5 Best Medical Stocks To Invest In Right Now

Organovo Holdings (NYSEMKT: ONVO  ) was one of last week's biggest winners, soaring 55% after making the leap to the more prolific NYSE MKT exchange.

A bigger stage plays well when you have a neat tale to tell, and Organovo certainly has all of the makings of a hot story stock.

Organovo takes 3-D printing to a seemingly implausible extreme. Its bioprinting process can generate a reasonable proxy to human tissue in a lab that can be used in culture plates or bioreactors for medical research and therapeutic applications.

Yes, that's pretty cool, and recent investors seeing the stock jump from $3.87 to $6.01 in a single week have a good reason to get giddy.

Unfortunately, long-term investors have seen this before.

The stock traded as low as $2.35 in May of last year, only to peak at $10.90 a month later and bottom out at $1.49 the month after that.

5 Best Medical Stocks To Invest In Right Now: Compugen Ltd.(CGEN)

Compugen Ltd. operates as a drug and diagnostic discovery company based on computer-based discovery capabilities to predict and select novel product candidates. Through in silico prediction and selection, the resulting novel molecules are synthesized and validated utilizing traditional in vitro and in vivo experimental procedures. The company provides these validated product candidates to pharmaceutical, biotech, and diagnostic companies under licensing and other commercialization arrangements. Its research and discovery efforts are focused primarily on therapeutic proteins and peptides, and monoclonal antibodies, and primarily in the fields of immunology and oncology. Its therapeutic peptide and protein related platforms include Protein Family Members Discovery Platform, Protein-Protein Interaction Blockers, GPCR Therapeutic Peptide Ligands, Disease-Associated Conformation Blockers, Intracellular Drug Delivery, Viral Peptides, and Splice Variant based Therapeutic Proteins . The company?s monoclonal antibody related platforms comprise Monoclonal Antibody Targets. Its other therapeutic and diagnostic platforms consist of Nucleic-Acid Disease Markers, Protein Disease Markers, Nucleic-Acid Preclinical Toxicity Markers, Non-SNP Drug Response Markers, and New Indications. Its therapeutic peptide and protein product candidates comprise CGEN-15001, a novel protein for the treatment of autoimmune disorders; CGEN-25017, a novel peptide antagonist of the Angiopoietin/Tie-2 pathway; CGEN-855, a peptide agonist of the FPRL1 GPCR receptor; CGEN-856 and CGEN-857, which are MAS GPCR peptide agonists; CGEN-25007, an antagonist of the gp96 protein; and CGEN-25009, a peptide of the LGR7 receptor. The company also offers monoclonal antibody target product candidates, including CGEN-671, a drug for multiple epithelial tumors; CGEN-928, a drug for multiple myeloma; and CGEN-15001T, a novel B7/CD28 family member. Compugen Ltd. was founded in 1993 and is based in Te l Aviv, Israel.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Michael Shulman]

  Compugen Ltd. (NASDAQ: CGEN) is the world’s leading molecular intellectual property company. Based in Israel, the company has revolutionized the early phases of drug development through a highly automated process of exploring and selecting molecules with the greatest promise to serve as the basis for a particular treatment.

  The company licenses its peptides and proteins for a fee to the who’s who of the drug industry, and also receives a back-end cut of any drug that makes it to market using its discoveries.

  Compugen just announced that it entered into an agreement with Baize Investments under which it will receive $5 million in R&D funding. My target for CGEN is $20 in three to five years.

5 Best Medical Stocks To Invest In Right Now: Impax Laboratories Inc.(IPXL)

Impax Laboratories, Inc., a specialty pharmaceutical company, engages in the development, manufacture, and marketing of bioequivalent pharmaceutical products. The company operates in two divisions, Global Pharmaceuticals and Impax Pharmaceuticals. The Global Pharmaceuticals division develops, manufactures, sells, and distributes generic pharmaceutical products. It provides its generic pharmaceutical prescription products directly to wholesalers and retail drug chains; and generic pharmaceutical over-the-counter and prescription products through unrelated third-party pharmaceutical entities. The Impax Pharmaceutical division develops proprietary brand pharmaceutical products that address central nervous system disorders, including Alzheimer?s disease, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, depression, epilepsy, migraines, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson?s disease, and schizophrenia, as well as promotes third-party branded pharmaceutical products. As of May 2, 2011, the com pany marketed 101 generic pharmaceuticals, which represent dosage variations of 29 different pharmaceutical compounds; and another 16 of its generic pharmaceuticals representing dosage variations of 4 different pharmaceutical compounds. It markets and sells its generic pharmaceutical prescription drug products in the continental United States and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. The company has a strategic alliance agreement with Teva Pharmaceuticals Curacao N.V. Impax Laboratories, Inc. was founded in 1993 and is headquartered in Hayward, California.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Michael Shulman]

  The not-so-small generic drug maker Impax Laboratories (NASDAQ: IPXL) has arguably the best manufacturing technology for time-released drugs in the entire generic industry.

