Ernie Tremblay is the name behind the Biotech Insider Alert newsletter ($1,950/year) at Money Map Press, and his claim is that he has a “P-Value” formula that helps him to identify biotech stocks that are about to release good data that can send their shares soaring.
I’m not going to get into the actual “formula” he references, if you never studied statistics it just looks like the kind of thing you would have had nightmares about in the first few weeks of ninth-grade algebra. “P-value” is a standard formula, it’s not a formula that Tremblay made up or one that is specifically designed for assessing pharmaceutical products — it’s a way of determining the statistical significance of a result, and as with all such formulas it depends on what data you input and what assumptions you start with. Don’t get too focused on the “P-value” idea, that’s just a way of indicating that Tremblay tries to assess the significance of data released from clinical trials, and presumably he tries to pick stocks of companies whose drugs are reporting “statistically significant” results compared to whatever the standard of care is (or placebo, I guess, when there is no standard treatment). And, of course, it’s a way of making it seem like you can’t understand this baffling stuff, so you should pay somebody thousands of dollars a year to pick biotech stocks for you.
Which might be true, I don’t know — maybe Tremblay does do more rigorous analysis of clinical trial data and get into statistics to help his analysis, and maybe he’s good at it. That’s beyond my ken, I’m not a statistics maven and don’t spend much time on biotech stocks… so I’ll just move right on to identifying this “P-value” stock Tremblay is teasing today. If you’re curious, our tracking of the past teased biotech picks at Money Map, most of which have been from Tremblay of late, has shown a few big winners and a few big losers, which is sort of par for the course when you’re talking about small-cap biotechs.
And I’ll start you with a hint: He has teased this one before, just before the end of last year. And a warning goes along with that — the stock went crazy for a very brief period, at least in part because of Tremblay’s touting, and went from $3 and change to over $7 in a matter of a couple weeks, but gave up most of those gains just as quickly and has traded mostly in the neighborhood of $3.50-$4.50 since that spike. Think carefully about the story and the prospects of all these kinds of little biotech stocks (or other volatile news-driven stocks, like miners or emerging tech stocks) before you convince yourself that a big spike is going to “stick” and pile on — sometimes these small cap names move a lot faster on newsletter recommendations and ad campaigns than you might expect, with people buying like crazy as it doubles or triples because of the “fear of missing out,” but the reverse is also true… when the attention disappears and the ad campaign isn’t running, there isn’t an “easy” flow of new buyers to drive the price higher, and when traders take profits after a quick spike, without more new buyers coming in, a stock’s price tends to fall.
But we’re all grown-ups here, so let’s dig in and see what the company is — many of you already know, I expect, either because you thought it through yourself or you referred back to my quick solution on Christmas Eve last year or some of the other discussion on the site about this stock, so I’ll try to be brief.
Here’s some of the ad to give you the flavor:
“Boom!
“With One Word…
“This Little $4 Stock Is Set to Double… And Set Off an Avalanche of $775,460! ….
“The company I’m about to tell you about today not only passed it with flying colors… but passed it with one of the strongest P-Values I’ve seen in years.
“Plus it’s just one of the many opportunities I’ve uncovered in the market right now that I’ll detail later.
“And when my P-Value Indicator blinks green, it usually means one thing and one thing only.
“The science behind a new drug works. It’s proof that the drug does what it was meant to do with flying colors.
“And make no mistake: Nothing can ignite an EXPLOSION under a drug company’s stock like when positive news hits the newswires.”
And then getting into the specifics of the company:
“My P-Value Indicator is ‘off the charts’ on this one.
“It checks off each and every one of my criteria for a successful treatment application.
“There are no unusual safety issues with the drug.
“Over 50 million Americans suffer from varying degrees of the ailment it treats. That’s one in six people – an enormous market by any drug’s standard…
“There is currently no cure or even a medically approved treatment.
“And doctors and patients alike can’t wait to get to get their hands on it…..
“The most common name for this affliction is ‘Tinnitus’…
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just click here...“And that ringing you heard happens when the tiny sensory hair cells in the cochlea of the inner ear become damaged.
“This in turn affects how the brain processes sounds.
“A variety of things can cause it, starting with heredity and aging…
“But mostly its onset can be attributed to loud and sudden sounds, like gunfire or explosions.”
