Below are current tactical and strategic thoughts on approaching FDA and clinical trial catalysts for select names. Estimates, values and views are as of the date of publishing (or are noted) and are subject to potential future, pre-catalyst revision: (1) Catalyst Watch List – Updates: AMRN: Waiting for briefing docs… More to follow on this […]
October 11- Morning note
Well, we have three straight days of interesting news with ECYT rounding out the week. I want to focus on that today and get this out earlier than usual as this could be actionable today. 1. Before diving into ECYT, GS was out with a report on PCYC where they raised their price target to […]
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 […]
October 8- Mid Day
While I wanted some more news from the biotech sector this was not exactly what I was planning. I discuss my thoughts on ARIA in an article on the street, so I will not belabor it more here. There are a couple of broader points that I think are interesting in light on today’s action. […]
Week’s Option Activity (9/30~10/4)
The following stocks had notable activity in their options during the past week: $ACHN (10/1): Substantial Call activity (both near and long term dated options). 28,500 JAN15 5.0/(7.5) strike long Call spreads (stock at $2.66) were bought for 0.40 or $1.14 million. Buyer makes money if stock trades north of $5.40 by January 2015 expiration […]
October 8- EOD
I would like to argue that it was more of the same today given the macro focus and that is likely true but today was certainly more of the same to an extreme extent. There are a couple of interesting bits of information but nothing that is altering the fundamentals of a stock or sector. […]
October 7- EOD
Macro, macro, and more macro. That seems to be driving the market and without any significant biotech specific news that was the word of the day. As we get closer to the debt ceiling the greater the headwind and the closer correlation between stock movements will get to 1. Biotechs will be particularly vulnerable given […]
October 4- EOD
It green morning with biotechs taking part in the early rally and showing perhaps some minor strength but nothing earth shattering. Again it was a relatively quiet day on the news front, so I will do a couple of quick hitters today. 1. PCYC got another positive sell side report. I think we are clearly […]
October 3- EOD
Outside of a weak day in the macro which appears mainly related to macro issues, there does not seem to be a ton of news. Biotechs were obviously weak with the broader market but there was some green sprinkled in but they were few and far between. I will highlight a couple of companies but […]
October 2- EOD
Some macro weakness today but biotechs seemed to hold up fairly well. While most were red, it did not seem to be overdone to the downside. Plus, there were some pockets of green. All in all, not a great day to be in biotechs but it could have been worse given the broader market. The […]
Catalyst Watch – Vol. 1, Edition 3 (10/2/13)
Below are current tactical and strategic thoughts on approaching FDA and clinical trial catalysts for select names. Estimates, values and views are as of the date of publishing (or are noted) and are subject to potential future, pre-catalyst revision: (1) Catalyst Watch List – Updates: AMRN: Stock continues to climb (now at $6.85). No delay […]
October 1- EOD
It was a fairly busy day today in biotech land the sentiment certainly appears more positive. They participated in the market rally even though most were not big losers in the recent macro selling. This is certainly positive going forward. I want to focus on the MRK news as it touches on a lot of […]
Week’s Option Activity (9/23~9/27)
The following stocks had notable activity in their options during the past week(s): $EDAP (9/23): Bullish long term Call buys. 750 FEB14 2.50 strike Calls (stock at $2.68) were bought for 0.60 or $45,000. Also 750 MAY14 2.50 strike Calls were bought for 0.70 or $52,500. For these trades, buyer makes money if the stock […]
September 30-EOD
There was certainly some interesting news and action today. The market was weak early but biotech was much more mixed than one would have expected. It is good to see those pockets of strength during the broad market sell offs. 1. ARIA was interesting on two levels: AP113 data and Iclusig sales. There was additional […]
September 30-EOD
There was certainly some interesting news and action today. The market was weak early but biotech was much more mixed than one would have expected. It is good to see those pockets of strength during the broad market sell offs. 1. ARIA was interesting on two levels: AP113 data and Iclusig sales. There was additional […]
September 30-EOD
There was certainly some interesting news and action today. The market was weak early but biotech was much more mixed than one would have expected. It is good to see those pockets of strength during the broad market sell offs. 1. ARIA was interesting on two levels: AP113 data and Iclusig sales. There was additional […]
ISIS Huntington’s Disease Program: A good start on an ambitious target
Huntington’s Disease (HD) is a neurodegenerative disease characterized by motor, cognitive and psychiatric symptoms. The most typical symptom, but by far not the only, is the occurrence of incontrollable, random and sudden movements (chorea). Symptoms appear around 30 and 40, and the life expectancy after the first manifestations is two decades. Huntington’s is caused by […]
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 […]
September 27- EOD
Not a particularly news rich day but the sector seemed to continue its momentum from yesterday and seemed to outperform the general market with a lot of green on a red day. 1. Well, it looks like JNJ is tossing another wrench in ECYT trials with more doxil supply problems. ECYT noted that they have […]
September 26-EOD
It was an interesting news day and biotechs even participated in the market strength today, which has not happened in a little while. I would not call the biotech action strong from a relative performance sense but it is encouraging to see them at least perform in line with the broader market. 1. Lilly(LLY) announced […]
