Hang On, Folks—It's Going to Be a Bumpy Ride: 2014 Biotech Watchlist Update
Source: Tracy Salcedo-Chourré of The Life Sciences Report  (4/10/14)
Biotech stocks sailed into 2014 backed by a favorable wind, but springtime has stymied the sector in confused seas. Companies on The Life Sciences Report's 2014 Biotech Watchlist have hit the doldrums along with the rest, as faithful followers of the portfolio are doubtless aware. But sector analysts defend the general robustness of the life sciences market as a whole. In this Biotech Watchlist update, we bring you the thoughts of two analysts on the recent market turbulence, and offer brief recaps of Watchlist companies' fortunes year to date. More >

Putting Money Where the Mouse Is: How Animal Studies Lead Medical Research Down Dead Ends
Source: Richard Harris, NPR  (4/8/14)
"If scientists had been more careful with their initial mouse studies, they would have realized that these drugs were never good candidates and that it made no sense to try them in people." More >

How Did High Flyers Turn into Soul Searchers? Maxim Analyst Jason Kolbert on the Highs and Lows of Biotech Valuations
Source: Editors, Streetwise Reports  (4/2/14)
After soaring more than 56% last year, the NASDAQ Biotechnology Index is down almost 15% in March. In this interview with The Life Sciences Report, Jason Kolbert of the Maxim Group points to increased approval rates and a better economic and regulatory environment as the fundamentals behind a revaluation that has occurred in the sector. Kolbert also reflects on recent concerns about pricing and policy changes that have triggered what he considers a normal, healthy correction in an otherwise robust and intact sector. More >

Shining a Light on Overlooked and Underfollowed Biotechs: George Zavoico
Source: George S. Mack of The Life Sciences Report  (3/6/14)
Prospecting for hidden biotech gems makes sense, says H.C. Wainwright & Co. Managing Director George Zavoico, who recently joined the firm's healthcare equity research team. The digging can be hard, but the rewards of successful diligence are huge. In this interview with The Life Sciences Report, Zavoico takes readers on a discovery tour that follows clinical trial data to new ideas that could bring windfalls to portfolios down the road. More >

Better, Faster, Cheaper—You Can Have All Three in Medtech: Ben Haynor
Source: George S. Mack of The Life Sciences Report  (3/5/14)
Given that medical technology is an easy target for payers looking to cut reimbursements, it's important for investors to find device and diagnostic companies with the greatest efficiencies. Accuracy, speed and economy command a premium multiple because these features ultimately relieve pressure on margins, improve quality and reduce patient risk and institutional liability. In this interview with The Life Sciences Report, Senior Research Analyst Ben Haynor of Feltl & Co. shares his top two medtech names, which he expects will achieve outsized gains this year. He also delivers a couple of bonus names that investors could parlay into a profitable small- and micro-cap portfolio. More >

Evaluate Biotech Stocks with Cynicism: Debjit Chattopadhyay
Source: George S. Mack of The Life Sciences Report  (2/27/14)
Biotech investing is a risky business, so investors should thoroughly examine a company's vital statistics before taking the plunge. That's the recommendation of Managing Director Debjit Chattopadhyay of Emerging Growth Equities, who brings a strict scientific discipline to stock analysis. As a former medical researcher, Chattopadhyay comes by his skepticism honestly, and in this interview with The Life Sciences Report, he brings five exciting—but critically scrutinized—growth names to investors' attention. More >

Bryan Brokmeier Remains Bullish on Life Sciences Tools and Diagnostics Companies
Source: George S. Mack of The Life Sciences Report  (2/27/14)
This will be a great year for life sciences tools and diagnostics companies, says Bryan Brokmeier of Maxim Group. And no, growth won't be driven by irrational exuberance, the senior analyst explains in this interview with The Life Sciences Report. Instead, the industry is bolstered by powerful tailwinds fanning new demand for molecular diagnostics, and by the clamoring of academia, pharmas and biotechs for specialized assay platforms. As Brokmeier lays out his sector growth theory, he also highlights a group of stocks with value drivers that could power a portfolio with biotechlike growth potential. More >

