Streetwise Tools & Diagnostics Articles
2013 Biotech Watchlist Update: Companies Climb and Crumble on Catalysts
Source: George S. Mack of The Life Sciences Report (10/31/13)
The Life Sciences Report's Biotech Watchlist, introduced in January 2013, is composed of 17 companies that industry analysts felt showed promise for the coming year—companies with productive pipelines, good management and stock-moving catalysts on the horizon. The new year presented legitimate prospects for portfolio growth and, indeed, that has been the case. In this update, we summarize the current status of Watchlist companies and introduce our Portfolio Tracker, showing the status of each company in real time.
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A Compulsion for Brain Science: Zack Lynch
Source: George S. Mack of The Life Sciences Report (10/17/13)
Roughly a third of the world's population feels the burden of some type of brain, spinal cord or peripheral nerve disease: dementia, depression, compulsion, infection, trauma. Understanding the need for investment, awareness and public policy advocacy in finding solutions for these afflictions, Zack Lynch founded the Neurotechnology Industry Organization in 2006, and serves as its executive director. In this interview with The Life Sciences Report, Lynch makes a bullish case for a growing industry and discusses how he proposes to increase funding for neuroscience from both private and public sources, thereby increasing options for patients and opportunities for investors.
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Biotech Companies Record Another Positive Quarter
Source: Peter Winter, BioWorld (10/7/13)
"In all there were 27 public offering transactions generating $1.26 billion in the third quarter, with companies continuing to take advantage of their higher stock valuations and welcoming capital markets to raise funds for their operations."
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The Next Step in Killing Cancer
Source: Martin Biancuzzo, The Daily Reckoning (9/16/13)
"After several years of trial and error, Olson and his team at the privately owned Seattle biotech firm Blaze Bioscience, have created something called 'tumor paint.' And the solution has come from the most unlikely of places. . .Scorpion venom."
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Digging Below the Surface of Neurotechnology: Casey Lynch
Source: George S. Mack of The Life Sciences Report (9/5/13)
Neuroscience is about as complex as it gets. The central nervous system contains the brain and spinal cord, where hundreds of billions of neurons are located—and that doesn't include the peripheral nervous system. Casey Lynch, managing director of NeuroInsights, works to make sense of both the disease processes affecting the nervous system and potential therapies that could help patients and enrich investors. In this interview with The Life Sciences Report, Lynch brings some clarity to the complexity, and speaks frankly about the wild goose that some Alzheimer's disease investigators have been chasing.
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Medical Conference Schedule Sept. 2013 through March 2014
Source: Michael King, JP Morgan (9/5/13)
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Breakthrough Therapy Designation Speeds Up Drug Approvals
Source: Patricia Dimond, Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology News (9/4/13)
"The FDA's new development path is specifically designed for experimental agents that produce large and unprecedented treatment effects in early clinical trials. If a drug is designated a breakthrough therapy, the FDA says it will expedite the development and review of the drug."
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Adventures in the Biotech Trade with Jim Letourneau
Source: Peter Byrne of The Life Sciences Report (8/15/13)
Jim Letourneau, publisher of Big Picture Speculator, shares tales of strange biotechnologies worth buying into—such as cures for high dental bills and dog breath—in this interview with The Life Sciences Report. Letourneau likes to invest in biotech firms because their stock values are less volatile than commodity-based companies, which are chained to uncontrollable price fluctuations. You are advised to hold onto your brain (quite literally), while Letourneau describes a few curious—and potentially profitable—biotech investment adventures.
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Still Time to Catch Big Growth in Biotech: George Zavoico
Source: George S. Mack of The Life Sciences Report (8/15/13)
Biotech has had a scorching run for more than a year and a half, but as broader markets approach more realistic valuations with less potential upside, it becomes even more important to be invested in the right companies with truly meaningful catalysts on the horizon. George Zavoico of MLV & Co. knows how to pick winners from the field, and offers up solid ideas with visible growth drivers in this interview with The Life Sciences Report. Your inner gambler should take note: A beaten-down micro- or small-cap company might, with a bit of luck, bring home the gold.
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Eight Small-Cap Medtechs with Big Prospects: Brian Marckx
Source: George S. Mack of The Life Sciences Report (8/7/13)
Small-cap medical technology has long been regarded as the ugly duckling of biotech. . .but think again. Brian Marckx of Zacks Small-Cap Research believes that the real gems of the medtech space complement—and can even outshine—sexier drug and surgical therapies. In this interview with The Life Sciences Report, Marckx makes a strong case for eight small- and micro-cap names that could bring home huge returns for investors.
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Our Worry-Free Way of Investing in Biotech
Source: Greg Madison, Money Morning (8/2/13)
"We are on the cusp of some truly amazing discoveries. There is a tier of biotech companies working around the clock on products with amazing potential."
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How to Invest in the Golden Age of Biotech
Source: Diane Alter, Money Morning (6/26/13)
"Propelled by new drug debuts, research advances and a full pipeline, a long stretch of rewarding breakthrough products should continue to flow in the years ahead."
