Investopedia: Should Biotech Investors Go Where Institutions Won't?

Some investors find safety in numbers, while others dream of discovering the next big thing long before the big institutions. When it comes to biotech investing, though, investors may want to consider just how wise it is to invest where the big institutions fear to tread. While nobody has a fail-safe method of identifying the best biotech stocks, it seems like investing in biotechs with minimal institutional support is a gamble that just isn't worth taking. 

Framing the Problem 

The biggest problem with biotech, and the biggest reason why there can be such outsized gains for investors in the industry, is that nobody truly knows if a drug will work (or be approvable) until very late in the process. Pick the right stock, Alexion (Nasdaq:ALXN) in the late 1990s, and the rewards can be enormous. Pick the wrong stock, say Essential Therapeutics or Shaman Pharmaceuticals, and it can result in a big (if not total) loss of capital. 

A few biotechs manage to muddle along, posting just enough promising early trial data to keep accessing the capital markets, but for the most part investing in biotechs with no approved drugs is a binary outcome. With that sort of expected outcome tree, it clearly makes sense for investors to use all resources at their disposal to winnow the list of credible investment candidates, and institutional support may be one metric to consider.

To read the full piece, please click the link to Investopedia:
http://stocks.investopedia.com/stock-analysis/2011/Should-Biotech-Investors-Go-Where-Institutions-Wont-ALXN-YMI-ZIOP-ONTY-MNKD-NEOP-MELA0707.aspx

Investopedia: A Dull ASCO And The Usual Sell-Off

There is an undeniable cycle to nature. Leaves turn color and fall, birds migrate across continents, and stocks fall after the annual American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) meeting. Making matters perhaps a bit worse this year, there were very few presentations that really stood out and not an abundance of positive news for investors to process. As is so often the case, though, there was a lot of buying momentum into the meeting and Wall Street is once again playing out the "buy the rumor, sell the news" meme.


The Best in Show - YMI and Exelixis
The most interesting presentations arguably belonged to YM BioSciences (AMEX:YMI) and Exelixis (Nasdaq:EXEL). It is also par for the course, though, that neither presentation was completely "clean" and investors still have a lot of questions about the future of the respective drugs.

For YMI, it was all about Phase 1/2 data from the JAK-2 inhibitor CYT387 in myelofibrosis. Myelofibrosis is a rare condition and one that frequently leads to an enlarged spleen and/or anemia. This relatively small study showed good spleen response and suggested benefit in counteracting anemia. Unfortunately, this is the prime question about CYT387 - is the anemia benefit "real"? If so, this could be a drug worth hundreds of millions of dollars, but investors are just going to have to wait for further studies to confirm (or disprove) this benefit. On an encouraging note, the company seems to be taking a very smart approach to the clinical development of the drug. (For more, see Measuring The Medicine Makers.)


To read the full piece, follow below:
http://stocks.investopedia.com/stock-analysis/2011/A-Dull-ASCO-And-The-Usual-Sell-Off-YMI-EXEL-NEOP-INCY-BMY-NVS-CELG0607.aspx