Cara Therapeutics is an emerging biotechnology company focused on developing novel therapeutics to treat human diseases associated with pain, inflammation and pruritus. The company’s most advanced candidate, CR845, is a patented compound possessing analgesic, anti-inflammatory and anti-pruritic activities that make it appropriate for a variety of therapeutic applications. Currently, the compound is undergoing clinical testing for the treatment of acute pain and pruritus.

“The first half of 2015 continues to be an important period for the Company as we finalize and initiate our Phase 3 Program for I.V. CR845, which offers the potential for post-operative pain relief without typical opioid side effects,” stated Dr. Derek Chalmers, President and Chief Executive Officer of Cara.

The demand for pain medications throughout the United States is considerable. According to IMS Health, the total market for pain management pharmaceuticals throughout the country accounted for $18.2 billion in 2012. Despite its size, however, the pain and inflammation market currently represents an area with substantial unmet patient need. This is because the majority of existing pain medications are severely limited by a host of adverse side effects. The potentially negative effects of opioids, which are currently the most common treatment for moderate-to-severe pain, include diminished effectiveness over time, potential for addiction and nausea, among others.

Cara’s CR845 possesses peripherally-selective molecules that interact with the kappa opioid receptors located directly on pain-sensing nerves. In early testing, the compound has been shown as extremely effective in terms of kappa receptor selectivity and has shown no significant affinity for non-opioid receptors. If these results prove to be consistent throughout clinical testing, the drug candidate should produce a similar pain management effect to currently available options without many of the dangerous side effects.

According to a report from ABC News, while the United States makes up only 4.6 percent of the world’s population, as much as 80 percent of the world’s opioids are consumed within the country. This statistics shows the incredible demand for painkilling medications, but experts also suggest that it is an indicator of the overall addictiveness of currently available drugs. Cara, through the continued development of CR845, is both addressing the issue of addictiveness and positioning itself for substantial growth in the pharmaceutical market moving forward.

With hydrocodone combination products being moved from the more-permissive Schedule III to the restrictive Schedule II category in the United States late last year, the market may soon be on the hunt for a more easily accessible alternative to the country’s most widely-prescribed pills. If CR845 receives a “lower scheduled or potentially even non-scheduled designation” at the conclusion of trials, as has been previously suggested by Dr. Chalmers, Cara is in a strong strategic position to make a substantial impact on the biopharmaceutical industry for years to come.

For more information, visit www.caratherapeutics.com

IFAN Financial, a designer, developer, and distributer of software to enable mobile payments, has been selected by Blue Like Neon to provide the digital branding agency with cutting-edge mobile payments solutions.

Blue Like Neon utilizes a multi-pronged market enhancement strategy designed to create campaigns that allow clients to better engage with their customers while increasing visibility and retention. IFAN Financial will deploy its mobile gateway to enhance this approach by providing Blue Like Neon with a social commerce platform that can be customized for each client’s unique needs.

“We believe the days of a ‘one size fits all’ approach to mobile commerce are over. Blue Like Neon is one of the leaders in providing the next generation of user experiences in the digital domain and we are honored to have been selected by them as an industry partner,” IFAN Financial’s president and CEO, J. Christopher Mizer, stated in the news release.

Blue Like Neon’s founding partner, Landis White, further explained how IFAN’s technology will complement the company’s existing platform.

“The flexibility and security features of IFAN’s solutions are very appealing to us and our clients. IFAN’s payment solution allows us to integrate state-of-the-art technology into the app and e-commerce architecture. The end result increases convenience and security while lowering costs. We view this as providing a significant competitive advantage,” White stated.

For more information, visit http://ifanfinancial.com

Let us hear your thoughts: IFAN Financial, Inc. Message Board

Nearly everyone has a smartphone, and the capabilities of these revered devices is seemingly endless. But it wasn’t always so. In the early 2000s, the most extravagant cellphone features included email, fax and web browsing. Since then advancement has been rampant, and today you can use smartphones to video message someone on the other side of the world, pay your utility bills, or remotely control your home lighting system. The sky is the limit.

Consorteum Holdings has spent the last three years of the technological evolution developing relationships and licensing agreements needed to compete in the emerging mobile gaming market.

Through its mix of on-deck partnerships, license agreements and joint-venture revenue share arrangements, the company specializes in utilizing smartphone capabilities for the delivery of mobile content, mobile payment solutions and other products.

Consorteum’s approach is designed to enable ultimate flexibility when sourcing solutions to achieve smarter, faster deployment of technologies, competitive pricing, and the potential for new streams of revenue.

