24/7 Wall St. has compiled a log of companies which have already signaled in press releases that they will be presenting data or that data will be presented on their behalf at the 2012 ASCO Annual Meeting.  We have previewed more than 25 companies so far and that is not even including Big Pharma names.  As of May 18, the total abstracts submitted were 5,264 and of those there have been 2,744 which have been accepted for presentation at ASCO.  Of those accepted for presentation, some 1,859 are going to be ‘ePublication only’ for viewers.  The breakdown for the Abstracts shows that the oral presentation is currently 257 presentations and 2,487 are listed as poster presentation only.

The most presentations accepted (203) so far are focused on Genitourinary Cancer, which covers urinary tract and male genital tract as follows: Prostate cancer; Bladder cancer; Kidney cancer; Testicular cancer; Penile cancer; Nonmalignant tumors of the urinary tract and male reproductive system; and Von Hippel Lindau disease.  As of today, the fewest accepted presentations (93) cover Pediatric oncology.

Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ: AMGN), the largest independent biotech that there is, recently showed updated results from a Phase 2 study showing that treatment with blinatumomab helped achieve a high-rate of complete response in 72% of adult patients with relapsed or refractory B-precursor acute lymphoblastic leukemia treated in the study. This blinatumomab is the first of a new class of agents called bi-specific T cell engagers antibodies, which are designed to harness the body’s cell-destroying T cells to kill cancer cells.  Blinatumomab targets cells expressing CD19, a protein found on the surface of B-cell derived leukemias and lymphomas, such as ALL. Full results of the study will be presented during an oral abstract session on June 4 at the ASCO Annual Meeting.

ARIAD Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: ARIA) recently sold off but will will have updated clinical data from the pivotal PACE trial of ponatinib, its investigational pan-BCR-ABL inhibitor in patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) on June 4.  The company said that the data will form the basis of its regulatory filings for marketing approval of Ponatinib for patients with chronic myeloid leukemia and Philadelphia-chromosome positive acute lymphoblasatic leukemia.

ArQule, Inc. (NASDAQ: ARQL) and Daiichi Sankyo, Co., Ltd. (Japan) will have an oral presentation at the ASCO Annual Meeting featuring Phase 2 trial data with tivantinib as a single agent investigational second-line treatment in hepatocellular carcinoma. ArQule announced that this randomized, double-blind study met its primary endpoint in January and will now present the full results from this trial, including positive data in the pre-defined c-MET high population. Additional clinical data with tivantinib will be featured in two poster discussions and two general poster sessions.

Array BioPharma Inc. (NASDAQ: ARRY) has recently risen on its lung cancer and melanoma results.  The company has three oral presentations at the annual meeting after having already presented Phase 1 data on MEK162 in 28 patients with biliary tract cancer at the ASCO Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium in January 2012 showing that it was well tolerated and showed evidence of clinical efficacy in this patient population, including a complete response and a partial response. Stable disease was observed in 12 patients. The company has licensed selumetinib to AstraZeneca (NYSE: AZN) and licensed MEK162 to Novartis (NYSE: NVS).

24/7 Wall St. wanted to make a log of companies which have already signaled that they will be presenting data or that data will be presented on their behalf at the 2012 ASCO Annual Meeting.  The data below is as follows:

As of May 10, the total abstracts submitted were 5,264 and of those there have been 2,744 which have been accepted for presentation at ASCO.  Of those accepted for presentation, some 1,859 are going to be ‘ePublication only’ for viewers.  The breakdown for the Abstracts shows that the oral presentation is currently 257 presentations and 2,487 are listed as poster presentation only.

The most presentations accepted (203) so far are focused on Genitourinary Cancer, which covers urinary tract and male genital tract as follows: Prostate cancer; Bladder cancer; Kidney cancer; Testicular cancer; Penile cancer; Nonmalignant tumors of the urinary tract and male reproductive system; and Von Hippel Lindau disease.  As of today, the fewest accepted presentations (93) covers Pediatric oncology.

ARIAD Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: ARIA) will have updated clinical data from the pivotal PACE trial of ponatinib, our investigational pan-BCR-ABL inhibitor in patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML).

