The sector was doing fine yesterday until Icahn dumped on the market and everything got caught in the crossfire. This morning they are doing fine again, so it seems that as long as there is not a larger market selloff biotechs might just get time to catch their footing. Of course, it is still an […]
November 18-EOD
Thankfully there was not a lot of news but biotechs did not just drift lower. I still worry about tax loss selling hitting the sector (or at least the small to mid caps) heading into the end of the year but it is nice to see that the sector can tread water on no news […]
November 15-EOD
It has been a relatively quiet day in biotech land, which is fine as it has been a busy week. I saw more of the same with a mixed performance and stocks reacting to news specific to the company and those with little news were drifting. 1. I have been spending a lot of time […]
November 14- EOD
It is a similar market day as earlier this week with some definite movers to the upside and downside but with nothing that is general to the sector. If anything it is slightly weaker than the market at large but not in any dramatic sense. Sector seems more driven by stock specific stories rather than […]
Week’s Option Activity (11/6~11/13)
The following stocks had notable activity in their options during the past week(s): $MACK (11/6): 600 MAR14 2.50 strike (stock at $2.28) Calls were purchased for 0.60 or $36,000 – buyer makes money if stock trades north of $3.10 by expiration. Another trade, 754 DEC 5.0 strike Calls were sold for 0.10 or (small) total […]
SRPT – FDA Says No To Sarepta AA
On Tuesday morning, Sarepta informed investors that in what appeared to be a change from its previous stance, the FDA was not supportive of the company’s planned Accelerated Approval filing for the DMD drug eteplirsen. Even more damaging, the agency not only called into question the legitimacy of dystrophin as a biomarker, but cast doubt […]
November 13-EOD
It is difficult to get a real sense of where the sector is going outside of down. Obviously one could draw the conclusion that sentiment is negative (and it is) but I am seeing more pockets of strength than the other days. What is difficult is that there does not really seem to be a […]
November 12- EOD
Well, I think it was more of the same in the sector writ large with the biggest news obviously being SRPT, which I will touch on below. I was surprised to see the small caps hold up as well as they did on the news and that is a slight positive for the sector going […]
Catalyst Watch – Vol. 1, Edition 7 (11/12/13)
Below are current tactical and strategic thoughts on approaching FDA and clinical trial catalysts for select names. Estimates, values and views are as of the date of publishing (or are noted) and are subject to potential future, pre-catalyst revision: Catalyst Watch List – Update: VNDA: The stock is up 80% on better than expected briefing […]
ONTX – Looking For The Reversal Pattern
Onconova Therapeutics, Inc. (ONTX) -Nasdaq Onconova has recently plunged about $19 from the 52-week high at $31.13, reached just a month ago to the current level in mid-$13s and reaching the low of $12.03 today. Surprising given the Phase 3 readout coming up and final results from the Phase-II trial of oral rigosertib in 1st-line Low-Risk […]
November 11- EOD
I am gone for a little while and the market goes crazy, bounces, and then we have today which has both sell offs and rallies. To be honest, it is difficult to get a good read on the sector sentiment writ large at this point and at those times it seems the best bet is […]
Quick take on Geron’s Imetelstat abstract
Today we finally got a glimpse at the ongoing investigator sponsored study of Geron (GERN) imetelstat in myelofibrosis. We have previously discussed this program here. The abstract can be found here. An oral presentation is scheduled for Monday, December 9th at 4:45 PM. The study was carried out by Dr. Tefferi at the Mayo Clinic. […]
TSRO – A look at Tesaro
Following additional information released at ASCO 2013 and their recent quarterly updated, we wanted to take a moment to talk about Tesaro (TSRO). Since their IPO, Tesaro’s stock is up roughly 186% at a fully diluted marketcap of $1.22 billion (@ $35 per share) based on roughly 35 million shares outstanding. Tesaro’s pipeline consists of […]
Horizon Pharma continues cash burn and dilution
We last wrote on Horizon Pharma (NASDAQ: HZNP) following their FDA approval of RAYOS, but seems not much has changed. However, the stock has risen roughly 60% year to date with no apparent change in fundamentals. We view this company as overvalued given their products exorbitant price, no data to support superiority claims over cheap […]
ASH 2013 Preview on ALL/CML/MDS/AML
This year’s annual meeting of the American Society of Hematology (ASH13) is highly anticipated for a number of reasons. The first series in our preview covered what to expect in multiple myeloma. Today’s preview will focus on some of the moves going in acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), acute myeloid leukemia (AML), chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), […]
ASH 2013 Preview on Myelofibrosis
This year’s annual meeting of the American Society of Hematology (ASH13) is highly anticipated for a number of reasons. With the general market for the healthcare/biotech sector at all-time highs on the backs of Pharmacyclic’s Ibrutinib (stock is up 1000% since ASH11), Celgene’s Revlimid (~67% of their $6.3B 2013 revenue) and Amgen’s $10.6B deal for […]
Week’s Option Activity (10/31~11/4)
The following stocks had notable activity in their options during the past week(s): $VNDA (10/31): Lots of activity – we will stick to the bigger trades. 1,000 NOV 4.0 strike Puts were sold (stock at $6.74) to buy 1,000 NOV 11.0 strike Calls for a net debit of 0.65 or $65,000 – buyer makes money […]
ASH 2013 Preview on Lymphoid Malignancies
This year’s annual meeting of the American Society of Hematology(ASH13) is highly anticipated for a number of reasons. Pharmacyclic’s Ibrutinib could be viewed as one of the several catalysts sparking the biotech sector’s run the past 2 years. They are now within months of receiving approval for 2 indications where they could benefit patient lives […]
November 5- EOD
The morning looked bad but the sector came back a little. There was some sporadic buying of oncology names but nothing major. It will be very interesting to see how the sector responds to the ASH abstracts. Obviously there will be winners and losers but the question in my mind is how will the PPS […]
ASH 2013 Preview on rare blood disorders
This year’s annual meeting of the American Society of Hematology (ASH13) is highly anticipated for a number of reasons. Orphan diseases has been a key element in the bull market in biotech over the past 2-3 years. Consider that the market for hemophilia A treatments in 2011 was over $5 billion alone. Today’s preview will […]