The company’s ThreeFiftyNine Inc. subsidiary is working with a software development team that previously designed the world’s first regulatory compliant mobile platform for delivery of gaming content created by a third party. The result of years of development and millions of engineering costs, the platform is the first generation software delivery platform for mobile devices. The technology is capable of delivering any digital content across any cellular network to any mobile device, a key differentiator that makes it possible for Consorteum to approach many different markets that are in the business of providing mobile connectivity and mobile content.

As the broader smartphone and technology industries continue to evolve in application and capability, Consorteum is pursuing mobile initiatives that benefit multiple business verticals. The company has designed its business initiatives to create repetitive transactions on an ongoing basis.

For more information, visit www.consorteum.com

Let us hear your thoughts: Consorteum Holdings, Inc. Message Board

Dolls make up one of the largest chunks of the roughly $22 billion U.S. market for traditional toys at around 10.5% of the overall space. Dolls did roughly $2.22 billion in 2013 and approximately $2.32 billion last year, representing a four percent growth rate according to market research company NPD Group’s (formerly National Purchase Diary) consumer panel tracking data, which is published by the Toy Industry Association. NPD Group is consistently ranked as one of the top 25 companies on the annual Honomichl Top 50 report covering Fortune 500 market research firms and thus the above data, which represents roughly 80% of the U.S. retail toy market, gives investors a very clear picture of the market’s size and growth.

While Mattel (NASDAQ: MAT) has historically been the dominant player in the doll market – owing to established brands like Barbie and newer, still-growing brands like Monster High, as well as temporarily hot but nevertheless exciting successes linked to Disney Princess brands like Frozen – their mainstay brand Barbie has been in significant decline since 2012 according to retailer panel data compiled by mass retail analyst firm Klosters Trading Corporation. Private company MGA Entertainment, known for their Bratz, Moxie Girlz, Rescue Pets plushies and lifelike baby dolls marketed through a partnership with Zapf Creation (ETR/FRA: ZPFK), has also seen substantial decline in recent years according to the Klosters data, clearly telegraphing how fragmented the doll market has become, a phenomena which has opened up substantial room for newer brands and concepts to grow and flourish.

One such company is One World Holdings, Inc. (OTC: OWOO), whose Prettie Girls! brand, developed and marketed under their subsidiary known as The One World Doll Project, continues to capture attention and retail space in the attractive and still niche market for ethnically diverse dolls, a segment that has been routinely, yet unsuccessfully courted by major sector players. The most recent example of how ham-fisted major players like Mattel have been in this area is the PR nightmare surrounding their Mexico-inspired Barbie for their “Dolls of the World” collection, which was lampooned by the media and consumers alike as essentially being a cynical cash-grab that reinforces a negative stereotype of Mexican women, with the doll wearing a fiesta dress, sporting a pink passport, and carrying a pet Chihuahua. The subsequent attempt to salvage their reputation by changing the doll to Mariachi Barbie has not met with the hoped-for success and this fiasco demonstrates the lack of savvy major doll market players have had when it comes to appealing to not only an increasingly ethnically diverse American population, but to global markets, where young girls seek role models they can identify with.

The Prettie Girls! brand on the other hand has won fast favor with consumers and industry players alike, stealing the show at the 112th North American International Toy Fair due to the well-defined characteristics and personalities of each doll, which, while being ethnically diverse, are not focused on that ethnicity so much as on the wonderful and inspiring personalities crafted for each doll. This ingenious and adept approach was masterminded by OWOO’s Stacey McBride-Irby, who used to be a project designer at Mattel and developed the sorority Barbie modeled on the first African-American Greek Sorority, Alpha Kappa Alpha, before leaving Mattel after a 15-year run in order to make dolls which fully live up to her motto that a “happy, inspired childhood creates happy, inspired, and powerful women.”

Part of the success at Toy Fair 2015 for OWOO was the introduction of the tween versions of the company’s Prettie Girls! brand, the Tween Scene dolls, which are aimed at directly representing preteen girls and bringing an array of even more approachable, ethnically diverse role models to younger girls. Also at the Toy Fair, OWOO received confirmation from the Walmart.com buying team that sales performance of their Prettie Girls! brand was quite positive and that the brand would be featured in Walmart’s Easter sales promotion, as well as via the Walmart.com special offers program for approved members. Similar retail deals have given the company a sizeable retail footprint already, with a distribution agreement between OWOO and online sales giant Amazon.com having recently been signed, and the Prettie Girls! brand finding their way onto shelves at such popular brick and mortar retailers as Toys “R” Us, which has over 870 stores in the U.S. and more than 725 stores worldwide, as well as at Texas-based H-E-B Grocery, which has over 350 stores across Texas and northern Mexico.

