resources claimed by operators is not in dispute. Evidence presented at the 2009 meeting of the Gulf Coast Association of Geological Societies (GCAGS) held in September 2009 suggests, however, that formation damage during fracture stimulation treatment, in effect, reduces reservoir performance and resultant valuations.

Continue Reading at BNET Energy….

Editor David J Phillips does not hold a financial interest in any stocks mentioned in this article. The 10Q Detective has a Full Disclosure Policy.

Will Petro-Canada Acquisition Sink Suncor Energy?

Suncor Energy (SU-$30.05) is a long way from achieving the significant synergies envisioned from its all-stock C$19.63 billion acquisition of Petro-Canada last August: Net debt increased to 4.8 times cash flow from operations at year-end 2009, from 1.8 times in 2008. Return on employed capital, excluding major projects in progress (such as its Firebag bitumen in-situ mining operations) plummeted to 2.6 percent, from 22.5 percent in the prior year.

Can Suncor control operating costs and get its debt paid down towards the $10 billion range by the end of 2010? Continue Reading ….

Editor David J Phillips does not hold a financial interest in any stocks mentioned in this article. The 10Q Detective has a Full Disclosure Policy.

Murphy Oil Spudding For Ethanol Prospects

Despite significantly weaker margins realized in 2009, Murphy Oil (MUR-$50.75) intends to add a combined 80 new gas stations to its network of Murphy USA sites, located at Wal-Mart supercenters, and its stand-alone Murphy express outlets. In 2009, the company added 26 new filling stations.

The integrated energy company derives about 69 percent of annual sales ($19 billion in 2009) from its U.S. refining and marketing operations.

Chief executive David Wood said on the recent fourth-quarter earnings call that the company was open to opportunities to expand its presence in the ethanol refining business, as the one plant Murphy Oil acquired last year only covers about a quarter of the volume needed in ethanol-blended gasoline that Murphy sells through its own retail network. Read More….

Editor David J Phillips does not hold a financial interest in any stocks mentioned in this article. The 10Q Detective has a Full Disclosure Policy.

McMoran Exploration: What's in Davy Jones' Locker?

Positive drilling results at its Davy Jones prospect could be a boom for McMoran Exploration (MMR-$16.80). The Gulf Coast energy company had proved oil and gas reserves at year-end 2009 totaling 271.9 Bcfe (billion cubic feet of natural gas equivalents), compared with 344.8 Bcfe in 2008. The reserve depletion primarily reflected delays in bringing shut-ins (as a result of the September 2008 hurricanes in the Gulf) back into production. Estimates of the size of the discovery range from 2 trillion to 6 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, rivaling the largest gas finds ever made in the Gulf.

Nonetheless, it is worth reminding folks that assumptions to date have been based on sketchy data from well logs. In addition to appraising the actual hydrocarbons in place, the company still hasn’t defined the extent of the reservoir field or the recoverability of the reserves in the tapped reservoir — its flow rates.

Read More….

Editor David J Phillips does not hold a financial interest in any stocks mentioned in this article. The 10Q Detective has a Full Disclosure Policy.

Saving Trump Entertainment Resorts from the Trumps

Ivanka Trump and her father “The Donald” have allied with bondholders of bankrupt Trump Entertainment Resorts (TRMPQ-$0.08), to compete with a plan crafted from senior lender Beal Bank and its new partner, the legendary billionaire Carl Icahn, in salvaging the operations of the bankrupt gaming company. Her significant assets aside, given the Trump family’s dismal past performance in running casinos in Atlantic City, might the Trump Taj Mahal, Trump Plaza and Trump Marina be in better hands with just about anyone else?

Read More at BNET Media….

Editor David J Phillips does not hold a financial interest in any stocks mentioned in this article. The 10Q Detective has a Full Disclosure Policy.

Do Fifty CentiSeconds Justify Acorda Therapeutics' Oral MS Drug Approval by FDA?

