Seeking Alpha: ArQule Dips, But Not Necessarily A Bargain

There are really only two reliable catalysts for biotech stocks - reporting clinical data and announcing equity offerings - and the latter one is seldom a positive for the stock. With ArQule (ARQL) looking to increase its sharecount by more than 11% (including the shoe), Tuesday's 12% decline on another red day in the market doesn't seem so out of line. Even with the pullback though, it's not blatantly clear to me that this is a must-own biotech.

Queuing Up For Tivantinib Data
Far and away the most valuable asset for ArQule is its Phase III drug tivantinib - a c-Met receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor. C-Met is a popular target these days, with companies including Roche (RHHBY.PK), AVEO (AVEO), Amgen (AMGN), Bristol-Myers (BMY), and Exelixis (EXEL) all developing drugs with this target in mind.

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ArQule Dips, But Not Necessarily A Bargain

Seeking Alpha: Should Seattle Genetics Start Thinking More Like A Pharma Company?

Approval and launch hasn't quite meant Easy Street for Seattle Genetics (SGEN). Granted, the company now carries a $2 billion market cap and has doubled over the past two years, but there still seems to be a great deal of controversy about the true potential of its drug Adcetris and the subsequent fair value. Oddly enough, perhaps part of the answer is for Seattle Genetics to think a little more like a pharmaceutical company and a little less like a biotech.

Where Will Adcetris Go?
Arguing about market potential and peak sales is nothing new in biotech -- just review the debates at AEterna Zentaris (AEZS) or Vivus (VVUS) sometime -- but the spread in sell-side estimates for Adcetris still surprises me. I've seen expectations as low as $250 million to as much as $900 million. On the low end, it would assume that Seattle Genetics finds largely unmitigated failure in extending the label and usage; on the high end, it presupposes that almost everything goes right.

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Should Seattle Genetics Start Thinking More Like A Pharma Company?

ASCO - A Big Deal For Biotechs (Pt 2)

This is the second of three articles previewing the ASCO meetings in Chicago next week.

One of the major biotech events of the year is fast approaching. The annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) will take place in Chicago June 4-8. This event is like Woodstock for biotechnology - if Woodstock were clean, air-conditioned and had plenty of restrooms. If you invest in biotechs or pharmaceuticals that want to play in the huge and well-reimbursed world of oncology, this is one of the major events of the year.

Ahead of the meeting, ASCO releases a list of abstracts that scientists and companies will present. In some cases, these abstracts give away at least most of the story (efficacy, safety, etc.), while other abstracts are embargoed until the meeting itself. In any case, investors can still look forward to follow-up data (abstracts are submitted well ahead of the meeting), and often the amount of attention garnered by a presentation reflects overall interest in the compound. (For more, see Stocks On Drugs: What It Takes To Get High.)

To read the full text of Part 2, please continue on to: 
http://stocks.investopedia.com/stock-analysis/2010/ASCO---A-Big-Deal-For-Biotechs-BMY-ARIA-ARQL-KERX-AEZS-NKTR-VNDA0527.aspx