Bothell ‘zombie’ gets noticed

Jim Cramer, CNBC’s almost-always-shouting, half-insane (that’s how he acts at least) investment guru, has taken note of at least one local biotech.

Nastech Pharmaceutical Co. of Bothell is suddenly one of the region’s 10 largest biotechs, now that ICOS Corp. is gone. But the developer of nasally inhaled drugs doesn’t make a lot of news. The last time it received a wave of national press for researching a potential anti-obesity nasal spray. That drug candidate attracted Merck’s attention, though that company bailed out when it saw test data that was less impressive than it had hoped.

Since then, it has formed new partnerships with Procter &Gamble and Novo Nordisk and is working on a whole array of stuff. Here’s the profile I did last year on Nastech: http://www.heraldnet.com/stories/06/04/10/100bus_nastech001.cfm.

The company is an example of a “zombie,” a biotech that keeps going, keeps burning through big sums of money and may still be years away from getting a big-selling drug approved. In 2006, Nastech lost another $27 million.

But Cramer, the above-mentioned raving lunatic of financial TV, is all sweet on Nastech now. Here’s his recommendation: http://www.247wallst.com/2007/03/cramers_biotech.html