It is a pretty active morning for news, so I will dive right into the events as they are pretty interesting. I am not convinced that these will be enough to break the sector out higher but they are all generally positive in the longer term. 1. The least interesting news was NBIX earnings that […]
February 5 Biotech Update
A rough start to the week for the market but we do have some important data from BMY that will be the focus of this note. 1. Overall this was a positive trial where the opdivo/Yervoy combo had a statistically significant PFS benefit over a chemo doublet in NSCLC with tumor mutation burdens (TMB) over […]
January 26 Biotech Update
The market is relentless. Just as it is important to buy when the market seems to be going down forever, it is also important to sell on these sort of rips higher. The selling at the high levels is always more difficult for me, so I want to spend some time today talking about potential […]
November 20 Biotech Update
The news is winding down as we get closer to the holidays but there is some news today. For the most part, I do not expect a lot of news but there could be an M&A push to end the year if bankers need more deals for their bonuses. That being said I think we […]
November 3 Biotech Update
The sector is just odd. If you look at the broader averages they have been pretty flat this week but under the surface there has been and continues to be massive moves. Everyday it seems like there is a new set off stocks up double digits and more double digits lower. After last week of […]
October 13 Biotech Update
More of the same with winners drifting higher in the sector and losers drifting lower. I had hoped that volume and interest would have picked up this week but it is looking more and more like we will need earning season and the conferences to drive any sort of interest. Luckily both are fast approaching. […]
October 10 Biotech Update
I was in my office yesterday to write but there is really nothing happening in the sector that is exceptionally newsworthy. I was hoping we would have some news today but it looks like we are in a bit of a lull. The good news is that it will not last too much longer as […]
September 8 Biotech Update
The sector has been doing well but it seems to have been a bifurcated market with big winners and losers. The broader market seems to be listless which is not helping. My low conviction view is that the sector looks ready to lead another leg higher but we need broader market participation for it to […]
August 16 Biotech Update
The recovery continues as risk-on seems to be heading back into the market. Part of me sees this as what I expected in terms of a sell off to test the break out, the previous resistance holding as support, and now we continue higher. The other part of me sees a wall of worry that […]
July 27 Biotech Update
There is a lot to talk about today, so I will jump right into the most interesting and important news. 1. MYSTIC did not meet the primary PFS endpoint. There was no PFS benefit over chemo with either monotherapy or combination. This is disappointing but not necessarily the end of the story. While the details […]
July 13 Biotech Update
We have some news and perhaps additional news but unconfirmed as of yet. In general, however, the sector seems to be more or less treading water without a real upside or downside balance. This is potentially a longer term positive as we might be consolidating the breakout through time as opposed to price. I still […]
April 13 Biotech Update
More of the same as we move into Easter weekend. Tensions are building in Korea and there is almost a pathological disinterest in biotech with anemic volumes. If this were a bull market the underlying bid would lead to a drift higher but for the sector it is leading to a drift lower. It is […]
April 3 Biotech Update
AACR is in full swing with a couple more days worth of data coming but so far there has not been anything thesis changing to the upside or downside. To be fair, we have more data expected in the next couple days but as I noted previously this tends to be an earlier stage conference. […]
March 15 Biotech Update
The PARP wars have ramped up with the AZN data. This was important data for the PARP wars but sort of important for the sector more broadly as this is a new class of drugs that seemingly has an impressive impact on the lives of patients. I think the PCSK9 data later this week are […]
February 22 Biotech Update
A little bit of news since yesterday and I will focus on them but more broadly the sector seemed to struggle yesterday. It had been outperforming so a day of relative weakness is not unexpected but was certainly a sell biotech and buy everything else sort of day. Let us see if that pattern continues […]
February 15 Biotech Update
We have some additional news yesterday but nothing that is necessarily positive for the sector. It certainly rallied in the afternoon and I suspect there is enough juice left for that to continue. Of course, we are only one tweet away from a pullback but I guess that is true of every sector and stock. […]
January 27 Biotech Update
We obviously got some news and price action but most of it is explainable and somewhat predictable. I will highlight some of the news and focus on the BMY report as that seems to have generated the most discussion. 1. We had the buyout of ALIOY a lot sooner than I expected at a lot […]
January 23 Biotech Update
There is not a lot of new news out this week but this is a week where earnings start, which could pick up the pace a little in terms of fundamental news. Two potential caveats. First, coming on the heels of JPM there is likely not a lot of new information to be provided. Companies […]
January 20th Biotech Update
We are getting some more offerings as is expected post JPM but they seem slower than usual. In any case, we have more large cap pharma news that is pretty meaningful that I want to focus on today. 1. BMY noted last night that they will not be pursuing accelerated approval for front line NSCLC […]
January 6 Biotech Update
News continues to come in (both expected and unexpected) and the sector remains strong into JPM. Usually there is a tailwind JPM week that can last a little but eventually all the secondaries that come after JPM stall the momentum. Last year was obviously an exception to that pattern but it seems (at least so […]
