Medical Devices Pick: CombiMatrix

September 29, 2008

Our special focus this week at TWST is on Medical Devices. We spoke with analyst John Putnam of Dawson James Securities a little bit about what he sees as the strongest players in this space right now.

Putnam’s pick is a company called CombiMatrix (CBMX), what he describes as a “leading company in doing genetic testing.” Here’s what he had to say the main appeal of CombiMatrix was:

 ”CombiMatrix has a prenatal test that can replace the old test, an amniocentesis to test primarily for Down Syndrome. There are more than 100 abnormalities that a fetus can have and CombiMatrix has a single test that identifies all of them as compared to just four or five that a normal amniocentesis would do, with the cost being the same. So the information gained from that kind of a test is so much greater than what we used to have that you really have a good idea of whether the child is going to be normal or not.”

Putnam sees CombiMatrix as a good company to play in this space. The reason is that the way they makes these tests, they are allowed to put products on the market without needing to go to the FDA, whereas its competitors are forced to. They have been able to put a new test out every quarter for the last six quarters- far exceeding their competitors.

For the complete interview with Mr. Putnam- including an overview of the state of this space in general, where its heading and more stock picks, click here.