Array BioPharma Inc. (NASDAQ: ARRY) recently noted that it “presented Phase 1 data on MEK162 in 28 patients with biliary tract cancer at the ASCO Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium in January 2012. MEK162 was well tolerated and showed evidence of clinical efficacy in this patient population, including a complete response and a partial response. Stable disease was observed in 12 patients.”

Biovest International, Inc. (OTCQB: BVTI), a majority-owned subsidiary of Accentia Biopharmaceuticals, Inc. (OTCQB: ABPI) announced in early May that the new data from the BiovaxID® Phase II mantle cell lymphoma clinical trial conducted by the U.S. National Cancer Institute will be presented by the NCI at the 2012 American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting.

Celldex Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: CLDX) previously noted that interim topline results of the Phase 2b EMERGE study of CDX-011 in patients with advanced breast cancer will be presented in a webcast on May 23, 2012 but it is not going to get in at ASCO as it noted, “Celldex anticipated presenting these topline results at the American Society of Clinical Oncology 2012 Annual Meeting. Due to a clerical error in which the incorrect submission category was inadvertently selected in the on-line ASCO submission form, the abstract for the EMERGE study was not considered for acceptance. Celldex attempted to rectify this clerical error but was informed that no exceptions are made to the submission policy.”  Call this the “ASCO-less ASCO presentation.”

CytRx Corporation (NASDAQ: CYTR) will present data from its Phase 1b/2 clinical trial in patients with advanced solid tumors, primarily soft tissue sarcomas.

Exelixis, Inc. (Nasdaq: EXEL) recently announced that cabozantinib will be the subject of nine presentations at the upcoming Annual Meeting… The company noted that cabozantinib encompasses phase 3 pivotal trials in medullary thyroid cancer (MTC) and metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC).

Galena Biopharma (NASDAQ: GALE) will present “Safety and Long-Term Maintenance of Anti-HER2 Immunity Following Booster Inoculations of the E75 Breast Cancer Vaccine” and it will host a panel called “HER2 Targeted Cancer Therapies” which includes NeuVax update from the Phase 2 and current Phase 3 PRESENT trials.

Generex Biotechnology Corporation (OTCBB: GNBT) will be presenting data on its breast cancer treatment ambitions.

Genomic Health, Inc. (NASDAQ: GHDX) recently announced that 18 abstracts were accepted for presentation at ASCO which will be highlighting Breast, Colon and Prostate progress.

ImmunoGen, Inc. (Nasdaq: IMGN) noted in late-April “At the upcoming ASCO meeting in June, we expect to see not only EMILIA Phase III data and new SAR3419 Phase I data, but also data from the Phase II trial evaluating the safety of trastuzumab emtansine in the adjuvant/neoadjuvant setting.”

Nektar Therapeutics (NASDAQ: NKTR) has two abstracts: one covering a Phase 3 study of NKTR-102 versus Treatment of Physician’s Choice in patients with locally recurrent or metastatic breast cancer previously treated with an anthracycline, a taxane and capecitabine; a second will be NKTR-102 in patients with platinum-resistant ovarian cancer.

NewLink Genetics Corporation (NASDAQ: NLNK) announced in April that data from its HyperAcute(R) Pancreas immunotherapy and its HyperAcute(R) Lung immunotherapy as well as its D-1MT IDO pathway inhibitor will be presented at the annual meeting.

Pharmacyclics, Inc. (NASDAQ: PCYC) will have two oral presentations and one poster discussion session: two oral presentations will highlight the first reporting on data from the ibrutinib (formerly PCI-32765) Phase II CLL single agent trial in treatment naïve patients and the ibrutinib Phase Ib/II CLL combination trial with ofatumumab in relapsed or refractory patients; the poster discussion session will highlight data from the ibrutinib Phase Ib CLL combination trial with bendamustine and rituximab in relapsed or refractory patients.

Seattle Genetics, Inc. (NASDAQ: SGEN) will show updated information on ADCETRIS for patients with relapsed Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) and systemic anaplastic large cell lymphoma (sALCL).