So yes, this is a company that has some sort of tinnitus treatment. More details?
“One tiny drug company appears to be on the cusp of developing the very first FDA-approved medical treatment.
“It’s nothing short of a breakthrough…
“It’s a surprisingly simple treatment… administered by an ENT specialist in his office… and repeated three times over a three- to five-day span….
“Studies suggest it’s highly effective… particularly in those cases caused by noise-related trauma.
“In earlier clinical trials, 62% of users got relief from this new treatment.
“That’s a very substantial number – especially when there’s no standard of care treatment on the market for people to turn to.
“And importantly, the drug is very safe, even at far higher than required dosages.”
So yes, this is, again, a tease about Auris Medical (EARS), which is in clinical trials for the development of AM-101, which is now called Keylizen, a tinnitus drug that essentially works by injecting a low-dose of a ketamine-derived anesthetic through the ear drum to “calm” (that’s not the technical term) the overactive receptors that are creating the phantom ringing noise that drives tinnitus sufferers insane (literally, in some cases).
In the company’s own words, this is what the drug does:
“KeyzilenTM is a small molecule N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonist formulated in a biocompatible gel for intratympanic injection. Emerging evidence suggests that NMDA receptors in the cochlea play a major role in the occurrence of tinnitus following acute injury to the inner ear, e.g. from exposure to excessive noise, infections, disturbances in inner ear blood supply, or the administration of certain ototoxic drugs. Persistent overexpression of NMDA receptors may lead to pathologic excitation of auditory nerve fibers, which in the brain is perceived as tinnitus. The development of KeyzilenTM is based on research conducted at the INSERM Institute for Neurosciences, and patents have been granted in more than 40 countries worldwide so far.”
And yes, the Keylizen regimen is a few injections by an ENT physician, in their office, over several days, and about half of the patients so far in trials have seem improvements even several months after those injections (the 62% number is a reference to those who had “substantial” improvement, so presumably it wasn’t as persistent for everyone). Since there isn’t a current treatment for the condition, that sounds like pretty impressive efficacy to me — but I know nothing about tinnitus, so don’t count on my assessment. They haven’t reported any serious safety issues or side effects that I’ve noticed.
And yes, there is an August catalyst that could impact the share price — they have announced that they expect top-line data for one of their Phase 3 trials (TACTT2) in August, so presumably that means “before August 31” … and they are releasing earnings tomorrow morning and hosting a conference call before the market opens (there’s more info coming, too — from their TACTT3 trial, which is expected to generate data by the end of this year). The earnings probably won’t mean much, they don’t have any revenues (no products approved yet, Keylizen is their only product that’s fairly close to possible approval and commercial release) and they’ve already announced some debt financing that should be enough to get them through at least to next Summer at the current pace of spending, but they could certainly say something positive or negative in the call about the ongoing clinical trials or their anticipated approval timeline that gets investors either excited or enraged. I have absolutely no insight into that.
Nor do I have any idea what the financial performance of the company might look like if they do get approval — which is a major reason why I avoid a lot of biotech stocks. I have no idea what the pricing might be for treatment, how many patients might be approved for it, how long it might take to roll out to the millions of people who have non-severe tinnitus if they are able to reach that market, etc.
It is a small company, it went public about two years ago after receiving a large chunk of venture funding, and it now has a market cap of about $150 million, so it wouldn’t take a lot to generate meaningful returns for them — and it would probably be an easy swallow if a larger company wanted to acquire them or partner with them on Keylizen, I don’t think that drug or their acute hearing loss drug that’s a year or two behind Keylizen in development are partnered yet (the hearing loss treatment is AM-111, which from my quick glance at press releases seems to have shown good safety but not a lot of efficacy in Phase 2, more data expected starting in a year or so).
And with that, I’ll leave it to you to do your chewing. Think EARS is worth a slot in your portfolio? As I said, be careful — the attention has already started to jerk the stock much higher in the absence of any other news today, and a large newsletter campaign promising a “double” on a small stock can be a self-fulfilling but short-lived prophecy. But there’s a good chance that you understand the science or the prospects for EARS better than I do, and I’m sure we’d all be delighted to hear what you think…. just use that friendly little comment box below to share your view.
