| Subcribe via RSS


Are biotech stocks going to waste?

January 19th, 2009 | No Comments | Posted in Investing

Biotech stocks were thought of as completely safe and lucrative investments over the last decade or two, and almost every financial expert never hesitated to recommend biotech stocks as top-notch. However, things aren’t looking that good lately.

Last week in San Francisco hundreds of biotech companies attended the J.P. Morgan’s annual biotech conference, and it seems that it didn’t turn out to be as successful as many hoped. Investors are bailing out — they finally realized that waiting for a new drug to get developed to get rich isn’t really the way to go, especially after finding out that new drugs in human testing fail about 87% of the time. Even the group that’s supposed to endorse investing in biotech – Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) reported that they predict that 45% of publicly traded biotech companies will run out of cash in the next 6 to 12 months.

However, BIO hopes that the situation should get better because they asked the incoming Obama administration for a biotech stimulus plan, but gave the odds of such a bailout succeeding in Congress at only one in three.
“The biotech model over the last 25 years has been to assemble innovative science, raise two or three rounds of venture capital, advance your R&D program to a point at which you can go public, and then continually tap the public markets to meet your capital needs,” said Richard Aldrich of RA Capital Management. “But the backdrop for all of this was the greatest bull market in history,” Aldrich added. “It was a very permissive financial environment, which is what early stage biotech needs. The bull market has ended, and the biotech model we all came to know and love, has ended with it.”

It seems that now is a good time to buy, if you have the funds. However, one needs to be careful, because there aren’t many “safe bets” out there.

Source: portfolio.com/news-markets/top-5/2009/01/19/Biotech-Boom-Finally-Peters-Out

Biotech is booming in Cuba

January 8th, 2009 | No Comments | Posted in Investing, Nanomedicine News

Vito Quevedo, director of innovation and technology of the Ministry of Science, Technology and the Environment (CITMA) in Cuba made an announcement today that somehow surprised everyone. He said that biotechnology was the number one scientific discipline in 2008 in Cuba and praised all the scientists who contributed to this fact. “Our scientists have shown real progress and I have to say that we are very thankful to them. They make us proud.”

“The products based on biotechnology made a significant impact on our country’s economic and social sphere. Of course, we will try hard to keep it that way and make even more progress in 2009,” said Quevedo.

Liliam Alvarez, the science director of CITMA, said that their main goal for 2009 is to make science and biotechnology the major contributors to the economic and social development of Cuba. “Science and technology in general will help us recover all other spheres of life that aren’t doing so well at this moment.”

All results of Cuban scientists will be presented at the Day of Science, which will be held in Ciego de Avila on January 15th.

Source: Prensa Latina

Biotech stocks hold enormous investment promise in 2009

December 26th, 2008 | 1 Comment | Posted in Investing

Financially, 2009 will be a hard year. Many experts claim that we haven’t touched the ground yet, and that the hardest moments of the global financial crisis will hit us in 2009. Almost every industry sector will suffer, they say. But financial experts wouldn’t be experts if they couldn’t find a sector that will do better than the others, and that will offer substantial returns to investors. Biotech is what they recommend.

Forbes interviewed two top-notch analysts in this area, Eric Schmidt and Ross Muken. They both agree that there is money to be made by investing in biotech.

“The industry outperformed in 2008, and looking forward there aren’t too many places where investors can go for very visible and somewhat significant growth. The profitable stocks in biotech are going to continue to provide that kind of opportunity,” said Mr. Schmidt. “True innovation and products with a more durable revenue stream are coming from the biotechnology side of the industry,” he says.
The first biotech stock that he recommends is Biogen Idec (BIIB), mainly because of two products — Avonex, a treatment for multiple sclerosis, and Rituxan, for cancer and autoimmune disease.
His second choice is Amgen (AMGN), because of a promising drug in development called Denosumab, a bone-building agent.

Ross Muken thinks that the genetic sequencing technology sector holds promise. “Across the globe we are going to see major investment from government and academic institutions in sequencing equipment. We will go from an environment where we have sequenced maybe 10 or 20 individuals to date to probably sequencing thousands next year,” says Muken.
Muken’s first choice is Thermo Fisher Scientific (TMO). His second pick is Illumina (ILMN). He also mentioned two more stocks that he thinks will do good during the coming period of time — MedAssets (MDAS) and Medco Health Solutions (MHS).

Source: forbes.com/business/2008/12/20/biotechnology-drugs-generic-bigcompanies08-cz_adm_1222drugs.html

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »