It was a good day for the broader markets and a decent day for biotechs, although it seemed a little like a mixed bag with some stocks underperforming the rally. That being said simply following the broader market higher at this point is good for biotechs and likely means that this rally (relief or continuation) […]
February 7 Biotech Update- Recovery Edition
Despite the disappointing jobs report, the market held up fairly well and the biotech sector doing well (and seems to be getting relatively stronger as the day goes on). Large caps appeared to be a little stronger than the broader market, although perhaps that would have been more pronounce if it were not for GILD […]
February 6 Biotech Update- A Mixed Day
It is good day in the market but a bad day for large cap biotechs as most underperformed (large cap pharma was a little different but still not great). Small and mid caps seemed to do better but I would not say that they clearly outperformed the market (but still did better than the large […]
February 5 Biotech Update- How Now Brown Cow?
I said yesterday that I was not convinced that the coast was clear and today shows why. My hunch is that the market is hurting both bulls and bears and the best play is to stay on the sidelines unless a stock comes to you. Forcing a trade or trading out of boredom in the […]
February 3 Biotech Update- The Bloodbath Edition
It was another rough day in the market with a familiar pattern- market weak, large cap biotechs outperforming the broader market and small cap biotechs underperforming. It makes sense in that risk off means selling biotechs but large cap biotechs have a valuation buffer in their growing free cash flow. This is not to say […]
January 31 Biotech Update- The Hep-C Competition Heats Up
The market was just a little weak this morning and biotechs responded as one would expect, although despite the sea of red I kept thinking that it could be have been worse. Today was certainly not a good day but the market is starting to provide us some good bargains. There could be a larger […]
January 27 Biotech Update
It is amazing how quickly sentiment can change. Last week I was noting the shifts and the expectations for a correction. This was certainly needed but I think the speed of the move has less to do with fundamentals and more to do with jittery investors. Nobody wants to be the last one to sell, […]
January 22nd Biotech Update
I feel like a record stuck skipping over the same part but there has not really been anything new in the market this week either from a macro sense or even at the individual level. The sector was strong in the morning basically on the backs of the large caps (see GILD later in the […]
January 21st Biotech Update on GILD ECYT ONTX
The sector is looking a little tired at these levels but it seems like everyone is expecting a pullback, which makes the contrarian in me wonder if there is another leg higher. I am certainly not selling anything at this point but would be cautious about buying now. I would not be surprised to see catalyst stocks […]
January 17 Biotech Update- Building a Diagnostic Foundation
Today was more of the same in the sector and that is generally positive given the sentiment. I know it seems like biotech has been going up every day (we have certainly had a good run recently) but it seems to me like this is the only sector that is not warning on earnings as […]
Analysis of TGR-1202, a PI3K Delta Inhibitor From TGTX
This is a quick take on the TGTX efficacy data presented at ASH this past weekend. TG Therapeutics reported PK data as well as results from the higher 800 mg cohort. It appears this step up from 400 mg has finally resulted in some activity and the company continues to dose escalate; an 1800 mg […]
December 2 Biotech Update- Getting Ready for ASH
Last week ended well for biotechs and today was a little more of the same with perhaps some consolidation. News has been relatively limited as most traders/investors/general biotech followers are gearing up for ASH. I will be heading down on Friday and staying through Tuesday, which means there will not be any updates this Friday, […]
November 22 Biotech Update- A Busy CHMP out with some Bullish News
You will notice that I am change the title to something more descriptive, hopefully you will still read the updates with this change. Sentiment is certainly shifting in the biotech sector and it seems to be doing so as quickly as it turned negative. What was my fear that the sector would be hit with […]
November 18-EOD
Thankfully there was not a lot of news but biotechs did not just drift lower. I still worry about tax loss selling hitting the sector (or at least the small to mid caps) heading into the end of the year but it is nice to see that the sector can tread water on no news […]
ASH 2013 Preview on Myelofibrosis
This year’s annual meeting of the American Society of Hematology (ASH13) is highly anticipated for a number of reasons. With the general market for the healthcare/biotech sector at all-time highs on the backs of Pharmacyclic’s Ibrutinib (stock is up 1000% since ASH11), Celgene’s Revlimid (~67% of their $6.3B 2013 revenue) and Amgen’s $10.6B deal for […]
ASH 2013 Preview on Lymphoid Malignancies
This year’s annual meeting of the American Society of Hematology(ASH13) is highly anticipated for a number of reasons. Pharmacyclic’s Ibrutinib could be viewed as one of the several catalysts sparking the biotech sector’s run the past 2 years. They are now within months of receiving approval for 2 indications where they could benefit patient lives […]
November 5- EOD
The morning looked bad but the sector came back a little. There was some sporadic buying of oncology names but nothing major. It will be very interesting to see how the sector responds to the ASH abstracts. Obviously there will be winners and losers but the question in my mind is how will the PPS […]
October 29- EOD
Well, it seemed like an odd day for the sector in that it was almost directionless. This is not to say that there were not moves among individual stocks but we are finally starting to see them move on merit and less on sector sentiment. I think this is a good sign and hopefully we […]
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 […]
Quick comments on Achillion and TG Therapeutics
(with Jason Chew) In biotech, all too often are investors given news on Friday that is not so good. With many updates expected by the end of the quarter, someone was bound to have the honors of being one of those companies. Today we had quite bad news out of Achillion and an update from […]