Intratympanic ketamine appears to work only on selected subsets of tinnitus, particularly from barotrauma. People buying the stock expecting the agent to be a panacea for the many forms and manifestations of tinnitus, however, are probably going to be disappointed. Many people live with tinnitus, and in an age of intensifying medical cost containment, investors may be disappointed by the extent to which third party payers cover the treatment.
Ketamine antagonizes the “on” activity at the glutamate-NMDA receptor. It may work be shunting glutamate stimulation to nearby AMPA glutamate receptors.
Gosh, I saved $1,950 by reading stock gumshoe and following our esteemed and prized Dr. KSS.
This stock, ‘EARS’ has already moved 30% up. Is it worth to buy it now?
I would guess it moved up because of the newsletter pitch – timing too coincidental.
Not worth the chase. The risk/reward at this point is not in your favor (my opinion). Just ask yourself: How much more upside could this stock have? To rationalize… If the stock surged 30% today how much more could it possibly surge in the near term. I’m mentioning the near term because it referenced in the article that the stock has made huge jumps in the past but only to relinquish those gains shortly after.
For something like this you either catch lighting in a bottle before it strikes or you don’t.
Good call Jonathan… EARS down this am on failure notice..https://finance.yahoo.com/m/685ee980-6806-3659-a34b-3d85637af989/ss_auris-medical-stock-slumps.html
Might be a better bet to short the stock after a 30% pop.
Classic pump and dump.
I just drank 4 cups of my morning chai T so my P value just went up considerably. Perhaps I should issue stock on my bladder.
RE: Bladder Stock. Make sure you have your Stop/Limit order in place, ’cause one of the stalls is out of service!
Same thing happens to me when I drink beer
Now this is funny!! Nice job, guys/gals
I would really love to reap the benefits of this drug.
Dear David B & David Z:
Thanks for the humor! It made my Day!
De Nada Craig: I enjoy poking a little fun at the newsletter hypes. Glad that it made you laugh. Laughter the Best Medicine
Thanks for this article. I own a small position in EARS and was wondering why it spiked today. The article and the comments are very helpful. Thanks all!
For some of us, tinnitus comes and goes, can be severe for short periods and non existant at other times. Such is it for me and certainly not severe enough to warrant jamming drugs in my ears at whatever cost. I would seriously question the market demand projections for this product.
So, it was up Wednesday already (to 5.39). I had this last year and it was in the 4’s and 5’s and sold unfortunately when it went to the 3’s. So getting in Thursday may be useless. Hopefully no one paid $1950 to the kings of all spam Media Money Morning to find out they’re pushing Auris (EARS) again.
Tinnitus huh? I here I’d alway thought it was just a vacuum leak.
$1.75 at 0830 this morning and still falling. Wow …
Yikes, so much for the predictive power of Tremblay’s “P-value!”
My bladder’s P value is much more reliable.
Boy did they ever screw over those people that forked over 2k yesterday!
The best lesson we can learn from these kinds of spiels (and the surge and crash of the stock)? It’s one that many of us have to re-learn over and over again: Beware assertions of certainty about future events.
“High likelihood,” which seemed to have been the consensus both for decent results from this study and for likely approval from the FDA for Transenterix’s robotic surgery arm (TRXC was the last heavily touted Tremblay pick leading up to the FDA decision), to name two examples, is very, very different than “certainty,” but as humans who love a good story and a quick score many of us have an unfortunate tendency to conflate “high probability” and “sure bet.”
After following for a few years, I now expect to do the opposite of what these newsletters advise.
Ooops, EARS missed on not meeting Trial goals TACTT2.
Down ~60%.
I have been burned on a few bio tech stocks. They seem to be more of “pump and dump” than anything else. Today’s drop is a good example.
Yikes, down 60% from yesterday…. pump and dump!
I expect Tremblay was probably genuinely surprised at the bad news, I don’t think Money Map was executing a “pump and dump” with previous knowledge of the bad clinical trial results — that would be counterintuitive for a big publisher that’s very motivated to stay out of trouble with the SEC (and which can make lots of money without breaking the rules).
If Tremblay is dumb enough not to research these kinds of companies, someone from the company could enlist him to do the pumping, ahead of the dumping.
A quick read-through of Auris Medical’s web site, reveals a relationship with Cochlear, Ltd., an Australian manufacturer of hearing aids and implants, who seek a chemical protective agent that can be injected into the inner ear, to prevent further damage to the inner ear, if their hearing aid’s volume control is set too loud.
