NewLink Genetics (NASDAQ: NLNK) is a company which has risen dramatically on the backs of datasets that on the surface may surprise most in the field. These trials have been lauded by executives as game changers and caused much excitement among patient communities. However, upon further review, we believe the data appear seemingly too good […]
VICL – Quick take on Vical’s Allovectin failure
(With Patrick Crutcher) Today Vical (NASDAQ: VICL) reported top-line data from a Phase III trial of Allovectin-7 (A7) in patients with advanced melanoma. As we predicted in this article, the trial failed. A7 not only didn’t meet the survival endpoint, but it also missed the primary endpoint of durable response rate. Shares of Vical fell […]
August 9- EOD
Well this was a fittingly slow day to a slow weak with much more of the same in terms of trading and performance of biotechs. They seemed to have a little more strength today but nothing exceptionally notable. There are three little tidbits that I think are interesting that might have broader implications. 1. DNDN […]
August 8- EOD
So the low volume chop fest seemed to continue today and I expect it will continue for the rest of the summer. It is really hard to say whether biotechs are generally doing better or worse than the market as we see some pretty wide swings on little volume. It seems like they are underperforming […]
August 7- EOD
We have a combination of low volume and negative near term sentiment and thus biotechs have been weak. Most of the selling looks to be on low volume, so it is difficult to know whether this is the start of a broader trend that will pick up steam (and volume) or simply a pause that […]
SRPT – Sarepta Quick Commentary
It Has Everything And Nothing To Do With Dystrophin Investors have been intensely focused on Sarepta CEO Chris Garabedian’s July 24 “Regulatory Update”, parsing each sentence as if it were one of Bernanke’s speeches. The call went generally as expected: following discussions with the FDA, Sarepta announced plans around an NDA filing based on Phase […]
August 6- EOD
Another quiet day on the biotech news front, where the only real news of interest was the REGN earnings. The REGN miss and weak market not surprisingly led to a rather broad based weakness in biotech. Outside of that there is really nothing significant to talk about but the news can pick up over the […]
Week’s Option Activity (7/29~8/2)
The following stocks had notable activity in their options during the past week: $IBB (7/30): 2,500 SEP 190.0/(180.0) strike Put spreads (ETF at $197) were bought for 2.30 or total debit of $575,000. The SEP 190.0 strike Puts were bought for 4.00 and the SEP 180.0 strike Puts were sold for 1.70 against. Buyer makes […]
August 5- EOD
It was actually a quiet start to the week but there are a couple of points that I want to make and issues to put on the radar. 1. I rarely talk macro but there are a couple of warning signs that are starting to become more important and they will affect the biotechs at […]
August 2- EOD
Fairly quiet day after a rather eventful week, so it is nice to have a little less to write about as we ease into the weekend. 1. I wanted to spend a little time talking about why I bought TTPH earlier this week with the TSRX proceeds. First, I wanted to keep most of the […]
MACK – Flurry of results in the second half of the year
We would like to take a closer look at the upcoming results of Merrimack Pharmaceuticals’ (MACK) lead drugs, MM-398 and MM-121. MM-398 MM-398 is a liposomal formulation of irinotecan intended for the treatment of pancreatic cancer (PC). Irinotecan is marketed by Pfizer as Camptosar® and approved for first-line treatment of colon cancer in combination with […]
August 1- EOD
Lots of good earnings and conference calls to go through. It is going to take a couple of days to sort through it all so I will try and focus on a couple of companies a day. 1. There was some discussion yesterday about SGEN and the news that the FDA will not add retreatment […]
July 31- EOD
Well, it was certainly a news filled evening and it will take a couple of days to sort through it all, so today will be a first cut. In general it was an odd day in biotech as there were certainly pockets of outperformance but the sector in general seemed weak despite the strength in […]
IBB – Technical Commentary
iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology (IBB) – Nasdaq The best indicators for our biotech portfolio are the biotechnology indices IBB, NBI, XBI or XLV. After publishing “IBB – Biotechnology Index at All Times High“, we wanted to maintain our focus on the IBB. In today’s video “IBB – Market Activity” Tony noted a large bearish bet or hedge […]
July 30th- EOD
While today seemed to have better trading action, the news was actually less interesting than Monday. There are a couple of notes but nothing quite significant. In fact, the most interesting news was in the commodities space with the Potash oligopoly seemingly about to collapse but hard to spin that into biotech. CEMP reports after […]
July 29- EOD
We finally had a major biotech merger but it was not one that got people excited as volumes and price action in biotech were neutral to negative for most of the day. Despite the lack of enthusiasm this was actually a pretty interesting day from the news front, so I will quickly touch on a […]
BCRX – BioCryst – Entering The HAE Market
BioCryst announced on Monday July 22 the successful completion of a Phase I study on the safety and PK of BCX4161, a candidate for the treatment of Hereditary angioedema (HAE). HAE is a genetic disorder resulting from the loss or dysfunction of complement C1 Inhibitor (C1INH). Among the functions performed by C1INH is regulation of […]
Week’s Option Activity (7/23~7/27)
The following stocks had notable activity in their options during the past week: $XOMA (7/23): 2,000 SEP/OCT 5.0 strike Call Time spreads (stock at $5.08) were bought for 0.35 or $70,000 net debit. The SEP 5.0 strike Calls were sold for 0.60 ($120,000 proceeds) and the SEP 5.0 strike Calls were bought for 0.95 ($190,000 […]
July 26-EOD
It was a relatively quiet day on the news front outside of the hep-C space where there as some news on both VRTX and GILD. Not much happening in the afternoon, so wrapping it up a little early. 1. VRTX announced that the FDA put a clinical hold on their all oral trial using VX-135. […]
