Biotech opportunity?
If you're interested in picking up shares in any small biotech companies, today looks like a great day to get started. Most of them in my portfolio are dropping like stones, perhaps on overall market sentiment or perhaps as a reaction to the Merck verdict, or perhaps for other reasons that are less clear ... I obviously don't know, but there has been no truly substantive news out of these companies today to justify their decline.
All of my small biotechs -- Myriad Genetics (MYGN), Exelixis (EXEL), CV Therapeutics (CVTX), Vertex (VRTX) and PDL Biopharma (PDLI) -- are down at the moment.
The highflier is hardest hit, as VRTX is down more than 7% and may be worth buying again if it continues dropping (I sold a bit back at $38 because I was worried it was ahead of itself, but I still love the long term potential).
Exelixis and PDL remain my favorites in this bunch, and the ones least likely to give me angina -- PDLI has the most reliable foundation and the most compelling combination of pipeline and existing licenses, and EXEL the biggest upside as their early stage drugs worth their way through ... both are falling at about the same rate today and might be worth a few more dollars.
But speaking of angina, one company may both give it to me and treat it. CV Therapeutics is the one that I'm watching most closely today. It's the only one that I'm actually underwater right now, by just a percent or so, and it's also the one that is most dependent on a single drug. Ranexa is going to make or break this stock in the next year or so as it tries to build a position in the treament catalog for angina, and if you believe that the MERLIN trial will allow for an expanded label and that the CVTX salesforce will be able to drive some prescriptions for Ranexa (their performance with Aceon is not very compelling yet, but it's only been six months or so), then CVTX may be a bargain here. That's the feeling I'm tending toward, I'll be watching as the price continues to fall and reading up some more on Ranexa uptake as I try to make a decision in the near future.
All of my small biotechs -- Myriad Genetics (MYGN), Exelixis (EXEL), CV Therapeutics (CVTX), Vertex (VRTX) and PDL Biopharma (PDLI) -- are down at the moment.
The highflier is hardest hit, as VRTX is down more than 7% and may be worth buying again if it continues dropping (I sold a bit back at $38 because I was worried it was ahead of itself, but I still love the long term potential).
Exelixis and PDL remain my favorites in this bunch, and the ones least likely to give me angina -- PDLI has the most reliable foundation and the most compelling combination of pipeline and existing licenses, and EXEL the biggest upside as their early stage drugs worth their way through ... both are falling at about the same rate today and might be worth a few more dollars.
But speaking of angina, one company may both give it to me and treat it. CV Therapeutics is the one that I'm watching most closely today. It's the only one that I'm actually underwater right now, by just a percent or so, and it's also the one that is most dependent on a single drug. Ranexa is going to make or break this stock in the next year or so as it tries to build a position in the treament catalog for angina, and if you believe that the MERLIN trial will allow for an expanded label and that the CVTX salesforce will be able to drive some prescriptions for Ranexa (their performance with Aceon is not very compelling yet, but it's only been six months or so), then CVTX may be a bargain here. That's the feeling I'm tending toward, I'll be watching as the price continues to fall and reading up some more on Ranexa uptake as I try to make a decision in the near future.
Labels: CVTX
This article posted by One Guy @ 4/06/2006 01:23:00 PM 0 comments
Add to: del.icio.us *Furl *Google *Spurl *reddit *StumbleUpon *Yahoo MyWeb *
Add to: del.icio.us *Furl *Google *Spurl *reddit *StumbleUpon *Yahoo MyWeb *
