Biotechnology Stock

Decoupled moves in Biotech indices highlight opportunities and challenges

2009-07-25T12:23:00.018-04:00

The chart below shows returns for the last 6 months of the two Biotech indices that I follow: BTK and NBI. After a significant and equivalent downside move in March, both indices have turned positive...

Rigel's Phase II Rheumatoid Arthritis drug data are good but financing remains a challenge

2009-07-11T13:10:00.008-04:00

On July 9th, Rigel Pharmaceuticals (RIGL) announced the results of TASKi2, a 457 patient Phase IIb Rheumatoid Arthritis study that in most part showed R788 ( a Syk kinase inhibitor) has efficacy...

Celgene (CELG) is a bargain once again

2008-09-18T21:35:00.002-04:00

The latest crash of the financial markets has created some great buying opportunities in the health care sector. You can almost pick any Biotechnology or Pharmaceutical stock and be guaranteed that...

Byetta may not be the cause of recent deaths, stock reaction unjustified

2008-08-27T09:09:00.003-04:00

On Tuesday August 26, Amylin (AMLN) and its partner Eli Lilly (LLY) announced that four patients had died while on diabetes treatment Byetta. Both Amylin (down 12%) and Lilly (down 1%) sold off in...

Performance of Biotechnology Stock Blog Portfolio

2008-08-12T21:16:00.000-04:00

Analyzing the performance of my previous picks is by far my favorite part of writing this blog. It has on many occasions allowed be to learn from my mistakes. I have moved the numbers to Google...

Panic selling in Biogen-Idec and Elan represent great buying opportunity

2008-08-09T08:54:00.004-04:00

In July, Biogen-Idec and Elan, who co-market the multiple sclerosis drug Tysabri, announced two new cases of PML a potentially deadly side effect. The stocks sold-off almost entirely. Biogen-Idec...

Biotechnology sector has a rare explosive day

2008-07-08T21:32:00.006-04:00

Tuesday July 8, 2008 marked one of the most explosive upside days I have seen in the Biotechnology sector in quite some time. It comes at a great time when market sentiments are very negative and...

AMAG Pharmaceutical's Ferumoxytol meets Phase III clinical trial end point

2008-06-29T22:17:00.001-04:00

On May 31st, AMAG Pharmaceutical announced results from a randomized phase III study of Ferumoxytol, an intravenous (IV) iron replacement therapy, in 31 patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD)...

Exanatide's convenience may not be enough in a tough Diabetes market place

2008-06-23T12:10:00.003-04:00

Diabetes is a tough market to compete in for any company. Insulin is the standard therapy for most patients with severe Diabetes. It is a naturally occurring hormone and it exists as both short...

Despite a slow start, strong fundamentals will supprt the Biotech Sector

2008-06-11T20:59:00.004-04:00

Back in January, I wrote an article predicting a good year for the Biotechnology/Biopharma sector based on early performance vs. major indices. Here is a link to that article. Five months have...

Early data suggests Telaprevir may be helpful for patients who need it most

2008-04-01T21:35:00.005-04:00

On Monday March 31st, Vertex announced, through an abstract, the interim results of an open-label phase 2 trial for Telaprevir for treatment of Hepatitis C. 26 of 32 patients who previously failed...

Lorcaserin's safety data should result in a good partnership deal for Arena Pharmaceuticals

2008-03-26T20:56:00.004-04:00

On March 17th, Arena Pharmaceuticals (ARNA) reported that they will continue with phase III trials after an independent review of unblinded data showed no cardiac safety concerns for the weight loss...

January 2008 Performance Review

2008-01-20T11:51:00.002-05:00

It is time again to review past picks and to learn about my mistakes. The table below includes a list of my historical picks. ARNA and ALTU stand out as worst performing picks. Interestingly...

Wall street signals point to a good year for Pharma and Biotech

2008-01-08T17:59:00.002-05:00

It is hard to find any signs of optimism on wall street these days. Nasdaq has had 8 consecutive down days and is down 8% to start the year, and most investors are ready to predict a bad year for the...

Biogen-Idec (BIIB), from one extreme to the other in no time!

2007-12-13T17:31:00.001-05:00

On Ocotber 16th, shares of Biogen-Idec (BIIB) gained $13 to hit $82 based on rumors that the company had put itself up for sale. That day I recommended an aggressive sell because of the price tag and...

Onyx Pharmaceutical's (ONXX) success may pave the way for competition

2007-11-25T12:23:00.002-05:00

Onyx Pharmaceutical (ONXX) is enjoying the rewards of its potential blockbuster, Nexavar. On Monday, November 19th, FDA approved Nexavar, already approved for Kidney Cancer, for treatment of liver...

Vertex's sell off is a great buying opportunity

2007-10-21T19:18:00.002-04:00

Vertex Pharmaceutical's stock (VRTX)dropped about $5 or 14% to $30 on the news release that Schering Plough's Protease inhibitor Boceprivir, which had performed poorly in previous trials, showed that...

Take profits in Biogen-Idec (BIIB)

2007-10-16T08:25:00.001-04:00

The rumors of a buy out sent Biogen-Idec (BIIB) shares up about $13 dollars to over $82 per share. I first recommended BIIB last year at $44.6 based on the potential success of Tysabri in treating MS...

Genzyme (GENZ) stock breaks out on good news

2007-10-05T21:50:00.001-04:00

Genzyme (GENZ) saw its shares break out last week from $62.5 to over $68 on higher than average volume. The weekly chart below demonstrates this movement and its significance as it broke a long term...

Promising Future for Pharmasset's (VRUS) Hepatitis C Drug Candidate

2007-10-03T19:32:00.002-04:00

Pharmasset (VRUS) is a clinical stage pharmaceutical company focused on developing antiviral medicines. Their research is focused on development of class of compounds known as nucleoside analogs....

New Poll Feature on Biotechnology Stock Blog

2007-09-24T10:51:00.000-04:00

In an attempt to have a more interactive blog and to hear more feedback from subscribers I have decided to add a Polling feature. You can find this tool on the right hand side of this page. I am...

First Annual Performance Review

2007-09-22T15:45:00.001-04:00

My last performance review was in April of this year. I have not been writing much recently and not due to laziness. The reason for this lack of activity was my overall skepticism of the markets. Two...

Biotech sector, the posterchild for volatility, shows resilience in chaotic markets

2007-08-18T14:18:00.001-04:00

Back In March, I wrote about my expectations for a painful and drastic downturn in April and May (link to that article). I was wrong. The Dow, the Nasdaq and S&P continued to new highs while the...

Altus Pharmaceuticals (ALTU) is showing clinical and financial progress

2007-05-31T22:36:00.000-04:00

Altus Pharmaceuticals (ALTU) is a small cap (~$400M) market cap biopharmaceutical company with a unique crystallization technology that amongst other things allows for better purity and longer half...

Vertex Pharmaceutical's (VRTX) Telaprivir is effective, but path to market needs clarification

2007-05-16T09:01:00.001-04:00

On April 14th, Vertex Pharmaceuticals release highly anticipated Phase II clinical trial (PROVE1) results of its Hepatitis-C treatment Telaprivir. The results of the interim analysis are shown in the...