Biotechnology

[Griffin Donavon]

In my recent year, I have done a lot of growing up and have been finding myself fascinated in investing. What are your opinions on this amazing stage of biotech? With my recent study in this field I have found some amazing company and amazing opportunities for investing. Of course it is much riskier then mutual fund options, however I just find medicine and were we are going as a world amazing.

 

Coming into investing, I have found myself much more curious with whats going on within the world. Thoughts? Discussion? I would love to here what other have to say.

 

Griffin

[Rudynate]

I agree - it is exciting times in biotech. Genentech was found in the late 70's and biotech is beginning to deliver on its promises in a big way. I used to work in biotech and I looked forward to going to work everyday - there was always something new. I do own some biotech stocks, but they were recommendations from my investment advisor, nothing that I chose myself.

[down_to_business]

Great sector, way to speculative to go after individual stocks.

 

Personally, if I was going to play it, I would do it through an exchange traded fund (low fees, stability, less risk) more than likely IBB.

[Str8boyluvr]

I recently got my graduate degree in biotechnology and my research focused on using nanotechnology for medical applications including novel drug delivery systems. It's an absolutely fascinating field of study. I also did work with microfluidics which some labs are using to create labs on a chip and human organs on a chip the size of a credit card. I was fortunate to work with some of the ground-breaking scientists in the field. So if you ever want to learn the science behind the stocks I'd be happy to explain it and where it's going.

[Guest]

My mother's made a fortune investing in biotech companies. But I agree that it's rather speculative. The public is becoming outraged at some of these companies' outlandish profits, and there is a lot of pressure to push for legislation to curb some of these medications' exorbitant costs (much of the pressure coming from the medical community).

[+ Keith30309]

Great sector, way to speculative to go after individual stocks.

 

Personally, if I was going to play it, I would do it through an exchange traded fund (low fees, stability, less risk) more than likely IBB.

 

Agreed... FBIOX has done very well with very reasonable fees.

[Griffin Donavon]

I agree that going to a firm lessens your risk, however I love learning the new medicines that are being created and actually believing in the company rather then having someone else do the research. One company I just love is trevena, they are doing great things, there goal is to minimize opiod drugs with using trv101... which I am a huge supporter for, there is nothing like investing your money into something positive.

 

str8boy- I would love to talk about biotech, I find your study fascinating and would love to have a discussion.

 

 

griffin

[Str8boyluvr]

My mother's made a fortune investing in biotech companies. But I agree that it's rather speculative. The public is becoming outraged at some of these companies' outlandish profits, and there is a lot of pressure to push for legislation to curb some of these medications' exorbitant costs (much of the pressure coming from the medical community).

 

I think most lay people do not have an appreciation for the time (both clinical and regulatory) and money that goes into developing a new drug or therapy. It's staggering. The very nature of research is speculative which is why companies have to promise investors a significant ROI for those few projects that do make it to market.

 

The great thing about some of the new biotech therapies is they target the disease at the molecular level and can be delivered in smaller, yet highly concentrated amounts, and the drug carrier can even be programmed to release the drug only at the target site, i.e. cancer cells. It's absolutely mind-blowing when you get into some of the advances. And keep in mind, in the nano world we are dealing on a scale of 1/1 billionth of a meter.

 

Yes they are expensive, for now, but as the field matures, I think we will see costs come down. In fact, one awesome biotech development is using biotech itself to replace using human or animal models in early phase clinical trials. This dramatically reduces time, money and risk (and as an animal lover, is more ethical). Besides, animal models rarely translate well into human physiology. But build a human lung on a chip....that's another story.

 

From dissolvable magnesium alloy cardiac stents, to point of use disposable mini labs to detect if an infection is bacterial or viral, to testing for ebola in third world countries at a fraction of the cost and without expensive equipment....the large upfront costs will pay off big in the future.

 

If you want to read some really cool stuff... Google one of my favorite research labs, the Wyss Institute. Duke University has a similar lab.

[Str8boyluvr]

I agree that going to a firm lessens your risk, however I love learning the new medicines that are being created and actually believing in the company rather then having someone else do the research. One company I just love is trevena, they are doing great things, there goal is to minimize opiod drugs with using trv101... which I am a huge supporter for, there is nothing like investing your money into something positive.

 

str8boy- I would love to talk about biotech, I find your study fascinating and would love to have a discussion.

 

 

griffin

 

Yes, Sir. My pleasure. I love to talk about biotech.

[wklucas]

Like the guy in the movie "The Graduate" said 1 word "plastics" to Dustin Hoffman....all I will say is ARNA (fda approved diet drug / best in class) & MNKD (inhaled insulin).....both currently undervalued/underpriced... both likely (highly possible) blockbuster status in their future.....( & both also highly manipulated in the current corrupt cesspool known as Wall Street - but that's a whole other ball of wax story.....but success will beat the corrupt forces / manipulation in both stocks at some point)

[down_to_business]

Almost with perfect timing- can I pick 'em or what!

 

"Health care was the worst sector performer, falling more than 2 percent as biotechs plunged. The declines weighed heavily on the Nasdaq, which closed more than 1.5 percent lower. The iShares Nasdaq biotechnology ETF (IBB) (IBB) fell 4.3 percent"

 

Of course, the only money I actually put to work today was a very small purchase of Disney (definitely not a Biotech) when I felt they got hit a little too hard on the news they reported.

[Str8boyluvr]

Like the guy in the movie "The Graduate" said 1 word "plastics" to Dustin Hoffman....all I will say is ARNA (fda approved diet drug / best in class) & MNKD (inhaled insulin).....both currently undervalued/underpriced... both likely (highly possible) blockbuster status in their future.....( & both also highly manipulated in the current corrupt cesspool known as Wall Street - but that's a whole other ball of wax story.....but success will beat the corrupt forces / manipulation in both stocks at some point)

 

I'm assuming you were just offering some helpful pharma investing tips since both drugs, Belviq (ARNA) and Afrezza (MNKD) are not products of biotechnology. Afrezza's sales have been dismal. Belviq's mechanism of action mimics the now infamous Fen-Phen which will keep a lot of MDs from prescribing it.

[AdamSmith]

Heard about this little startup in Providence?

 

http://tfwiki.net/mediawiki/images2/7/75/JeffreyCombsReanimator01.jpg

[wklucas]

I'm assuming you were just offering some helpful pharma investing tips since both drugs, Belviq (ARNA) and Afrezza (MNKD) are not products of biotechnology. Afrezza's sales have been dismal. Belviq's mechanism of action mimics the now infamous Fen-Phen which will keep a lot of MDs from prescribing it.

 

On Wall Street, biotech & pharma investing are nearly interchangeable terms.....Belviq has no stigma attached to the Fen-Phen debacle by folks who bother to educate themselves....safety trials have all borne that out....(& the rat tumor discussions were beyond ridiculous too)....docs will get on board at some point....the efficacy of the drug for several indications apart from just dieting is showing incredible results / data...but the combo of Belviq & Phentermine can also get great results for responders....all fully safely...(it was the Fen, not the Phen which caused the problems).....of course, not everybody is a responder to Belviq.....Afrezza's sales are still low, not dismal.....it's still in the early stages of marketing after FDA approval.....their partner Sanofi is just now beginning a consumer advertising campaign & just now courting / educating docs on inhaled insulin.....millions & millions will opt for the drug instead of jabbing themselves with needles every day.....the delivery platform of Afrezza - technosphere - will also soon be expanded for other medications where efficacy is showing good data in trials....& icing on the cake - Al Mann's legacy product ain't gonna fail - the man is a winner....but to each his own....& all investing carries some risk.