Rather than cynically pandering to various ethnicities, the Prettie Girls! and Prettie Girls! Tween Scene brands lovingly cater to the ambitions, career goals and positive values all girls should aspire to, celebrating the ethnic diversity and fashion style of each highly unique doll, but not in a heavy-handed way that ultimately turns consumers off. With characteristics like an emphasis on participating in after-school activities and clubs, or desire to help their communities, as well as getting good grades and taking their futures seriously, this brand of dolls is light years beyond the state of design on offer from the major players in the industry. These revolutionary design elements make OWOO a company investors should keep their eye on, especially as the company moves to further flesh out their growing retail footprint with promotional efforts like games and cartoon shows based on the dolls.

With a 532% YoY jump in revenues reported for fiscal year 2014, OWOO has proven that their mix of intelligent brand design and marketing efforts focused on media venues frequented by their core target demographics is a successful blend of product and presence.

Take a closer look by visiting www.oneworlddolls.com

Let us hear your thoughts: One World Holdings Message Board

The International Energy Agency (IEA) today projected that slowing North American oil production will cause non-OPEC supply growth to slow in 2015, though the agency raised its yearly forecasts of non-OPEC oil supply growth by 200,000 p/d to 830,000 p/d compared to last months’ report.

According to James Ketner, president and CEO Galenfeha, a manufacturer of chemical injection systems and other low environmental impact products, falling rig counts and balanced production levels means more oil producers are seeking efficiency. It also means potentially more business for the Texas-based company and its newest product.

“Although we have seen a reduction in exploration rig count over the last six months, production levels are remaining the same,” Ketner said in a recent statement. “This tells us that U.S. efficiency is on the rise. Shale producers have asked us to help them cut costs, and this latest addition to our product line helps meet these goals. We are happy to be directly assisting producers reduce costs while increasing production efficiency levels.”

Oil and gas producers are increasingly interested in efficient operations that minimize environmental impact – a feasible goal via a reduction in chemicals and highly accurate production.

Previous chemical injection methods are dated, operating similarly to the drip gas fuel delivery techniques of the early automotive industry. Galenfeha, however, has introduced a new and cutting-edge component to the nearly $1 billion North American chemical injection market.

Galenfeha’s recently launched intelligent chemical injection control system, iWaV, is comparable to modern, state-of-the-art computer controlled fuel injection systems. The product is an innovative supervisor control and data acquisition (SCADA) system specifically created for the control of chemical injection pumps.

Computer-controlled and highly reliable, the iWaV system enables optimization and management of production controls and is scalable for any size of operation, from remote stand-alone sites, allowing two-way communications with pumps and complete control of the entire system.

The result is lower monitoring and controlling costs throughout the pumping cycle, and highly efficient and cost effective well site management.

Galenfeha introduced the iWaV in late March 2015 and currently markets, services and sells the individual and complete systems via direct sales as well as established relationships with local and national distribution partners.

For more information, visit www.galenfeha.com

Let us hear your thoughts: Galenfeha, Inc. Message Board

Online retail revenue saw an 11 percent year-over-year growth rate for the first quarter of 2014, and online shopping retail sales are predicted to continue to grow steadily, reaching $370 billion domestically in 2017. These statistics, which come from Adobe’s CMO.com, highlight the massive growth potential available for companies within the ecommerce sector. Mobile Lads Corp. (OTCBB: MOBO), through its acquisition of Simbadeals.com, is in a strong position to capitalize on this potential, providing nearly limitless opportunity for expansion in the years to come.

Simbadeals gives shoppers the freedom to browse a wide variety of products from some of the world’s most sought-after brands. Leveraging existing partnerships with major retailers including Walmart, Sears Canada, Macy’s, Canon, Banana Republic and others, the site provides consumers with discounts of up to 80 percent as compared to the prices of competitors. By driving traffic with the aim of converting sales, Mobile Lads will receive up to 15 percent of all merchandise sales made through the website moving forward.

Unlike other online shopping destinations, Simbadeals is built upon a strong business model that incorporates a win/win structure for both consumers and retailers. Consumers receive access to brand name products at heavily discounted prices, while retailers are able to list items for no cost, only paying a commission on sales through the site. By placing all responsibility for payments, shipping, returns and fulfillment directly on the retailer, Mobile Lads maintains a significant revenue stream without the financial risks regularly associated with the retail industry. With access to over 400 blue chip retailers already on the United States site, Simbadeals is a scalable solution that provides Mobile Lads with potentially massive growth opportunity.

