Zacks Small Cap Research Maintains Buy Rating on
Aethlon Medical (AEMD); Valued at $18 Share
Point Roberts WA, NEW YORK, NY – November 23, 2015
- Investorideas.com, a global digital news source covering leading sectors
including biotech and medical technology reports new equity research on Aethlon
Medical, Inc. (AEMD) was released by ZACKS SMALL CAP
RESEARCH last week. Analyst Brian
Marckx, CFA maintains a buy rating with the following notes:
“Current market
discount rate, calculated by CAPM is approximately 9%. Based on our DCF
model and a 9% discount rate, AEMD is valued at approximately $18/share.
We are maintaining our Buy rating. See below for access to our updated
report on AEMD. “
Operational Update:
Meets All 5 Objectives, Aethlon ADAPT, Additional Progress…
On the fiscal
first quarter conference call in August management laid out five specific
objectives that they planned to accomplish over the following months. They successfully did so and went through
each one on the Q2 call, which we have provided an update to below. But in addition to meeting these goals the
company also made parallel progress in not only further shoring up their
operational capabilities in preparation for increased activities related to
both the HCV and cancer applications but also made strides in broadening the
scope of potential applications where their technology might be applied.
A recap and
update to the five objectives that the company laid out on the Q1 call in
August….
- Collect an
additional ~$200k under the DAPRA contract which relates to year 4. Hope to be granted year 5 of the contract
(which was subsequently awarded).
Accomplished with $186k collected in Q2 and DARPA year 5 awarded in
September.
- Submission of
manuscript of the DETECT (Diagnosing and Evaluating Traumatic Encephalopathy
Using Clinical Tests) study. As a
reminder, since late last calendar year Aethlon’s majority-owned subsidiary
Exosome Sciences (ESI) has collaborated with Boston University’s CTE Center for
the development of a blood-based diagnostic that would be able to identify CTE
in living individuals. ESI has used what
they learned in how to isolate certain brain-specific biomarkers to evaluate
blood samples collected by participants (former NFL players and a control
group) enrolled in BU's DETECT study.
The study is the first on CTE funded by the NIH. Aethlon submitted the
manuscript subsequent to the Q1 call.
Management noted on the Q2 call that they think it could be published
within the next ~60 days. As an aside,
the night before AEMD’s earnings call there was a timely 60 Minutes story about
BU’s CTE study and the blood-based diagnostic that AEMD’s Exosome Sciences is
helping lead the development of.
- Accelerate
cancer study with University of California, Irvine. As a reminder, in mid-April AMED announced
that they entered an agreement with UC, Irvine to conduct an
investigator-initiated study with various cancer types including breast,
colorectal lung, head and neck and others.
Targeted enrollment is five patients in each of nine cancer types (45
patients total) including breast adenocarcinoma, colorectal, gastric and
gastroesophageal, pancreatic, cholangiocarcinoma, lung, head and neck, melanoma
and ovarian adenocarcinoma. The proposed
study protocol, Plasma Exosome Concentration in Cancer Patients Undergoing
Treatment”, will monitor changes in circulating exosome levels and their
association with cancer treatment and response to treatment. In May AEMD announced that UC, Irvine Medical
Center approved an IRB to commence the study.
AEMD noted on the Q2 call that this study has commenced and has now
enrolled three patients so far.
- Advance
additional collaborations for Hemopurifier in cancer and infectious
diseases. As a reminder, Hemopurifier
has shown potential utility in HCV, HIV, Ebola, other pandemic diseases,
bioterror applications, cancer and other areas.
AEMD is clearly focused on deepening and broadening the potential
applications that their device may have utility for. In June the company announced an agreement
with the India’s National Institute of Virology to commence testing of
Hemopurifier for treatment of Chikungunya.
Management also noted on the Q2 call that they have initiated a research
project with the National Center for Biodefense and Infectious Diseases to
investigate the use of Hemopurifier in Venezuelan equine encephalitis. AEMD has had a relationship with the National
Center for Biodefense and Infectious Diseases for over ten years and this
latest announcement appears to be further progress towards working with the
center for applications of AEMD’s technology in addressing biological
threats.
- Initiate the
U.S. HCV feasibility study and transition Dr. Stephen Fadem from principal
investigator of the study to a medical advisory role within the company. Subsequent to the Q1 call that transition was
made and Dr. Ronal Ralph was brought on as the new principal investigator. AEMD expects to hire two sub-principal
investigators to help further accelerate the trial schedule. And while progression of the study has been
drawn out longer than initially anticipated, AEMD noted on the Q2 call that
they expect to have the new study team trained after Thanksgiving and begin new
patient enrollment in January.
See the full report here: http://scr.zacks.com/files/Nov-19-2015_AEMD_Marckx.pdf
Additional equity research coverage is published on
Investorideas.com from third party firms http://www.investorideas.com/Research/
About Aethlon Medical, Inc. (AEMD)
Aethlon Medical creates affinity biofiltration
devices to treat life-threatening diseases. Our lead therapeutic candidate is
the Aethlon Hemopurifier®, a first-in-class device that targets the rapid
elimination of infectious viruses and cancer-promoting exosomes from the
circulatory system of treated individuals. U.S. clinical progression of
Hemopurifier therapy is being advanced under an FDA approved clinical study. We
also provide government contracting services to the Defense Advanced Research
Projects Agency related to the development of a biofiltration device to treat
sepsis. Additional information can be found online at www.AethlonMedical.com or
you can connect with us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and Google+.
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