October 24-EOD

I want to be cautiously optimistic on the recent performance of biotechs. Yesterday ending up being a decent day and today started off okay. The sector is not burning it up with outperformance but seems to taking a pause in the selling. I have been warning that this is a busy week and it continues […]

October 23-EOD

Not a lot of news in terms of data, although we saw BMY, AMGN, and LLY report earnings. The biotech sector was not as much of a relative underperformer today. Of course, it was still red and weak but today it was red and weak in the context of a broader market selloff. Volumes seemed […]

Catalyst Watch – Vol. 1, Edition 5 (10/22/13)

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: (1) Catalyst Watch List – Updates: VNDA: No change in strategy (See Vol. 1, Edition 2). […]

October 22-EOD

This is going to be another early and quick note as I have another afternoon of meetings. Biotechs, in general, continue to underperform and I suspect there is still more downside but some individual stocks are getting interesting. It looks like small and mid caps are most challenged. Once the large cap space finds a […]

October 18-EOD

It is a little early but the week seems to be winding down (as with most biotechs going down), so I am sending this out a little sooner than usual.  Got some continuation news from the two bigger news story of the past week. There were some other events but did not generate nearly the […]

October 17- EOD

A mixed day in the market which was nice to see a day in which not all stocks were moving in the same direction. Obviously had some stock specific news with AMRN and the PSDV PDUFA and some more general biotech news. 1. AMRN was the stock of the day with about a 67% haircut […]

Week’s Option Activity (10/10~10/16)

The following stocks had notable activity in their options during the past week(s): $XOMA (10/10): 3,000 OCT 5.0 strike Calls were bought (stock at $4.69) for 0.50 or $150,000. This appears to be an opening trade (thus highly speculative given proximity to expiration). Buyer makes money if stock trades above $5.50 by expiration. $PATH (10/10): […]

October 16- EOD

With the approach of an end (as temporary as it is likely to be) of the stalemate in Washington you thought we would be approaching the end of the macro driven market. While I think that is likely true, we still are going to have a knee jerk relief rally before it settles back down […]

October 15- EOD

While this may surprise you (not) but it was another macro driven day (I know you are probably getting as tired of reading that as I am of writing it). Volume also seems to be drying up as investor simply sit on their hands and wait for Washington to get off of their hands. Despite […]

PSDV ALIM – Analysis of Iluvien for DME

On Thursday, Alimera (ALIM) and Psivida (PSDV) are expected to hear from the FDA on the status of their new drug application(NDA) for Iluvien(fluocinolone acetonide intravitreal implant) to treat chronic diabetic macular edema. With it’s third attempt, one could say Iluvien has taken the long and winding road to approval. The PDUFA date is October […]

October 14- EOD

It was another macro day and will be until the mess in Washington is cleared (to a certain extent) but even when that happens will we likely still be in a macro world but with a tail wind instead of a head wind. That being said, the sector seemed to ne relatively heavy today even […]

Catalyst Watch – Vol. 1, Edition 4 (10/11/13)

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: (1) Catalyst Watch List – Updates: AMRN: Waiting for briefing docs… More to follow on this […]

October 11- Morning note

Well, we have three straight days of interesting news with ECYT rounding out the week. I want to focus on that today and get this out earlier than usual as this could be actionable today. 1. Before diving into ECYT, GS was out with a report on PCYC where they raised their price target to […]

October 10-EOD

Macro, macro, macro but now it is to the other way. We did have another big piece of news hit last night in terms of CLL, which I will talk about for today’s note. 1. The news of the day (or actually last night) was the halting of the GILD idelalisib trial of previously treated […]

October 8- Mid Day

While I wanted some more news from the biotech sector this was not exactly what I was planning. I discuss my thoughts on ARIA in an article on the street, so I will not belabor it more here. There are a couple of broader points that I think are interesting in light on today’s action. […]

Week’s Option Activity (9/30~10/4)

The following stocks had notable activity in their options during the past week: $ACHN (10/1): Substantial Call activity (both near and long term dated options). 28,500 JAN15 5.0/(7.5) strike long Call spreads (stock at $2.66) were bought for 0.40 or $1.14 million. Buyer makes money if stock trades north of $5.40 by January 2015 expiration […]

October 8- EOD

I would like to argue that it was more of the same today given the macro focus and that is likely true but today was certainly more of the same to an extreme extent. There are a couple of interesting bits of information but nothing that is altering the fundamentals of a stock or sector. […]

October 7- EOD

Macro, macro, and more macro. That seems to be driving the market and without any significant biotech specific news that was the word of the day. As we get closer to the debt ceiling the greater the headwind and the closer correlation between stock movements will get to 1. Biotechs will be particularly vulnerable given […]