Specialty Pharma Bulking Up: $100B Boost in 2013 Market Cap Drives Deals in Early 2014
Source: Andrew Forman, EY  (2/25/14)
"Specialty pharma acquirers accounted for roughly 40% of all 2013 M&A by value, with no fewer than seven offshore deals totaling over US$35B. All of these deals resulted in increased 2014 guidance." More >

Chen Lin's Perfect Biotech Market Prescription: Buy Low, Sell High!
Source: Peter Byrne of The Life Sciences Report  (2/20/14)
Charming and smart, Chen Lin makes a lot of money by jumping in and out of the highly volatile biotech market while obeying a set of simple rules, which he reveals in this interview with The Life Sciences Report. Applying his strong science background, Lin zeros in on biotech firms with solid products. The trick is in having the guts to buy low and sell high, against the market tide, says the editor of the widely respected newsletter, What is Chen Buying? What is Chen Selling? Lin also brings us up to date on his favorite picks. More >

Do Away with the Pill-A-Day Biotech Model: Steve Brozak
Source: George S. Mack of The Life Sciences Report  (2/6/14)
The U.S. healthcare system is untenable, says Steve Brozak, president of WBB Securities. The solution-oriented Brozak is on the hunt for biotech and medical device companies that fit a new paradigm, in which budgets are restrained and companies generate curative therapies for unmet needs. In this interview with The Life Sciences Report, Brozak takes aim at a broken system and lists ten problem-solving companies that can adapt to the changes he believes must take place for healthcare to be profitable and productive. A bonus: These companies can also add vigor to investment portfolios. More >

The Last Word: Place Your Biotech Bets on Solid Management and Hot Therapy Areas
Source: Tracy Salcedo-Chourré of The Life Sciences Report  (1/23/14)
Who got the last word at the 2014 Biotech Showcase? A portfolio manager specializing in healthcare, an award-winning analyst, and a pair of venture capitalists with global viewpoints and a focus on clinical-stage companies. In the closing event of the showcase, cohosted by The Life Sciences Report, this panel of experts offered insights into trends that will influence the biotech universe in 2014. More >

Biotech Watchlist 2014: Sound Science, Innovative Ideas and a Sprinkle of Pixie Dust
Source: Tracy Salcedo-Chourré of The Life Sciences Report  (1/15/14)
2013 was a banner year for the life sciences sector, with biotech, pharmaceutical and medtech companies buoyed by advances in therapeutic techniques, a friendly regulatory environment, lucrative partnerships and the overall market upswing. The 2013 Biotech Watchlist, which was released at the Biotech Showcase in San Francisco, reflected this robustness, boasting a year-to-date return that blew past those posted by the major indices. Credit the basket of stocks picked by industry experts, weighted heavily with winners. Can our panel of experts pick another winning portfolio in 2014? Find out which companies they've chosen for the 2014 Watchlist in this exclusive from The Life Sciences Report
and Sagient Research. More >

3-D Printing: Will Drug Production Become a DIY Project?
Source: J.D. Tuccille, The Daily Reckoning  (12/13/13)
"Both research and production look poised for a revolution as 3-D printing applies its high-tech charms to the business of creating chemical compounds and turns the production of medicine into a DIY project." More >

Not Your Father's Diagnostics: Ram Selvaraju on How Molecular Genomics Invigorate the Sector
Source: George S. Mack of The Life Sciences Report.  (12/5/13)
An old investment principle says the equity upside of diagnostics and tools companies can't hold a candle to that of small biotech drug developers. Raghuram "Ram" Selvaraju, managing director and head of equity healthcare research at Aegis Capital, begs to differ. His research has uncovered small- and micro-cap companies developing sophisticated platforms in the molecular diagnostics space that are destined for significant revenue growth and profits. In his first of three interviews with The Life Sciences Report, Selvaraju lays out a handful of names with powerful technologies on the cusp of investor acceptance as huge growth plays. More >

Printing the Human Body: Infographic
Source: PrinterInks.com  (12/1/13)
The future of bioprinting will allow for full organs and other human parts to be printed on demand for patients. More >

Eight Catalyst-Driven Biotechs Ready to Advance: Michael Hay and Jocelyn August
Source: George S. Mack of The Life Sciences Report   (11/26/13)
Investors are attracted to small- and micro-cap biotech stocks because their life cycles are filled with share-moving milestones. Michael Hay and Jocelyn August of Sagient Research handicap those milestones and calculate the probabilities that drugs in development will be approved and successful in the marketplace. In this interview with The Life Sciences Report, Hay and August set a table investors can be thankful for, naming companies with upcoming catalysts and real potential for upside. More >

