with Patrick Crutcher Vical (NASDAQ: VICL) is approaching the release of top-line data from a Phase III clinical trial of Allovectin-7 (A7) in patients with metastatic melanoma. According to the company’s last earnings call, it’s slated to occur sometime during the third quarter of this year. A7, also known as velimogene aliplasmid, is a DNA […]
May 22 – End Of Day Biotech Wrap-up
While the market got some intraday whipsaw action, it seemed generally good and biotechs did well- early. We had a late day sell-off with biotechs seeming to do better than the market in general. 1. It seems like just yesterday I was positive but cautious on ARIA because it was still making lower high and […]
May 21 – End Of Day Biotech Wrap-up
Perhaps it is the start of the summer season but the market seems to have been quite the past couple of days or perhaps I am simply looking at the wrong parts of the market. 1. There were a number of EHA abstracts released today for PCYC and perhaps one of the most important was […]
May 20th – End Of Day Biotech Wrap-up
Outside of a not completely unexpected merger, it was a relatively quite start to the week. As has been par for the course, ASCO oncology stocks tended to be weak but not in a significant manner. Perhaps we are having the quite before the storm. 1. PPHM announced its agreement with the FDA on a […]
Week’s Option Activity (5/13~5/17)
The following stocks had notable activity in their options during the past week: $OPTR (5/13): 2,250 SEP 17.50 strike Calls were sold against equal number of purchased JUN 12.5 Puts (stock @ $12.81) for total debit of 0.85 or $191,250. Trade most likely a hedge of an existing long stock position. $MNTA (5/13): 926 JAN14 […]
SRPT – Sarepta – Is It The Time For A New High?
Sarepta Therapeutics, Inc – Nasdaq(SRPT) Sarepta is one of the most followed tickers in twitterville with a real bulls/bears debate. It has strong moms’ advocacy groups fighting full strength to get the drug Eteplirsen an AA (Accelerated Approval) and as fast as they can to the market. For some kids, every day counts as they are […]
GILD – Gilead – Building An Oncology Powerhouse
Having solidified its position as the leading provider of HIV medicines, Gilead turned toward a strategy of diversification, first with pulmonary and cardiovascular disease, then HCV. The first two were mostly busts, but a strong focus on Hepatitis C has paid dividends for stakeholders. Now the company is building on its momentum to create an […]
May 17th – End Of Day Biotech Wrap-up
It seemed to be a quite day as I think everyone is recovering from the ASCO abstract dump. 1. I had some good discussion with people about the PGNX abstract that I posted yesterday and wanted to go into a little more detail. PSMA is an antigen that is more likely to be expressed on […]
May 16 2013 – End Of Day Biotech Wrap-up
A lot of movers today and most were deep in the red. A lot of the moves were ASCO stocks selling off after the abstracts were released last night but some recovered (PCYC) while others stayed deep in the red (INFI) or moderately red (ARIA and MDVN). There is a lot to talk about but […]
May 15 2013 – End Of Day Biotech Wrap-up
Well, this is my first daily rundown for subscribers and while many of you have received these as emails, this might be new for others. In general, I like to take some of the more interesting stories of the day and put them into a context that would allow you to develop an effective trading […]
Week’s Option Activity (5/6~5/10)
The following stocks had notable activity in their options during the past week: $HOLX (5/7/13): 3,900 DEC 22.0/18.0 strike Strangles were purchased for a net debit of 2.05 or a total cost of $799,500. DEC 22.0 Calls were bought for 1.00 and DEC 18.0 strike Puts were bought for 1.05 (stock at $20.66). Buyer makes […]
ASCO2013 Take Three: PD1 antibodies will have significant presence
This is our third piece in a series of articles on developments expected at ASCO 2013[1,2]. Currently, we think the majority of the exciting presentations at ASCO 2013 will be from clinical candidates at big pharma. In particular, anti-programmed death-1 monoclonal antibodies(anti-PD-1) like Bristol Myers’ Nivolumab(BMS-936558), Merck’s Lambrolizumab (MK-3475), GSK’s AMP-224, Teva/CureTech’s CT-011 and Roche/Genentech’s […]
ASCO2013 Take Two: Battleground Hematology
As we said in our initial article on ASCO 2013[link], Gilead will have a significant presence at this year’s meeting. In the May 15th press program for ASCO, they will be featuring Idelalisib(GS-1101), Gilead’s delta-specific PI3K inhibitor. Novel oral agents with dramatic efficacy and limited toxicity have made the hematology space highly competitive. Abstracts can […]
Preview of ASCO2013 Take One
With the 2013 annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) rapidly approaching, we want to take the time to present our highlights of the meeting. This is one of the largest medical meetings investors focus upon in the biotech and healthcare sectors. Before we get into this, we do have some overarching […]
Option Basics (4): Expiration and Other Basics
Option Expiration It is important to quickly discuss the finer points of Option Expiration. Options expire on the Saturday immediately following the 3rd Friday of the expiration month. This sounds confusing but it is not – if you look at a calendar, it is quite simple. The September 2010 Series expire on Saturday September 18, […]
GERN – Geron: Time To Turn Out The Lights
Once a high-flying stem cell company, Menlo Park based Geron has fallen on hard times. Year-to-date, shares are off some 25% even as most biotech indices have soared over 20%. The company is in the midst of a restructuring, reducing its workforce from 64 to 44; this is down from 174 employees in November 2011 […]
Week’s Option Activity (5/1~5/3)
The following stocks had notable activity in their options during the past week: $ASTX (5/1/13): 2,000 OCT 6/9 strike Call spreads (stock @ $6.88) were purchased for a net debit of 0.80 or total cost of $160,000. Buyer makes money if stock is greater than $6.80 by expiration. $NBIX (5/2/13): 1,874 JUN/AUG (long – front […]
Highlights from Day 2 at Needham
Today marked the end of the 12th Annual Needham Healthcare Conference. Below is a collection of slides from companies that we are following or have an interest in. These include Chelsea Therapeutics (CHTP), Curis (CRIS), Cytokinetics (CYTK), Intercept (ICPT), Omeros (OMER), Sangamo (SGMO), TG Therapeutics (TGTX) and several others. (See our slideshow from Day 1 […]
Some highlights from Day 1 at Needham
The 12th Annual Needham Healthcare Conference began today with a number of presentations by widely biotech companies. Below we have a slideshow of the summary slides from companies that we are following or have an interest in. These include Astex (ASTX), Cubist (CBST), Infinity (INFI), Insmed (INSM), ISIS (ISIS), Sarepta (SRPT) and several others.
Busy week ahead for Biotech
This week is going to be particularly heavy on the earnings updates and FDA actions. Below are some of our views on potential updates and major events at biopharmaceutical companies this week. Additionally, the 12th Annual Needham Healthcare Conference takes place this week from 4/30-5/1. Monday, April 29th Main story for Dynavax will be the potential […]
