Topic: How To Invest

Dear Patrick: Would you please let give me your recommendation on ARCH Therapeutics? Thanks.

Article Excerpt

ARCH Therapeutics, $0.44, symbol ARTH on the U.S. over-the-counter bulletin board (Shares outstanding: 58.6 million; Market cap: $25.8 million; www.archtherapeutics.com), is a life science company that is focused on developing AC5, a product aimed at controlling bleeding and fluid loss during surgery and other medical procedures. Surgical and trauma patients are at significant risk of illness and death from bleeding or leaking body fluids. More surgery is being performed as the population ages. As a result, use of hemostatic agents and sealants is increasing. Hemostasis is a process that causes bleeding to stop (that is, blood stays within a damaged blood vessel). The opposite of hemostasis is hemorrhage. Medical personnel squirt AC5 over wounds to stop or control bleeding. The product contains peptides that are intended to form gel-like barriers over wounds. ARCH believes that the results of early preclinical tests (the earliest stage of testing, before human testing) have shown that AC5 achieves hemostasis quickly and effectively. Until earlier this…