  Pfizer’s (NYSE: PFE) patent for its $11 billion cholesterol drug Lipitor expires this year, and we know IPXL believes it has the expertise to manufacture a sophisticated statin such as Lipitor given recent legal actions concerning Merck’s drug Vytorin, a combination of a competing statin and a blood pressure drug. In other words, IPXL has the technical expertise to enter this market should it choose to do so.

  Two other major product introductions are anticipated in 2011 — generic Concerta for ADHD and generic Solodyn for bacterial infections, currently with combined sales of $1.8 billion.

  My target for the stock is $35-$40 in one to two years. IPXL is also the possible target of an acquirer.

10 Best Low Price Stocks To Own For 2014: Scancell Holdings PLC (SCLP.L)

Scancell Holdings PLC is a United Kingdom-based company. The Company�� principal activity of the consists of the discovery and development of monoclonal antibodies and vaccines for the treatment of cancer. In April 2012, the Company completed recruitment to the Phase 1 clinical trial of SCIBI. In May 2012, the Company commenced recruitment and treatment of the first patient in the second part of it Phase 1/2 clinical trial of SCIBI. The Phase 2 part of the trial is conducted in five United Kingdom centers in Nottingham, Manchester, Newcastle, Leeds, and Southampton. On August 15, 2012, the Company announced the development of a platform technology, Moditope.

5 Best Medical Stocks To Invest In Right Now: StemCells Inc (STEM.W)

StemCells, Inc. (StemCells), incorporated in August 1988, is engaged in the research, development, and commercialization of stem cell therapeutics and related tools and technologies for academia and industry. The Company is focused on developing and commercializing stem and progenitor cells as the basis for therapeutics and therapies, and cells and related tools and technologies to enable stem cell-based research and drug discovery and development. The Company�� primary research and development efforts are focused on identifying and developing stem and progenitor cells as potential therapeutic agents. The Company has two therapeutic product development programs, including its CNS Program, which is developing applications for HuCNS-SC cells, its human neural stem cell product candidate, and its Liver Program, which is characterizing the Company�� human liver cells as a therapeutic product.

CNS Program

The Company in its CNS Program, is in clinical development with its HuCNS-SC cells for a range of disorders of the central nervous system. The CNS includes the brain, spinal cord and eye. In February 2012, the Company had completed a Phase I clinical trial in Pelizeaus-Merzbacher Disease (PMD), a fatal myelination disorder in the brain.

The Company�� CNS Program is focused on developing clinical applications, in which transplanting HuCNS-SC cells protect or restore organ function of the patient before such function is irreversibly damaged or lost due to disease progression. The Company�� initial target indications are PMD, and more generally, diseases in which deficient myelination plays a central role, such as cerebral palsy or multiple sclerosis; spinal cord injury, disorders in which retinal degeneration plays a central role, such as age-related macular degeneration or retinitis pigmentosa. The Company�� product candidate, HuCNS-SC cells, is a purified and expanded composition of normal hum an neural stem cells. Its HuCNS-SC cells can be directly tr! a! nsplanted.

Liver Program

Liver stem or progenitor cells offer an alternative treatment for liver diseases. A liver cellular therapy or cell-based therapeutic provide or support liver function in patients with liver disease. The Company held a portfolio of issued and allowed patents in the liver field, which cover the isolation and use of both hLEC cells and the isolated subset, as well as the composition of the cells themselves.

The Company�� range of cell culture products, which are sold under the SC Proven brand, includes iSTEM, GS1-R, GS2-M, RHB-A, RHB-Basal, NDiff N2, and NDiff N2B27. Its iSTEM is a serum-free, feeder-free medium that maintains mouse embryonic stem cells in their pluripotent ground state by using selective small molecule inhibitors to block the pathways, which induce differentiation. RHB-A is a defined, serum-free culture medium for the selective culture of human and mouse neural stem cells and their maintenanc e and expansion as adherent cell populations. RHB-Basal is a defined, serum-free basal medium. When supplemented with specific growth factors, this media is formulated for the propagation and differentiation of adherent neural stem cells. RHB-Basal can also be tailored to specific-cell type requirements by the addition of customer preferred supplements.

The Company�� NDiff N2 is a defined serum-free scell culture supplement for the derivation, maintenance, expansion and/or differentiation of human and mouse embryonic stem (ES) cells and tissue-derived neural stem cells supplement. Its NDiff N2-AF is a serum-free and animal component-free version of NDiff N2. Its NDiff N2B27 is a defined, serum-free medium for the differentiation of mouse embryonic stem cells to neural cell types. NDiff N27-AF is a serum-free and animal component-free version of NDiff N27. Its GS1-R is a serum-free media formulation shown to enable the derivation and long-term maintenance of tr ue, germline competent rat embryonic stem cells without! the ! ad! dition ! of cytokines or growth factors. Its GS2-M is a defined, serum- and feeder-free medium for the derivation and long-term maintenance of true, germline competent mouse iPS cells.