Here was a recent list of other stocks to watch covered by an analyst in the Denver Post.

JON C. OGG

One potential buyer is Sanofi (NYSE: SNY), the Paris-based drug company that is developing a similar treatment for diabetes. Amylin ended a long relationship with Eli Lilly & Co. (NYSE: LLY) last November, but still owes Lilly payments of $1.2 billion over the next several years. AstraZeneca plc (NYSE: AZN) is another drug maker believed to be on the look-out for an acquisition as is Merck & Co. Inc. (NYSE: MRK).

Amylin’s diabetes drugs Byetta and Bydureon are both approved for use in the US. Byetta is a twice-weekly injection for Type 2 diabetes, while Bydureon, which was approved only in January, is a once-a-week injection for the disease. Diabetes affects some 300 million people worldwide and 26 million in the US alone. Drugs to combat the disease could be enormous sellers.

The market is very happy with the news from Amylin. Shares are up more than 10% in the pre-market this morning, at $25.15 in a 52-week range of $8.03.25.84.

Paul Ausick

Investors often speculate that drug partners (or competitors) will merge.  After all, if a big drug company can add on full revenues rather than partial revenues and can milk out cost efficiencies of the combined outfit, it only makes sense if the price is right.  That also could bring Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE: LLY) into the mix if you look through recent press releases.  Amylin has been the subject of takeover rumors on and off over the last 8 years or so.  Frankly, any large drug company could be a potential acquirer of this company if the price is right.

Bloomberg has reported that Amylin rejected a $3.5 billion offer.  Bristol-Myers has a market value of nearly $57 billion.  Amylin shares are now up 48% at $22.62 and many investors believe that BYETTA can become a blockbuster drug as a new treatment for diabetes.  To prove the point, Thomson Reuters has consensus revenue targets of $688.12 million for 2012 and $845.3 million for 2013.

As a reminder, Amylin lists Alkermes plc (NASDAQ: ALKS) as a strategic partner and noted on its partnership page “Amylin worked with Alkermes to develop the first once-weekly treatment for type 2 diabetes using Alkermes’ proprietary technology for long-acting medications.”

It also noted that Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited is a partner: “In October 2009, Amylin and Takeda entered into a worldwide exclusive license, development and commercialization agreement to co-develop and commercialize pharmaceutical products for the treatment of obesity and related indications.”

Biocon, Limited is the other partner listed: “In September 2009, Amylin and Biocon entered into an exclusive agreement to jointly develop, commercialize and manufacture a novel peptide therapeutic for the potential treatment of diabetes.”

We are treating this as a rumor only at this point, but we suspect that the company will either confirm the report or issue a statement that they are not going to comment on market rumors.  Either way, Amylin is one of the emerging biotech and biopharma players which seems like a shoe-in to be acquired soon or down the road.  The real question is what price, and ultimately when.

JON C. OGG

As a reminder, Amylin agreed to pay $250 million to Lilly as well as milestones of up to $1.2 billion for the molecule that makes up Byetta.  Amylin also confirmed that it will be responsible for the commercialization of Byetta outside of the United States.  Amylin is still working with Lilly during the transition period through 2013.

Amylin shares have not responded so far this morning and the indications have not been matched with any real share volume.  At $15.51, the 52-week range is $8.03 to $18.45.

Amylin currently has a market capitalization rate of $2.27 billion as of now and the company is expected to lose money in 2012 and 2013 even though revenues are expected to be about $681 million and $837 million for 2012 and 2013, respectively.

JON C. OGG

Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ: AMGN), whose bone pain drug, Xgeva, failed to get an FDA panel’s approval for use as a treatment for prostate cancer, is most often mentioned as a potential suitor for Dendreon. Dendreon’s market cap of around $1.5 billion is well within Amgen’s scope.

Dendreon’s shares are up more than 4.5% at $10.39 in a 52-week range of $6.46-$43.96.

