It was an odd day in the market with weakness early followed but a rally in the afternoon that made it look like we would get to unchanged (or even green). Then we sold off in the afternoon only to make another run at green in the last hour. On the positive side, it was […]
June 10- EOD
It was a mixed bag today for biotechs with some very strong performers (TSRX and ACAD to name a few) as well as some laggards (many of the oncology companies). In general, however, it seemed like biotechs tended to be relative underperformers to the broader market. 1. Iclusig sales continued their decline from last week […]
Week’s Option Activity (6/3~6/7)
The following stocks had notable activity in their options during the past week: $AFFY (6/3): 3,000 JAN14 2.0 strike Calls were purchased (stock at $2.08) for a debit of 0.45 or $135,000. Buyer makes money if stock is greater than $2.45 by expiration. Stock was subsequently de-listed from the NASDAQ on June 6. Oops. $CHTP […]
Impressions from ASCO 2013 Days 3 and 4
Having survived ASCO 2013, we wanted to review some of the main data from Days 3 and 4. After a very long first 2 sessions, Day 3 and 4 were less data heavy, however, the outcomes from some of these had a dramatic effect for some (like CLVS, INFI, TSRO and SNTA). PD1’s belle of […]
June 7- EOD
[This was meant to be posted Friday afternoon but did not seem to go through, so you get a bonus EOD of today] I do not think there is not much out there to add from today. I will touch on a couple of themes but it was generally a bounce back day for the […]
Biggest takeaway from ASCO 2013
With wrapping up our coverage of the 2013 annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, I feel compelled to elucidate a point that we tried to hammer home with our preview of this meeting. I attended at least a dozen presentations covering various indications, but nothing compared to the sessions on the developments […]
June 6- EOD
Perhaps we had a turnaround Thursday but could of course all be crushed by a bad jobs report (or perhaps a good jobs report- you never know in this market). 1. There is some additional CELG news that has not been getting a lot of attention. As way of background, CELG 2017 guidance has about […]
June 5- EOD
Rough day in the market today and biotechs were clearly not immune. Aside from the general downtrend there were some stock specific stories. 1. There was some strategic restructuring at AVEO. This is too be expected and should cut down on the cash burn as investors wait to see if tivozanib will ever get to […]
June 4- EOD
Quite day, more or less. Some interesting ASCO news with some larger pin action. Other than that I did not see anything of particular interest. Bios were generally weak and perhaps this is the start of the long awaited biotech correction but we have had many false starts before. What is different this time is […]
June 3- EOD
Happy mid-ASCO (although most of the data is already presented). Some interesting ASCO and, surprisingly, non-ASCO stories. 1. I added to my SGEN position today (at $33.67). It has been under pressure recently and I’ve been looking to add over the summer in anticipation of HL data at ASH. I am intimately aware of the […]
Flash takes from ASCO 2013 Day 1/2
With Day 1 and 2 of ASCO 2013 completed, we wanted to review some of our main conclusions from the presentations and posters we reviewed. We will try our best given the vast amount of dense information covered during this time. As we previously said, this was largely a conference dominated by newsflow from big […]
May 31- EOD
Again, I feel like today was another quite before the storm day. There was some interesting news but really nothing dramatic happening. 1. Jon Najarian pumped CLSN last night as an ASCO play, which is horribly odd given that CLSN will not be at ASCO and thermodox is a complete dud of a drug. I […]
CYTK – Our take on the upcoming ATOMIC-AHF study results
Results from ATOMIC-AHF, a Phase IIb clinical trial of omecamtiv mecarbil, are quickly approaching. Cytokinetics (NASDAQ: CYTK) and partner Amgen (NASDAQ: AMGN) expect to release top-line data around mid-year, probably in June or July. We published a comprehensive analysis of Cytokinetics’ cardiac muscle program in this article. The ATOMIC-AHF study is a double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical […]
May 30- EOD
A bit of a quite day today in the markets. There is some biotech news but it seems to be the calm before the storm of ASCO, or as I heard someone note- the fire hose of data. 1. At the ELN annual meeting someone asked them about the possibility of purchasing AMRN and they […]
May 29- EOD
It seemed like a nice selloff in biotech today. There were the occasional winners (INFI) but for the most part it was a sea of red today. The summer months can be difficult times for biotechs but they have been quite resilient and these sell-offs have ended up being good buying opportunities. 1. I want […]
INFI – Infinity Pharmaceuticals: Down But Not Out
Less than two months ago on April 2, INFI hit a multi-year high of $50.26. Since then, the stock tumbled more than 50% in a relentless fall driven by high trading volume. Shares recently recovered some and now sit at about $25. Many have argued the stock was overpriced in early April when it carried […]
May 28- Mid Day
This is mid-day instead of the end of the day because I will be out of the office for the rest of the afternoon. This is a little shorter than it should be given the news and moves today but I should have time to add more to this tomorrow. 1. Looks like I have […]
Week’s Option Activity (5/20~5/24)
The following stocks had notable activity in their options during the past week: $JAZZ (5/20): 4,000 SEP/JUN 55.0 strike Put Time spreads were traded (stock @ $58.36) for a net debit of 3.15 or $1,260,000. Specifically, 4,000 JUN 55.0 strike Puts were sold for 1.15 against a purchase of 4,000 SEP 55.0 strike Puts for […]
May 24 – End Of Day Biotech Wrap-up
Really another slow day entering into the long weekend. From my perspective, there were really only two really interesting moves. 1. AVEO was a bit of a shocker. AVEO disclosed in a filing that Astellas will no longer fund tivozanib in RCC and would not seek approval in the EU. There are still some other […]
May 23 – End Of Day Biotech Wrap-up
Today was another macro day in that the macro environment had a lot more to do with price movements than fundamentals. That being said, bios seemed to be strong in the morning despite the sell-off and move higher when the market reversed. There was not really a lot of new news today but, as always, […]
