Hot Biotech Events for Next Week: BioBuzz

BOSTON, Mass. (TheStreet) -- Labor Day is finally upon us. Summer is over. Here are some biotech events to watch for next week:

Investor conference season kicks off in earnest, with three smaller banks holding healthcare conferences simultaneously. Rodman & Renshaw and Robert W. Baird will be gathering in investors in New York, while Thomas Weisel Partners occupies Boston. All three confabs begin on Sept. 9.

Small-cap biotech and drug stocks will be the main focus of all three events, so look for presentations from the likes of Geron(GERN Quote), Cell Therapeutics(CTIC Quote), Genta(GNTA.OB Quote) and Antigenics(AGEN Quote) among many others.

The Rodman conference wins for most star power, with a guest talk by former Fed chief Alan Greenspan and an opening night gala dinner on Ellis Island featuring a performance by Diana Ross. Now we know where Rodman is spending the commission dollars it's made recently from all those biotech fund-raising deals.

On the clinical data front next week, I'd expect Osiris Therapeutics(OSIR Quote) to release the data from its two pivotal studies of Prochymal in patients with graft-versus-host disease.

Vivus(VVUS Quote) should be close to announcing phase III data on its obesity drug soon (perhaps not next week); same goes for Chelsea Therapeutics(CHTP Quote) and its phase III drug droxidopa for orthostatic hypotension.

Next week's medical conference calendar includes the start on Sept. 11 of the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research (ASBMR) annual meeting.

Judge rules against Elan in Tysabri custody tussle

Elan(ELN Quote) -- lawbreaker.

Well, sort of. A federal judge Thursday ruled the Irish drugmaker's new financing option deal with Johnson & Johnson(JNJ Quote) violates terms of its existing partnership agreement with Biogen Idec(BIIB Quote) for the multiple sclerosis drug Tysabri.