Read The 10 Largest Hedge Funds in America

What is even more amazing than the funds’ individual size is the size of the hedge fund world. In the U.S., funds that had $1 billion or more in assets cumulatively had assets under management of more than $1.3 trillion. Well over $1 trillion of those assets tracked were distributed in New York, Connecticut and Massachusetts.

The industry may be huge, but it is not stable. That’s because so many funds take such outsized risk to grow more rapidly than their competitors. Thousands of funds closed in 2008 after the fall of Lehman Bros. In what was probably the worst quarter in the industry’s history, Hedge Fund Research reported that 700 U.S. funds closed in the third quarter of that year. The funds not only lost money on investment, but also could not repay loans taken from banks that gave them leverage to help increase their asset bases.

The surge in the stock market and improvement in the economy lifted the hedge fund industry back toward record levels last year. According to HFR, the number of new funds rose to 1,113 last year from 935 in 2010, the most since 2007 when 1,197 were counted. Obviously, the success of the business is based to a large extent on the health of the economy, although some of the funds on this list have done well enough to defy that lesson.

A recent report from Absolute Return lists U.S. hedge funds according to their assets under management as of January 2012. A look at the top 10 hedge funds reveals several rather well-known names, but also shines a light on several completely unknown ones.

24/7 Wall St. examined the top 10 hedge funds and outlined their respective units. We also provided the funds’ investment strategies and included some of their top holdings if available.

The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA down nearly 21 points to 12,632.91 (-0.16%), the NASDAQ rose nearly 2 points (0.07%) to 2,813.84, and the S&P 500 fell -0.05% or less than 1 point to 1,312.40.

There were several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including Nike Inc. (NYSE: NKE) raised to ‘buy’ at Argus; Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan (NYSE: POT) cut to ‘neutral’ at Goldman Sachs; Tesla Motors Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) started as ‘buy’ at Jefferies; Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ: AMGN) reiterated as ‘buy’ and target price raised to $80 at Argus; and Range Resources Corp. (NYSE: RRC) raised to ‘hold’ from ‘sell’ with a target price of $59 at Canaccord Genuity.

Earnings reports since markets closed last night have led to some price changes as of the last half hour of trading today: Anixter Inc. (NYSE: AXE) is down -3.7% at $65.25; ARM Holdings PLC (NASDAQ: ARMH) is up 1.7% at $28.84; Celanese Corp. (NYSE: CE) is down -0.95% at $48.84; Eli Lilly & Co. (NYSE: LLY) is up 1.35% at $39.78; Exxon Mobil is down -1.98% at $83.80; Helmerich & Payne Inc. (NYSE: HP) is up 2.2% at $61.64; L-3 Communications Holdings Inc. (NYSE: LLL) is up 1.3% at $70.49; McGraw-Hill Cos. Inc. (NYSE: MHP) is down -0.5% at $46.09; Mattel Inc. (NYSE: MAT) is up 5.1% at $31.04 after posting a new 52-week high today of $31.49; Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) is down -0.8% at $21.42; and Valero Energy Corp. (NYSE: VLO) is down -0.73% at $24.10.

Other standouts from today include the following stocks:

Vringo Inc. (NASDAQ: VRNG) is up nearly 21% at $1.40. The social media software maker is apparently basking in the glow of the coming IPO of Facebook. See our coverage here.

RadioShack Corp. (NYSE: RSH) is down nearly -30% at $7.19 after setting a new 52-week low of $7.15 earlier today. The social media software maker is apparently basking in the glow of the coming IPO of Facebook. See our coverage here.

Verifone Systems Inc. (NYSE: PAY) is up more than 8% at $42.61. The payment systems maker is getting a boost from a plan by Mastercard Inc. (NYSE: MA) to subsidize the installation of new card readers that use a microchip rather than a magnetic stripe to store customer information.

Rare Element Resources Ltd. (AMEX: REE) is up more than 17% at $7.22. The rare earth minerals miner is likely gaining after a ruling from the WTO that China’s restriction on rare earth minerals’ exports violates global trade rules.

FriendFinder Networks Inc. (NASDAQ: FFN) is up about 19% at $1.26. The adult social media company is likely also being bought up on the prospective Facebook IPO.