By collaborating with a Swiss startup, Auris, the Australian company avoids any liability to itself, for any spectacular failures that happen while the protective agent is tested on human patients. Shareholders who buy the Swiss startup assume all of the risk.
From the hearing-aid company’s standpoint, the Swiss startup could bankrupt itself, and still yield useful information.
For example, yesterday’s announcement by Auris Medical, which collapsed Auris’ stock price from $4 to $2.15 as of this writing, asserted that the second of 3 Phase III clinical trials showed that their drug, ketamine, is safe when injected into the inner ear by the process they use (injecting it into the middle ear and allowing diffusion to deliver the drug to the inner-ear nerves). Despite being nearly as safe as marijuana, ketamine failed in another important aspect…just like marijuana, it doesn’t always stop the bloody ringing people get in their ears when they suffer tinnitus. Rephrased into proper Medicalese, I’d put it “Ketamine was not shown statistically more effective than a placebo”.
Armed with that knowledge, the Australian hearing-aid company is now free to explore mixtures of drugs that contain ketamine, in it’s quest for a protective agent to prevent damage to the inner ear if the volume control is set too high. Conversely, they have an immediate legal defense, should anyone who got one of their implants be dissatisfied with the performance…Cochlear’s lawyer can tell the plaintiff, that Cochlear could try to make the amplified sounds louder, but are unwilling to do that, because they don’t want to damage his ears, so he can bloody well get used to the fact that his hearing isn’t getting any better and they aren’t paying him any money because he’s frustrated at the imperfections in a hearing aid.
Auris is a publicly-traded Swiss startup that’s barely 106 weeks old as a publicly-traded stock. It hyped itself, did an IPO on the NASDAQ, and it’s shares opened at $6.07 in August 2014, and yesterday put in a record low of $1.75. Certainly, the hype that’s coming from Tremblay and his colleagues at Money Map Press, helped push the stock up…which created a pool of money in a Swiss account that paid for the clinical trials that proved ketamine safe but not very effective at stopping tinnitus. The money will continue to get spent. Cochlear wins, even while Auris loses.
As for me, I’m quite pleased that I didn’t pay two grand to subscribe to Tremblay’s newsletter, for the privilege of losing half my money on a stock that he predicted would double.
Thanks, Travis for the perfectly-timed sleuth! After learning yesterday it was EARS, I was thinking of getting in before the August 31 “announcement by” date. Fortunately, the announcement was moved forward to today, before market open, not giving me a chance to get in. (I don’t trade during non-market hours).
They call the “P-value” formula “the most lucrative scientific formula in the world”; I call it “the lemon delivery formula” :), which they presumably also used to deliver TRXC, which I lost a lot of money on.
Thanks for the info. I am the money map and nova-X member, so they always send me those info to ask me pay another $2000, and another $2000… They have about 10plus diff. Reports ! I was regret did not have time to react to the drug royalty program, I google and find your article, what a relief that I did not missed the “opportunities” and saved $1950!
My main upset was: they sell the pre-iPo private placement arrangements , after I paid the $4950 life time membership fee, the investment info was searchable and only cost 5% fee ($125 for a $2500 investment) vs. $4950.
Although I subscribe this service, I did not make any move from their recommendations yet, bcz I have not trade for the past 14 yrs, since my starts of business. Now I am back to access to investment accounts to prepare for future life style change. Will monitor closely to all your discussions.
Any comments about this new “money calendar ” claim? Let me know if you need more details.
Keep up the good work! I am impressed 1st visit this web site, and have all my questions cleared!
Welcome Li tang. 🙂 The BEST investment ever made is joining stockgumshoe.com Irregulars imho. Maybe you can get a partial refund from MoneySlaps. Best2You – Ben
LT,
Beware the Money Calendar hype. I was a member of Weekly Cash Clock for 6 weeks. Averaged out at 70% losers over the 6 weeks period.
Use the Stock Gumshoe search block at the top of the page–search “Tom Gentile” for plenty of feedback from other Irregulars who have used his services.
I was pretty excited about something with the potential to downregulate NMDA, having had problems from it myself, including tinnitus. But I just got around to reading this tonight (Friday) and the stock went down 56% due to failure to meet improvement goals). So much for jumping on a fast moving cart!