In 2014, online sales accounted for an impressive eight percent of total retail sales. According to a report by The American Genius, this number is expected to rise to as much as 11 percent by the end of this year. Through the acquisition of Simbadeals, as well as the continued development of complementary services such as Coubox, Mobile Lads is in a good position to capitalize on the booming industry.

Get more info on Mobile Lads by visiting www.mobilelads.com

Let us hear your thoughts: Mobile Lads Corp. Message Board

Loans4Less.com Inc., an online mortgage brokerage firm, has been operating primarily in California for more than two decades. The company’s primary aim is to become a national loan origination brand platform for compliant residential mortgage programs and other consumer loans.

From its base, Loans4Less originates mortgage loans to the public via its website: Loans4Less.com. The company offers real estate brokerage services with very competitive rates, terms and costs, daily rate updates and other market information, and prides itself on honest and excellent service. It also counts on several wholesale lenders for its retail home loan programs.

The company’s retail mortgage platform is an attractive brand which has great potential for advertising mortgages and other consumer loans. This is one of the reasons why the company’s main focus is to quickly grow its revenues via smart and cost-effective advertising with a strategic bank broker national origination partner that will effectively build and expose the Loans4Less brand name in order to maximize shareholder value.

Most recently, in March 2015, Loans4Less entered into an acquisition agreement with 321LEND, Inc., a wholly-integrated consumer lending and peer-to-peer technology platform that can originate loans in volume to consumers seeking unsecured terms based on credit scores and other underwriting criteria. The Loans4Less-321LEND transaction is subject to closing conditions but, once complete, 321LEND will become a Loans4Less subsidiary, and the combined company will be able to originate mortgages and consumer loans, to build volumes, to swiftly gain market share and to uncover deeply attractive new consumer brands.

WestPark Capital, an investment banking and securities brokerage firm serving the needs of private and public companies as well as individual and institutional investors worldwide, is advising Loans4Less in finding a strategic community bank partner to launch its national mortgage broker origination efforts, to increase brand awareness and to assist in capital formation and planning.

For more information, visit www.Loans4Less.com

Let us hear your thoughts: Loans4Less.com, Inc. Message Board

International Stem Cell Corp., a California-based biotech company developing novel stem cell-based therapies and biomedical products, today issued a business update and posted its financial results for the first quarter of 2015.

Business updates for the first quarter of the year include:

• Completed the required preclinical studies and submitted a clinical trial exemption application to the Australian Therapeutics Goods Administration (TGA) to begin the phase 1/2a clinical study of the company’s cell therapy for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease. To be administered through the company’s wholly owned Australian subsidiary, Cyto Therapeutics Pty Ltd.

• Completed the manufacture of the bank of clinical-grade human neural stem cells for use in the Parkinson’s disease clinical trial. The cell bank contains more than 2.6 billion human cells, sufficient to meet the company’s foreseeable clinical trial requirements.

• Japan Patent Office granted International Stem Cell’s patent covering methods of making a bank of human stem cells from parthenogenetically activated eggs significantly strengthening and expanding the company’s intellectual property to now include Japan as well as the United States and the European Union.

“In the first quarter of 2015 we completed all the necessary preclinical studies of our Parkinson’s program and formally submitted our application to begin the first clinical study of this novel approach to treating this debilitating disease in humans,” Andrey Semechkin, Ph.D., CEO and Co-chairman of International Stem Cell, stated in the news release. “We continue to expect to make significant progress during the rest of 2015 towards our goal of providing a viable treatment options for people with Parkinson’s disease.”

On the financial side, International Stem Cell achieved first-quarter revenue of $1.62 million; Lifeline Skin Care increased 5% while Lifeline Cell Technology sales decreased by 8%. Operating income from cosmeceutical and biomedical markets grew 76% compared with the first quarter of 2014. Gross margin improved to 74%

The company narrowed its first-quarter 2015 net loss to $1.29 million compared to a net loss of $1.44 million reported in the year ago quarter. International Stem Cell ended the first quarter of 2015 with cash of $0.61 million.

For more information, visit www.internationalstemcell.com

Let us hear your thoughts: International Stem Cell Corp. Message Board

Despite energy prices trending lower in recent months, oil and gas industry focused EPCM (engineering, procurement, and construction management) specialists ENGlobal (NASDAQ: ENG) has managed to lock down solid Q1 2015 financials according to last week’s 10-Q filing. A strong cash position, with working capital of around $24.4 million and revenues in the neighborhood of $23.1 million on gross profit margins of 17.8%, underlies a honed logistical footprint and shored-up cost structures that have enabled the company to stay cash flow positive, despite choppy seas for their core automation and engineering markets.