Stay tuned for Wednesday. Automakers will be releasing sales figures for January throughout the day. We have noted the following events on the schedule (all times Eastern):

• 7:00 a.m. – Mortgage Bankers Association purchase applications
• 7:30 a.m. – Challenger Job-cut data
• 8:15 a.m. – ADP employment report
• 10:00 a.m. – ISM manufacturing index
• 10:00 a.m. – Construction spending
• 10:30 a.m. – EIA weekly petroleum status report

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Paul Ausick

Inflation in China drops in October. (Reuters)

Olympus investment losses may have gone above $1 billion. (Reuters)

Silvio Berlusconi leaves as prime minister of Italy. (Reuters)

Investors will focus on General Motors’ (NYSE: GM) $20 billion unfunded pension liability as it releases earnings. (Reuters)

Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), Aol (NYSE: AOL) and Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO) set a new advertising sales partnership. (Reuters)

Samsung will invest nearly $34 billion in R&D next year. (Reuters)

An Informa study for the Wireless Broadband Alliance says Wi-Fi hot spots will grow by four times by 2015. (Reuters)

Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) releases new products for tablet PCs. (Reuters)

Yelp hires banks to take it public. (Reuters)

Carlyle Group sharply cuts fees as it tries to raise money for a $$2.3 billion real estate fund. (WSJ)

Investors aggressively sell Italian bonds. (WSJ)

Foreign markets help AB Inbev’s (NYSE: BUD) earnings. (WSJ)

Vivendi makes a bid for EMI. (WSJ)

Fannie Mae wants another $7.8 billion from the government. (WSJ)

The number of U.S. job openings rose to 3.4 million in September from 3.1 million in August. (WSJ)

President Obama approves very limited off-shore drilling. (WSJ)

The State Department may agree to move the Canada-to-U.S. pipeline around a section of Nebraska. (WSJ)

Amylin (NASDAQ: AMLN) and Eli Lilly (NYSE: LLY) kill their diabetes drug partnership. (WSJ)

Adobe (NASDAQ: ADBE) cuts 750 jobs. (WSJ)

Credit Suisse (NYSE: CS) will give the U.S. names of clients who may have evaded taxes. (WSJ)

The FCC wants to expand low-income family access to high-speed internet. (NYT)

The head of HSBC (NYSE: HBC) says Asia faces a shortage of available credit. (FT)

Douglas A. McIntyre

Lilly’s Zyprexa lost patent protection in Europe just last month, and European sales in the quarter fell by -3%. Two other Lilly drugs, anti-depressant Cymbalta and osteoporosis drug Evista lose patent protection by 2014. Regarding the loss of protection on Zyprexa in the US, the company said that it “expects the introduction of generics to result in a rapid and severe decline in Zyprexa sales.”

For the first three quarters of 2011, Zyprexa has accounted for $3.9 billion in Lilly’s sales. Cymbalta brought in another $3 billion, up 19% over 2010 Cymbalta sales.

The company also noted the impact of the Affordable Care Act, which it says reduced EPS in the third quarter by -$0.13. Lilly said the ACA has lowered revenue by $330 million as a result of higher rebates and subsidies, and added $135 million in expenses related to mandatory manufacturing fees.

Lilly now expects full-year 2011 adjusted EPS to be $4.30-$4.35, up to -9% lower than 2010 EPS of $4.74. The revised guidance is in-line with the existing consensus EPS estimate from analysts of $4.33. The company’s gross margin guidance was unchanged, with an expected decline of 2%-3%.

Lilly’s position at the edge of the patent cliff is perhaps more frightening than that of its major competitors. The company does not have a product to replace any of those that are losing patent protection, and so far its only answer has been to announce a $1 billion cost-cutting plan that will eventually cost 5,500 jobs.

Shares in Lilly are down about -0.7% in the first hour of trading this morning, at $38.43, in a 52-week range of $33.46-$39.78. For the past 12 months, Lilly’s shares have risen 6.8%, about the same as Pfizer’s gain, but far behind Bristol-Meyers’ gain of 21%.

Paul Ausick