Central to the Peripheral and CNS Drugs Advisory Committee’s review of Acorda Therapeutic’s (ACOR-$27.56) oral MS treatment Ampyra was whether the improvements seen with the drug were truly significant to patients. Wishful desires aside, MS patients and their family members would be prudent to carefully take it upon themselves to thoroughly peruse the entire contents of the 177 pages of the Fampridine SR background information and clinical trial data given to health regulators for review.

Drilling down into the data, one uncovers that the walking speed change favored the Fampridine group by just 0.88 seconds (to complete the 25-foot walk) in the first study (MS-F203) and by a scant 0.5 - second difference in the second pivotal trial (MS-F204). Are these meaningful enough improvements to justify a (likely) $10,000 price tag for one year of treatment? Read More….

Editor David J Phillips does not hold a financial interest in any stocks mentioned in this article. The 10Q Detective has a Full Disclosure Policy.

Why Cephalon's Nuvigil Patent-Infringement Challenges Could Backfire

The motive behind Cephalon's (CEPH-$65.00) recent patent-infringement lawsuits is clear: litigate to slow the market entrance of cheaper copycat versions while it continues to transition patients from its older narcolepsy drug Provigil (modafinil) to Nuvigil. Cephalon derived 51 percent of total sales, or almost $925 million, from its Provigil franchise in 2008.

However, the clock winding down prior to any judicial decision(s) is an overhang for Cephalon — and could rip apart the planned Provigil to Nuvigil entrenchment campaign: cheaper copycats of Provigil will flood U.S. pharmacy shelves come April 2012 — just about the time both Teva Pharmaceuticals and Mylan Labs could decide to launch “at-risk” (liable for damages if court invalidates their patent challenges) copies of Nuvigil, alongside their legal introductions of Provigil.

Read More at BNET Pharma….

Editor David J Phillips does not hold a financial interest in any stocks mentioned in this article. The 10Q Detective has a Full Disclosure Policy.

On the Hunt for New MS Drugs: Big Pharma Eyes Acorda Therapeutics

When asked in an interview on the business channel CNBC today if its new oral treatment for MS, Ampyra, would cost between $5,000 to $10,000 a year, Acorda Therapeutics (ACOR-$28.00) CEO Cohen deferred, hinting only that the cost would be a factor of demand and the invested cost to bring the drug to market.

The company is positioned to jump out of the gate come the March launch. At September 30, the company already had a specialty sales force of 73 sales professionals in place, salivating to call on high-volume (RX) prescribers and other influential neurologists who specialize in treating patients with neuromuscular disorders.

Will deeper-pocketed pharma companies looking to broaden the breadth of their own MS drug portfolios, such as Biogen Idec or Teva Pharmaceuticals, move to make an offer for Acorda prior to the March launch of Ampyra? Continue Reading….

Editor David J Phillips does not hold a financial interest in any stocks mentioned in this article. The 10Q Detective has a Full Disclosure Policy.

More Heartburn for Procter & Gamble's Prilosec OTC

For years Procter & Gamble (PG-$60.50) has reminded customers that its Prilosec OTC remedy effectively reduced heartburn-causing acid by shutting down active acid-producing “proton pumps.” Supported by online marketing and sponsorship of popular events, from NFL and NASCAR tie-ins to Prilosec-branded cooking contests and the dice game Bunco, this proton-pump inhibitor (PPI) quickly became the best selling OTC heartburn medicine, with annual sales topping $300 million.

Given the convenience and cost-savings of shopping at the local store for GI antidotes, consumers are increasingly more willing to self-medicate. However, private-label brands have successfully muscled in on this growth in demand. To wit: sales for Prilosec OTC peaked at about $387 million back in 2006. Additionally, Prilosec has now lost market exclusivity (held since 2003) — the FDA has approved for OTC purchase two other branded PPIs. Read More….

Editor David J Phillips does not hold a financial interest in any stocks mentioned in this article. The 10Q Detective has a Full Disclosure Policy.

Burger King Now Serving Up Beer With Those Whoppers

Exclusively at the Whopper Bar South Beach, Burger King (BKC-$17.60) customers can “Have it Their Way” and pair premium Whopper sandwiches with an array of Anheuser-Busch and MillerCoors beer products, including Budweiser, Bud Light, Bud Light Lime and Miller Lite. “We are pleased to offer our guests the option of pairing America’s Favorite Burger with a great American beer in this ideal destination,” said Chuck Fallon, North America President…. Continue Reading at BNET Food….