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Mixed News for Biotech Industry: Supreme Court Upends Gene Patents
Source: Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology News (6/13/13)
" 'A naturally occurring DNA segment is a product of nature and not patent eligible merely because it has been isolated, but cDNA is patent eligible because it is not naturally occurring,' the court stated in an opinion written by Justice Clarence Thomas."
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How to Play the Invest-for-Tomorrow Game in Medtech: Alan Brochstein
Source: George S. Mack of The Life Sciences Report (6/6/13)
Alan Brochstein of AB Analytical Services blogs, publishes and creates model portfolios for retail investors and consults with institutional investors. He leans heavily toward medical technology because he sees the industry's devices, instrumentation and molecular diagnostics as huge efficiency creators and money savers for hospitals. He never pulls the trigger on a stock unless it has adequate insider ownership and superb management—two ingredients that almost always lead to success. In this interview with The Life Sciences Report, Brochstein highlights several turnaround stories that he believes can create real shareholder value and make money for investors.
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The Approval Process in Action
Source: The Life Sciences Report and Visual Capitalist (5/1/13)
What catalysts in the drug development process move biotech company stocks? The savvy investor must know what steps in the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's approval process can propel a stock up or down. From drug discovery to the much-anticipated PDUFA date, The Life Sciences Report and the Visual Capitalist have collaborated on an infographic that describes both the process and related catalysts.
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Gene Patent Case: Supreme Court Hears Arguments on Industry-Rattling Suit
Source: Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology News (4/16/13)
"If the U.S. Supreme Court reached any consensus on the patenting of human genes, it was not evident from yesterday’s oral arguments, in which the justices posed questions using analogies of plants from the Amazon and chocolate chip cookies, while plaintiff Myriad Genetics invoked its own metaphor of a baseball bat."
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The Good, the Bad, and the Unhealthy
Source: Juan Enriquez, The Daily Reckoning (4/16/13)
"Today what we’re looking at is an almost impossible hurdle rate of over $1B per drug to come to market. It means that very few medicines make the hurdle rate. Occasionally, you do see one, but these are rarer and rarer."
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In Biotech, Bad Management Trumps Good Science
Source: Stephen Nagler, MedPro Investors LLC (4/2/13)
"Honesty and reliability, including full and accurate disclosure of corporate results, achievements and expectations, is a fundamental condition of good management, which investors must be able to rely upon as a condition of investing."
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Solving the R&D Investment Dilemma with Project Funding: Mark Kessel
Source: George S. Mack of The Life Sciences Report (3/21/13)
Big pharma knows how to market products. But has it lost a step on the drug development side? Is there a better way to incentivize drug development and make money at it? Mark Kessel, co-founder and partner at private equity firm Symphony Capital LLC, has developed an investment technique that funds promising biotech companies without exposure to all the losses built into a startup model. In this interview with The Life Sciences Report, Kessel talks about his method and how it has worked with specific biotech companies.
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Biotech Sector Analysis: March Madness
Source: John McCamant, Medical Technology Stock Letter (3/15/13)
"Sound sector and company fundamentals are intact, and improving in some cases. The industry gatekeeper—the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)—continues to be cooperative. The bullish stock market also bodes well—as cash flows into healthcare funds remain abundant—driving many stocks to what appear to be extended levels."
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This Healthcare Fund Is Up 70%: Why I'm Not Selling
Source: Steve Sjuggerud, Steve Sjuggerud's Daily Wealth (3/12/13)
"Have your exit plan in place, but don't sell. As I've explained many times, this market has the potential to run much higher."
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10 Biotech Stocks Poised to Run: George Zavoico
Source: George S. Mack of The Life Sciences Report (3/7/13)
For the first time in ages, conditions for biotech investment are just right. The capital markets have loosened up, and institutional investors are ready to bid up share prices on stories that have both merit and looming catalysts. Sure, there's risk. . .but without it, there's no upside. In this Life Sciences Report interview, Senior Analyst and Managing Director George Zavoico of MLV & Co. identifies a group of biotech companies with market-moving events on their calendars. Sharpen your pencils: From cancer to coronary artery disease to vaccine technology, Zavoico names potential winners.
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Investment-Based Crowdfunding for Biotech Companies: A Revolution with Risk
Source: Krist Werling, Bob Cohen and Michael Pilo, Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News (3/1/13)
"The second model is an equity-based or investment-based model and involves an actual investment in an entity that is pursuing a project. Members of the "crowd" that provide funding receive an ownership interest in the entity."
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The Life Sciences Report Watchlist 2013
Source: George S. Mack of The Life Sciences Report (1/31/13)
Which biotech companies will take off in 2013? To zero in on possible winners, The Life Sciences Report teamed up with Sagient Research to crunch the numbers for companies with potential catalysts on the calendar. The results were sent to experts who, based on their experience in the space, could determine which companies have the best chances for upward stock price movement. The result is the groundbreaking Life Sciences Report Watchlist 2013. In this exclusive article, you can follow the thought process that went into generating the short list, and learn more about the potential winners and what they are poised to accomplish in the next 12 months.
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