Working capital is actually up over 56% from the same period last year and the company’s overall cash position has also improved during the same interval by roughly 9%. With $5.1 million in notes receivable also having come in the door after the quarter’s close, ENGlobal – whose automation and engineering division, as well as government services division, both benefit from long-term relationships with key industry players and a relatively stable environment permeated by lucrative maintenance contracts – is well positioned for growth in the remainder of this year, and the company also enjoys zero outstanding borrowings under their current credit facility. The fact that ENGlobal has managed to trim the fat logistically and stay cash flow positive in this market, continuing to pull down deals with some of the sector’s top players, is a clear sign of the company’s robust health that investors should take note of.

A track record of success is often the deciding factor in the EPCM industry and ENGlobal’s 5-year Professional Services Agreement extension with major domestic electric and natural gas company, Xcel Energy, is a hallmark of the kinds of bedrock relationships which are driving ENGlobal’s continued success. With numerous collaborative efforts already under their belts, representing massive capital programs covering hundreds of miles of natural gas pipeline infrastructure, ENGlobal and Xcel look to have a bright future together. Which is great news for ENG shareholders, considering that Minneapolis-based Xcel has over 3.5 million electricity customers throughout the U.S., representing some $9.5 billion in revenues last year sent out over nearly 300k miles of distribution and transmission lines, as well as 2 million natural gas customers, a market worth $2.1 billion to Xcel in 2014 that is fed by 36k miles of distribution and transmission pipelines. That is a huge footprint of infrastructure to maintain and with the persistent demand to implement new pipelines amid domestic production that even substantially lower prices cannot seem to stop, ENGlobal should continue to see profits from their relationship with Xcel for well on into the future.

Ranked 31st for EPS growth on Houston Chronicle’s top 100 last year and number 1 in overall market return, with total return to shareholders on a dividend-reinvested basis beating out all the other top 100 companies featured from the Houston market, ENGlobal is an established player in key regional energy markets like Houston. The large hydrodesulfurization (the process whereby sulfur and nitrogen-containing impurities are cleaned out of crude feedstock and fuel) unit design and engineering contract awarded to ENGlobal in April this year for a major midcontinent refiner – an extension of an already firm relationship with this important regional client – which is focused on allowing the refiner to expand clean, environmentally friendly motor fuels production, is just one example of how important ENGlobal is to the Houston area energy market.

With over three decades of successful collaborative efforts in specialty engineering, automation and EPCM, ENGlobal has the kind of unquestionable track record that makes them an easy choice for major capital projects that simply cannot be put into the hands of less experienced players.

Learn more about the company by visiting www.englobal.com

Formed in June 2013 through the merger of Nevada-based Micron Enviro Systems and UK-based Britannia Mining, Britannia Mining is a developer of minerals and mining projects in vital markets around the world. To date, the company has focused primarily on the discovery of iron ore, particularly in the African nation of Malawi. However, the volatility of the global iron ore market has led Britannia towards the continued diversification of its commodities portfolio in recent months.

Through the company’s trading division, Britannia recently added bauxite to its portfolio, addressing a significant demand in the United States market. Bauxite, which serves as the world’s primary source of aluminum, is mined in extremely limited quantities in the United States, creating a significant import market for the ore. Industry reports indicate that more than $65 billion per year is generated by the aluminum industry, which accounts for nearly one percent of the country’s GDP. Despite the massive size of the industry, substantial additional growth is expected in the near future.

“Ford’s redesigned F150 pick-up truck will feature an all-aluminum body,” stated Kenneth Roberts, Chief Executive Officer of Britannia. “When you’re talking about one of the country’s best-selling vehicles for the past 30 years, shifting from steel to all-aluminum body, you can get a sense of what the impact of shifting tides from steel to aluminum is making. Our partners in Malaysia have helped Britannia to position our commodities trading division to take full advantage of this shift, by having unfettered access to ready mined Bauxite.”

The company’s recent diversification doesn’t stop with bauxite, however, as Britannia has also made significant moves in the resilient global diamond industry. Following a similar ready mined strategy, Britannia set the pace for its spot diamond offering earlier this year, securing contracts with an anticipated $1.2 million in profit following an initial delivery of a raw, uncut diamond test parcel to the United States. As the company continues to develop trade relationships directly with local suppliers, Britannia expects to increase its capacity and capitalize on the market’s growing, unabated demand.

With expanding footholds in a variety of mineral and mining markets, the future appears to be bright for this relatively young company. As Britannia continues to ramp up its distribution of ready mined commodities, such as bauxite, diamonds and gold, as well as persisting with its operations in the iron ore mining industry, the company’s dedication to diversification may pay great dividends with shifting market conditions in the future.

For more information, visit www.britanniamining.com