Another slow day, although there was some more interesting news. Biotechs continued to underperform the broader market and I suspect that will be a trend for the next couple of days as the move last week is digested. This is going out a little early because I have to head out before the end of […]
ASTX – Breaking out of the Downtrend Channel
Astex Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (ASTX) -Nasdaq ASTX had an epic run that started at the end of February from the low of $2.94, just after two months of price consolidation, and reached a six year’s high of $6.95 on April 30, 2012. From that point, the stock started a deep technical correction, trading in a downtrend channel […]
Week’s Option Activity (7/1~7/5)
The following stocks had notable activity in their options during the past week: $CLDX (7/1): 7,000 JUL 2.50 strike Calls were bought (stock at $3.25) for 0.90 or $630,000. Buyer makes money if stock is greater than $3.40 by expiration. Also, 4,900 AUG 2.50 Calls were sold for 1.00 or $490,000 total proceeds. Seller makes […]
July 8- EOD
Perhaps we were spoiled last week with the ONXX news but this week seems to be getting off to a slow start. There were some decent sized moves in biotech but in terms of news flow it was a little light. We might be in for a little bit of a breather in terms of […]
INFI – Infinity Pharma, Staying The Course
This has been one heck of a roller-coaster ride. The stock took 8 months to triple in price, and just 2 to give it all back. Shares began to swoon prior to data presentations at ASCO and ICML. We had expected positive results to soothe the market, but this was not the case. Investors focused […]
July 5- Morning Edition
This is another relatively short note as there is not much news today and I suspect most everyone is enjoying an extended Fourth of July weekend. I just wanted to touch on a couple of points and do so early because my office computer is not working well for some reason. It is a royal […]
July 2- EOD–> Midday edition
I wanted to follow up on the discussion of yesterday less with an analysis of the potential dance partners for ONXX but more in terms of where do we go from here. Obviously the speculation in mid and small caps space is who will be next. This list could encompass just about every company but […]
July 1- EOD
Today was the fallout of the AMGN bid for ONXX. There are a couple of aspects of it that I want to touch on and go a little further than my article this morning. 1. In my article I tried to cover the companies that I thought had the most compelling reasons to be interested […]
Week’s Option Activity (6/24~6/28)
The following stocks had notable activity in their options during the past week: $SGEN (6/24): 3,000 SEP 35.0 strike Calls were sold (stock at $30.30) for a credit of 1.20 and 1.25 (1,200 @ 1.25, 1,800 @ 1.20) or $366,000. At the (approximate) same time, 3,000 SEP 25.0/20.0 strike Put spreads were bought for 1.15 […]
June 28- EOD
Not much of a lot of new today but there were some interesting tidbits. 1. BIIB spiked higher today on the back of SNY news. The EMA granted Aubagio exclusivity and traders immediately wanted to tie this into the debate over BG12 exclusivity in the EU. I am not sure that this is anything more […]
June 27- EOD
I thought today would be a much better day in the market for biotechs and they looked strong early but did not seem to have any real follow through. Not that it was a bad day; rather, it seemed to show more strength early. Still some stock specific stories to talk about. 1. CELG signed […]
June 26- EOD
Generally it was a good bounce back day for a lot of biotechs, although there were some pockets of underperformance. That being said, this is a positive day but the real test will be when these stock get to their 50-day moving average and whether they can decisively move back above them. Until then I […]
Biotech IPO’s hot in the first half of 2013
(jointly with Jason Chew and Juan Pedro Rodriguez Serrate) To say biotech IPOs have been hot seems like an understatement. The past year has been an open feeding frenzy for biotech companies looking to raise capital on the public markets. It would seem there is significant pent up pent up supply and demand for these […]
June 25- EOD
It was an odd day in the market as it was strong but many biotechs appeared weak. I am going to focus exclusively today on SGEN as we got more details and I have been digging into the weeds to try and get a handle on what this means. So there were more details on […]
June 24- EOD
There was a lot that happened last week that I will slowly get to go through it the next week but on a big picture macro front, I actually think this is going to end up generating some nice values for long term investors. When biotechs get hit in the macro mess it is not […]
SGYP – Cautiously Optimistic On Synergy Pharmaceuticals
We revisit Synergy Pharmaceuticals as the company prepares to initiate a Phase III Chronic Idiopathic Constipation (CIC) study of lead drug plecanatide later this year. Top-line results from the Phase II/III trial were released January 2 early this year, followed by complete data reported at the Digestive Disease Week convention in May. As we had […]
BMY – In A Consolidation Mode
Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (NYSE: BMY) BMY had an amazing run ahead of ASCO-2013 that left many well-planned traders very happy. The stock found strong support near the 50-Day Moving Average around $39.50 where many traders(ourselves included) started initial positions. The stock had a great run into the ASCO abstracts release on May 15th, moving roughly […]
ALNY – Alnylam’s busy summer
Some viewed 2012 as a year of redemption for the field of RNA therapeutics with several notable successes in the sector. This year will likely also mark another important milestone for this specialty sector of the biotech industry. The next 30 days should be rather interesting for Alnylam Pharma (NASDAQ:ALNY) and to some extent Tekmira […]
June 14- Midday
This is midday today as I will be out of my office for the rest of the day. So an early surprise. A very odd day today in the market. Biotechs really seemed to lag for some reason even when the market was not a real drag. Let’s see how we end the day. 1. […]
AEGR – Quick commentary on Aegerion
Aegerion has been one of the best performing stocks over the past 6-12 months. This has been driven by the value creation of Juxtapid (lomitapide), a small molecule microsomal triglyceride transfer protein inhibitor, was approved by the FDA and EMA adjunct to a low-fat diet and other lipid-lowering treatments, including LDL apheresis where available, in […]
