Hello Share Rattlers. Quite a few of my friends face a grim Christmas. They are undergoing radio and chemo treatment for cancer. Is it me, or is the number of cases growing even faster than normal? 
I am invested in a few companies that are fighting this scourge. One such outfit is Feedback (FDBK). This is a tiny Cambridge company (worth about £4m) which helps to diagnose cancer on computers.
Its product is Tex-Rad, a software system that spots medical abnormalities on scans. These features are not always spotted by doctors because they are so small. The advantage is obvious – cancers can be identified at a very early stage when they are most susceptible to treatment.
The professor behind the system tried it out on people with liver cancer and came up with results he describes as ‘quite remarkable’. Well, perhaps he would. But the fact is that the system interests hospitals in various parts of the world. Revenue is growing.
However, the stock is not very liquid and the spread can be eye-watering. I’ve held my stock a long time and am still slightly down.
The system has not yet received all the official go-ahead it needs. But it does expect to get a European licence. It hopes to get permissions in the first few months of 2017.
I think we may see a placing fairly soon to raise money to commercialise the product. But you have to expect that with very small companies which find something which is potentially big. Soon the company expects to announce a new product which looks for evidence of tumours in the lung.
This is probably not the safest punt in the world, but that is the nature of medical pioneers. And the rewards, both financial and the satisfaction of helping people who face serious ill-health, may be worth taking a risk for.
Free Xmas drinks in the Punter’s Return tonight. There is a charge for the glasses.
I should note that in September Uncle Tom commented on some negative feedback on Feedback, so you might want to also look at that also. See the full article here