Banks are recovering from their stock market slump and Republic First Bancorp, a Northeast regional bank, is enjoying it. Shares of the company are up 27% in morning trading.
Republic First Bancorp, Inc. (FRBK), the holding company for Republic Bank, today announced that it completed the sale of $100 million of its common stock at a price of $5.35 per share and elected Vernon W. Hill, II as a Director and Chairman of Republic First Bancorp, Inc.
Mr. Hill, a banking industry veteran, has said the bank will transform itself into a total customer oriented business model and the $100 million raised by the stock sale will be used to grow the company. Republic feels it has been transformed into a regional, high growth bank, creating “Fans Not Customers” for both retail and business customers.”
Wireless Software Provider To Buy Cloud Software Provider
Syynchronoss Technologies (SNCR) early Tuesday announced an agreement to buy cloud-based business software provider Intralinks Holdings (IL) for $821 million in cash. Synchronoss offered to pay $13 per share for Intralinks, a 15.4 % premium to its Monday close.
Intralinks stock was up 17%, near 13, in early trading Tuesday.
Synchronoss, No. 37 in the IBD 50 list of growth stocks, makes customer service software for wireless service providers, such as AT&T and Verizon Communications. Intralinks’ software enables companies to securely manage, control, track, search, exchange and collaborate on sensitive information.
One Micro-Cap With a Novel Approach to IBS
Biomerica, Inc. (NASDAQ: BMRA). According to a recent study and poster published by Fabiane B. Klem, M.D., of the Universidade Federal do Parana, approximately one in nine people develop irritable bowel syndrome within a year of an intestinal infection. The International Foundation for Functional Gastrointestinal Disorders which states that there are up to 45 million IBS sufferers in the United States.
Many of the existing treatments on the market only address one form of IBS (IBS-C: constipation or IBS-D: diarrhea), and produce side effects that are equally as challenging for patients to manage as IBS itself.
Biomerica’s product (InFoods® IBS), is a simple blood test that identifies the body’s reactions to specific foods, as opposed to food groups, allowing medical staff to provide therapeutic guidance on which foods should be removed from a patient’s diet to alleviate symptoms.
The company will be presenting at the 9th annual LD Micro Main Event on Wednesday, December 7 at 7:30 AM PST / 10:30 AM EST at the Luxe Sunset Boulevard Hotel in Los Angeles.
An Israeli Biotech Firm Is Getting Noticed
Neuroderm Ltd (NASDAQ: NDRM) is on fire today. As the race for a treatment for Parkinson’s Disease pushes forward, this small-cap Israeli company has generated a lot of interest. NDRM was in 16 hedge funds’ portfolios at the end of September.
Following its End-of-Phase 2 meeting with the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in late October, the Company intends to pursue a comparative bioavailability regulatory path for the Company’s lead product candidate ND0612 based on comparative pharmacokinetic (PK) data in place of data from Phase 3 clinical efficacy trials. The FDA also reaffirmed that long-term safety data from the Company’s ongoing BeyoND trial (trial 012) should be part of the eventual New Drug Application (NDA) submission. ND0612 is the Company’s continuous, subcutaneously delivered levodopa/carbidopa (LD/CD) proprietary liquid formulation for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease.
Following the discussions with the FDA the Company has decided to discontinue preparations to initiate its Phase 3 clinical efficacy trial of ND0612H (trial 010) and suspend iNDiGO, its other ongoing Phase 3 trial (trial 007) for ND0612L. Both studies are no longer required for marketing approval and will be replaced by comparative PK studies that will be initiated in the upcoming months. The Company is also evaluating amending the iNDiGO trial to a life cycle management trial. In addition, the Company will add approximately 50 patients to its ongoing long-term BeyoND safety trial (trial 012) with a different dosing regimen in line with the planned PK studies, which may add approximately three months to the timeline for completing the study and eventual application.
How Will The Next HHS Secretary Impact Health Care
President-elect Donald Trump has picked Rep. Tom Price (R-GA), to head the Department of Health and Human Services. Price has opposed the Affordable Care Act (Obama Care) since it became law in 2010.
Price does have ideas on an alternative to the ACA. He calls it the Empowering Patients First Act and thus far it’s a lengthy document that would comprehensively revamp healthcare in America.
Here are some highlights:
Completely scrap the Affordable Care Act
Offer tax credits pegged to a person’s age so that they can buy their insurance policies in the private market. The tax credits would range from $1,200 a year for people 18 to 35 years of age to $3,000 for those 51 and older.
People with preexisting medical conditions or chronic illnesses couldn’t be denied coverage provided they had continuous insurance for 18 months before choosing a new policy. If someone allows their policy to lapse, the next time they return to the market they could be charged up to 150 percent of the standard premiums for the next two years.
Health Savings Accounts to allow people to save income, before taxes, to pay for future health care needs. People who are currently covered by Medicare, the Veterans Affairs Department or some other government health program could contribute to health savings accounts to help cover their premiums and co-payments.
Provide grants to states to insure the “high risk” population. The risk pools would be a safety net for insurers, to offset part of their costs when hit with an insureds catastrophic health care costs. All 50 states would share a pool of $1 billion per year.
Impose a cap on the amount of money that companies could deduct from their taxes to defray the cost of providing health insurance to their workers, set at $8,000 a year for individual policies and $20,000 for families.
Repeal the expanded Medicaid coverage in 32 states and the District of Columbia for able-bodied single people and let them buy policies on the open market, using other tax credits and benefits.
Allow health insurers licensed to sell policies in one state to offer them to residents of other states.
Eliminate mandates for insurers to include benefits such as maternity services and pediatric care and allow them to offer cheaper, less comprehensive policies to people who are looking for a bargain.
Currently insurance companies can only charge older policy holders 300% of what they charge younger policy holders. Price’s plan would eliminate that cap.
These highlights of Rep. Price’s Empowering Patients First Act are just parts of a potential plan, an outline. Congress will be heavily involved in any plan to reform US healthcare. It is important to note, however, how the President-Elects new appointees think.
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