Editor David J Phillips does not hold a financial interest in any stocks mentioned in this article. The 10Q Detective has a Full Disclosure Policy.

Innovation Key to Callaway Golf's Growth Prospects

Callaway Golf (ELY-$8.25) is the U.S. market leader (as either the No. 1 or No. 2 brand) in almost every equipment category. Management acknowledges that celebrity golfers carrying the Callaway banner — from Arnold Palmer and Gary Player to Phil Mikelson and Annika Sörenstam — help to build brand recognition. However, the company was early to recognize, too, that lots of top golfers walking the fairway with a plethora of labels also dilute the message. In contrast to Nike Golf, the company’s marketing strategy has long been built around loyalty to brand, not star.

The company’s core competitiveness has been the timely introduction of innovative and game-changing technologies, said Callaway spokesman Tim Buckman. The performance-enhancing Big Bertha driver (of then) and the shot-shaping control of its Fusion Technology fairway woods (now), illustrate how the company has strategically captured and grown its share of market.

In today’s marketplace, where consumers worldwide are more sensitive to price tags, is Callaway’s sales strategy obsolete? Continue Reading at BNET Retail….

Editor David J Phillips does not hold a financial interest in any stocks mentioned in this article. The 10Q Detective has a Full Disclosure Policy.

Sixty Days and Counting for Somaxon Pharma's Silenor

Somaxon Pharmaceutical’s (SOMX-$2.40), acknowledgement of a Class 1 Response for its insomnia drug Silenor indicates a receptiveness by health regulators to complete the drug review within a 60-day period. As companies — including Somaxon — do not disclose contents of complete-response letters, it is difficult to interpret the material intentions of the FDA. Nonetheless, Class 1 resubmissions typically address just small deficiencies in the application, such as labeling or a minor re-analysis of previously submitted data to the application, according to Center for Drug Evaluation and Research procedures. Read More….

Editor David J Phillips does not hold a financial interest in any stocks mentioned in this article. The 10Q Detective has a Full Disclosure Policy.

Afrezza: Read the FDA Label!

MannKind Corp’s (MNKD-$10.32) inhaled insulin treatment Afrezza has been unable to outrun the long shadow of doubt cast by Exubera, the inhaled insulin device voluntarily withdrawn in October 2007 by Pfizer (due to disappointing sales). The commercial failure of Exubera should not signal defeat for MannKind’s efforts to deliver insulin via the lungs, as there are significant differences between the two products, including (i) size of Afrezza delivery device is significantly smaller; (ii) dosing — Pfizer erred in marking Exubera insulin doses in milligrams instead of units; and, (iii) dearth of formulary and managed care acceptance.

If approved, it is what is put on the drug label, often referred to as the package insert, that will likely decide the success or failure for Afrezza. Read More….

Editor David J Phillips does not hold a financial interest in any stocks mentioned in this article. The 10Q Detective has a Full Disclosure Policy.

Abuse-Deterrent Opioids Best Medicines For What Ails King Pharmaceuticals

King Pharmaceuticals (KG-$13.00) will likely face generic intrusion for its popular muscle relaxant Skelaxin by 2012. With little visible success in the development of a longer-acting formulation, the company has already shifted promotional efforts of its 610 person sales force to pain-relief products with more promising growth prospects, such as the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory (NSAID) Flector Patch and Embeda, the first of the new abuse-deterrent opioids to reach the U.S. market (so-called because the medication incorporates physical and pharmacological barriers to obtaining the euphoric effects of opioids).

CEO Markison informed investors at the JPMorgan Health Conference that the company remained on schedule with FDA timelines for two other promising tamper-resistant pain killer drugs. Nonetheless, the road to approvable action letters is littered with potholes….

Read More at BNET Pharma….

Editor David J Phillips does not hold a financial interest in any stocks mentioned in this article. The 10Q Detective has a Full Disclosure Policy.