2009: Biotech’s Stealth Small Cap Rally

On the heels of the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) logging its worst annual performance since 1931 and the NASDAQ Composite (COMP) having its worst year since inception in 1971, it may have seemed counter intuitive to provide a bullish outlook for the biotechnology industry in 2009.  Nonetheless, at the start of the year we [...]

Ache-free Investment Opportunities in Neuropathic Pain

In the United States, up to 50 million people live with chronic pain, with the majority of these patients not satisfied with their current pain treatments.  Pain is defined clinically as an unpleasant emotional experience resulting from real or potential tissue damage and is generally divided into two categories based on cause:

Nociceptive pain, which is [...]

Bayer’s Bold New Bet Fails to Rain on Spectrum Pharmaceuticals

Despite recent progress and the availability of novel therapies, radiation is still an effective tool in the war against cancer – as it has been for more than a century.  The original and still predominant mode of administration is via external methods wherein a radiation source is directed at the intended target or region. Unfortunately, [...]

Three Recent Biotechnology Activist Wins by Carl Icahn

Although a controversial topic, activist hedge funds and private equity firms typically use a small equity stake in an underperforming company to put public pressure on its management and board of directors with the goal of increasing stakeholder value through cost cutting, changes in corporate strategy or management, capital restructuring, asset divestiture and other tactics.  [...]

Where Might Genentech Investors Redeploy $47 Billion?

Following a spate of high profile clinical setbacks and regulatory delays that sent the sector into a tailspin during the final week of February 2009 (see prior column), investors shrugged off further disappointing clinical news as merger and acquisition activity helped biotechnology stocks stage a partial recovery last week. The NASDAQ Biotech Index (NBI) gained [...]