The Company also markets a number of antibody reagents for use in cell detection, isolation and characterization. These reagents are also under the SC Proven brand and it includes STEM24, STEM101, STEM121 and STEM123. Its STEM24 is a human antibody that recognizes human CD24, also known as heat stable antigen (HSA), a glycoprotein expressed on the surface of many human cell types, including immature human hematopoietic cells, peripheral blood lymphocytes, erythrocytes and many human carcinomas. Its CD24 is also a marker of human neural differentiation. Its STEM101 is a human-specific mouse antibody that recognizes the Ku80 protein found in human nuclei. Its STEM121 is a human-specific mouse antibody that recognizes a cytoplasmic protein of human cells. Its STEM123 is a human-specific mouse antibody that recognizes human glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP).

The Company�� Other products marketed under SC Proven include total cell genomic DNA (gDNA), RNA and protein lysate reagents purified from homogenous stem cell populations for intra-comparative studies, such as Epigenetic fingerprinting, Southern, Western and Northern blots, PCR, RT-PCR and microarrays. This range of purified stem cell line lysates includes mouse embryonic stem (ES) cells propagated in SC Proven 2i inhibitor-based GS2-M media and mouse ES cell-derived and fetal tissue-derived neural stem (NS) cells propagated in SC Proven RHB-A media.

5 Best Medical Stocks To Invest In Right Now: Navidea Biopharmaceuticals Inc (NAVB)

Navidea Biopharmaceuticals, Inc. (Navidea), formerly Neoprobe Corporation, incorporated in 1983, is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of precision diagnostic agents. As of December 31, 2011, the Company�� radiopharmaceutical development programs included Lymphoseek (Lymphoseek, Kit for the Preparation of Technetium Tc99m for Injection), a radiopharmaceutical agent for lymph node mapping; AZD4694, an imaging agent, and RIGScan, a tumor antigen-specific targeting agent. In January 2012, the Company executed an option agreement with Alseres Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Alseres) to license [123I]-E-IACFT Injection, also called Altropane, an Iodine-123 radiolabeled imaging agent, being developed as an aid in the diagnosis of Parkinson�� disease, movement disorders and dementia. In August 2011, the Company sold its gamma detection device line of business (the GDS Business) to Devicor Medical Products, Inc.

Lymphoseek

Navidea�� pipeline includes clinical-stage radiopharmaceutical agents used to identify the presence and status of disease. Lymphoseek (Kit for the Preparation of Technetium Tc99m for Injection) is a lymph node targeting agent intended for use in intraoperative lymphatic mapping (ILM) procedures and lymphoscintigraphy employed in the overall diagnostic assessment of certain solid tumor cancers. The lymph system is a component of the body�� immune system. The key components of the lymph system are lymph nodes-small anatomic structures that contain disease-fighting lymphocytes, filter lymph of bacteria and cancer cells, and signal infection in response to heightened levels of pathogens. In Navidea�� Phase III clinical studies of Lymphoseek, it detected over 99% of positive nodes identified by vital blue dye (VBD). As of December 31, 2011, Navidea, in co-operation with UC, San Diego affiliate (UCSD), completed or initiated five Phase I clinical trials, one multi-center Phase II trial and three multi-center Phase II trials inv! olving Lymphoseek. Two Phase III studies were completed in subjects with breast cancer and melanoma. During the year ended December 31, 2011, data from NEO3-09 were released, which indicated that all primary and secondary endpoints for the study were met. As of December 31, 2011, third Phase III clinical trial for Lymphoseek in subjects with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (NEO3-06) was in progress.

AZD4694

AZD4694 is a Fluorine-18 labeled precision radiopharmaceutical candidate for use in the imaging and evaluation of patients with signs or symptoms of cognitive impairment such as Alzheimer's disease (AD). It binds to beta-amyloid deposits in the brain that can then be imaged in positron emission tomography (PET) scans. Amyloid plaque pathology is a required feature of AD and the presence of amyloid pathology is a supportive feature for diagnosis of probable AD. Patients who are negative for amyloid pathology do not have AD. AZD4694 has been studied in several clinical trials. Clinical studies through Phase IIa have included more than 80 patients to date, both suspected AD patients and healthy volunteers. No significant adverse events have been observed. Results suggest that AZD4694 has the ability to image patients quickly and safely with high sensitivity.

RadioImmunoGuided Surgery

As of December 31, 2011, RIGScan had been studied in a number of clinical trials, including Phase III studies. Navidea has conducted two Phase III studies, NEO2-13 and NEO2-14, of RIGScan in patients with primary and metastatic colorectal cancer, respectively. Both studies were multi-institutional involving cancer treatment institutions in the United States, Israel, and the European Union.

The Company competes with Pharmalucence, Eli Lilly, Bayer Schering, General Electric and GE Healthcare.