2013 Biotech Watchlist Update: Companies Climb and Crumble on Catalysts
Source: George S. Mack of The Life Sciences Report   (10/31/13)
The Life Sciences Report's Biotech Watchlist, introduced in January 2013, is composed of 17 companies that industry analysts felt showed promise for the coming year—companies with productive pipelines, good management and stock-moving catalysts on the horizon. The new year presented legitimate prospects for portfolio growth and, indeed, that has been the case. In this update, we summarize the current status of Watchlist companies and introduce our Portfolio Tracker, showing the status of each company in real time. More >

A Compulsion for Brain Science: Zack Lynch
Source: George S. Mack of The Life Sciences Report  (10/17/13)
Roughly a third of the world's population feels the burden of some type of brain, spinal cord or peripheral nerve disease: dementia, depression, compulsion, infection, trauma. Understanding the need for investment, awareness and public policy advocacy in finding solutions for these afflictions, Zack Lynch founded the Neurotechnology Industry Organization in 2006, and serves as its executive director. In this interview with The Life Sciences Report, Lynch makes a bullish case for a growing industry and discusses how he proposes to increase funding for neuroscience from both private and public sources, thereby increasing options for patients and opportunities for investors. More >

Biotech Companies Record Another Positive Quarter
Source: Peter Winter, BioWorld  (10/7/13)
"In all there were 27 public offering transactions generating $1.26 billion in the third quarter, with companies continuing to take advantage of their higher stock valuations and welcoming capital markets to raise funds for their operations." More >

The Next Step in Killing Cancer
Source: Martin Biancuzzo, The Daily Reckoning  (9/16/13)
"After several years of trial and error, Olson and his team at the privately owned Seattle biotech firm Blaze Bioscience, have created something called 'tumor paint.' And the solution has come from the most unlikely of places. . .Scorpion venom." More >

Digging Below the Surface of Neurotechnology: Casey Lynch
Source: George S. Mack of The Life Sciences Report  (9/5/13)
Neuroscience is about as complex as it gets. The central nervous system contains the brain and spinal cord, where hundreds of billions of neurons are located—and that doesn't include the peripheral nervous system. Casey Lynch, managing director of NeuroInsights, works to make sense of both the disease processes affecting the nervous system and potential therapies that could help patients and enrich investors. In this interview with The Life Sciences Report, Lynch brings some clarity to the complexity, and speaks frankly about the wild goose that some Alzheimer's disease investigators have been chasing. More >

Medical Conference Schedule Sept. 2013 through March 2014
Source: Michael King, JP Morgan  (9/5/13)
More >

Breakthrough Therapy Designation Speeds Up Drug Approvals
Source: Patricia Dimond, Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology News  (9/4/13)
"The FDA's new development path is specifically designed for experimental agents that produce large and unprecedented treatment effects in early clinical trials. If a drug is designated a breakthrough therapy, the FDA says it will expedite the development and review of the drug." More >

Adventures in the Biotech Trade with Jim Letourneau
Source: Peter Byrne of The Life Sciences Report  (8/15/13)
Jim Letourneau, publisher of Big Picture Speculator, shares tales of strange biotechnologies worth buying into—such as cures for high dental bills and dog breath—in this interview with The Life Sciences Report. Letourneau likes to invest in biotech firms because their stock values are less volatile than commodity-based companies, which are chained to uncontrollable price fluctuations. You are advised to hold onto your brain (quite literally), while Letourneau describes a few curious—and potentially profitable—biotech investment adventures. More >

Still Time to Catch Big Growth in Biotech: George Zavoico
Source: George S. Mack of The Life Sciences Report  (8/15/13)
Biotech has had a scorching run for more than a year and a half, but as broader markets approach more realistic valuations with less potential upside, it becomes even more important to be invested in the right companies with truly meaningful catalysts on the horizon. George Zavoico of MLV & Co. knows how to pick winners from the field, and offers up solid ideas with visible growth drivers in this interview with The Life Sciences Report. Your inner gambler should take note: A beaten-down micro- or small-cap company might, with a bit of luck, bring home the gold. More >