Investing in biotech stocks - My experience so far

BrockStoker

ultrasilvam said:

BrockStoker said:

ultrasilvam said:

BrockStoker said:

You might not need to hold them for 10+ years, but it's good to be mentally prepared to do so if required. Good luck!

Thanks, so far so good. Tissue Regenix went up almost 15% from two days ago when I bought. Might be a blip, but nice to see nevertheless. 

Yes, I saw. Not a bad start. Such a small stock it could be very volatile, and easily give back those gains, but hopefully not.

Make that 25%+ in 2 days... For whatever weird reason it was the 3rd most traded volume on FTSE AIM today (volume). There was no news this week about the  company, no idea what caused it. 

It's one of those "somebody knows somethings" or there is a major event expected that could likely move the share price significantly. Either way, looks like you got in there at just about the right time

BrockStoker

Apodemus said:

BrockStoker said:

Apodemus said:

Voyager2002 said:

Social media are saying that this morning SRNE received a US patent for a fluid delivery apparatus. The only article about this is behind a pay-wall: any idea what it is?

And the share price has pulled back somewhat: is that likely to be profit-taking after yesterday, or has something happened?

While the SRNE COVI-MSC approach (and potentially some of the other ASC treatments currently under trial) looks highly promising, I am struggling to see what is actually patentable in this, or even commercially exploitable.  Extracting ASC, multiplying them in-vitro and infusing them into a patient is all relatively straightforward and potentially achievable at the level of the local specialist hospital - that is surely one of the huge benefits of the approach?  So, once the benefits of treatment are confirmed, where does the commercial gain come in for the companies who have invested in the work?  

While it could be repeated by another company, patents should stop that, and SRNE has first mover advantage. It might be relatively straight forward, but it has to be manufactured in an FDA approved facility. Every company would need approval for their version of the therapy, and I'm sure there will be certain steps that make SRNE's therapy unique to it (and likely more effective than the competition's competing therapies), which other companies would not be able to follow without falling foul of patents.

I'm just not understanding why it needs to be a company at all.  A well equipped hospital lab could biopsy my adipose tissue, the hospital lab could grow up my ASCs and give me them back as an i/v infusion. At worst, it's only marginally more difficult than a bone marrow transplant and it might actually be simpler!  Even if it needs to be allogeneic, it doesn't need to be from a commercial source.  Stem-cell therapy is going to make a huge difference to our lives, but I see it largely being a local thing, more akin to blood transfusion than, say, IL therapy which is likely to be commercially manufactured.

I agree it might be possible, however hospitals need to concentrate of caring for people, and manufacturing of drugs/treatments is best done at a dedicated facility.  I just think it makes sense to keep these different parts separate, so that each can concentrate on it's own specialization. That is for the most part how it has always been done traditionally. I suppose there are some research oriented hospitals which might buck the trend, but I think if you get into relatively high volume manufacturing it's always going to be done at another site.

BrockStoker

Really nice day today thanks to ARWR. Was within spitting distance of 3 figure portfolio value for the first time today:

BrockStoker

BrockStoker said:

I recently heard that funding/focus is starting to shift away from vaccines and to therapeutics.

Here it is:

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/coronavirus-covid-19-update-fda-continues-important-work-to-support-medical-product-development-to-address-new-virus-variants-301222786.html

FDA:

"We will utilize our experience with influenza to help inform a path forward if SARS-CoV-2 variants emerge against which currently authorized vaccines are not sufficiently effective. Similarly, the FDA also has vast experience with HIV developing resistance to antiviral drugs and will follow regulatory pathways to quickly enable new antiviral drug development for resistant virus."

"For therapeutics, particularly virus-targeting monoclonal antibodies, we are considering approaches to help expedite drug development in this key area, including discussing appropriate regulatory flexibilities. We are aware that some of the neutralizing monoclonal antibodies that have been authorized or are under development are less effective against some of the COVID-19 variants that have emerged, and we are working with drug developers to accelerate the evaluation of new antibodies that could be effective against mutations. Relying on our growing experience with this class of drugs, our teams are discussing approaches to the generation and evaluation of pre-clinical, clinical and chemistry, manufacturing and controls data. "

A very bullish environment for SRNE to operate in IMHO.

On another note, I wouldn't normally post a MF link, but this one has some IMHO valid points regarding healthcare investing:

https://www.fool.com/investing/2021/02/04/1-major-problem-for-the-healthcare-industry/

moneyfoolish

BrockStoker said:

Really nice day today thanks to ARWR. Was within spitting distance of 3 figure portfolio value for the first time today:

Fantastic results! Are these the only 2 pharma stocks you currently hold and do you only invest in pharma?

adindas

BrockStoker said:

Really nice day today thanks to ARWR. Was within spitting distance of 3 figure portfolio value for the first time today:

Your portfolio is now £99,362.73, above the FSCS £85,000 limit

https://www.ii.co.uk/analysis-commentary/fscs-ps85000-limit-beginners-guide-ii512598

You might not need it, but why take the risk if there is no reward for it and you could easily mitigate it by diverting it into another investment platform?

Those investors/traders who have their investment maxed out into one investment platform, what do you do. Do you split it or just leave it as it is ? Thanks

adindas

BrockStoker said:

I recently heard that funding/focus is starting to shift away from vaccines and to therapeutics.

I think both are needed will go hand fora foreseable future. A prophylactic vaccine for prevention, a therapeutic vaccine for cure.

Also do not forget Theraupeutic vaccines although less destructive but it is much more expensive as it is sort of ttherapy.

Theraupeutic vaccines might be good for investors when it is targeting people with big pockets (not world pandemic deseases) or at least middle class people who could easily effort to pay for the treatment. Keep in mind majority of people will pay whatever it takes if it could cure their deseases.

Voyager2002

adindas said:

BrockStoker said:

I recently heard that funding/focus is starting to shift away from vaccines and to therapeutics.

I think both are needed will go hand fora foreseable future. A prophylactic vaccine for prevention, a therapeutic vaccine for cure.

Also do not forget Theraupeutic vaccines although less destructive but it is much more expensive as it is sort of ttherapy.

Theraupeutic vaccines might be good for investors when it is targeting people with big pockets (not world pandemic deseases) or at least middle class people who could easily effort to pay for the treatment. Keep in mind majority of people will pay whatever it takes if it could cure their deseases.

Remember the context of that quote: this is how the US government is spending tax-payers' money.

BrockStoker

moneyfoolish said:

BrockStoker said:

Really nice day today thanks to ARWR. Was within spitting distance of 3 figure portfolio value for the first time today:

Fantastic results! Are these the only 2 pharma stocks you currently hold and do you only invest in pharma?

Currently have 4 separate portfolios for individual stocks holding a total of 6 companies between them:

The one above is my combined ISA/SIPP (2 portfolios which I track as if they were one), which I first funded in Nov 2019 (£20K which took a couple of months to invest) and again in Mar 2020 (another £20K which took a couple of months to invest). So technically it's been going less than 1 year. Keep in mind the "total gain" (at the top) and "total gain" for ARWR are both inaccurate since I sold & re-bought, so the gains are actually more than suggested there, but monetary values are accurate. Note that some values are in GBP (at the top, "market value", "daily gain", and "total gain") and others are USD ("symbol", "change", and "avg cost/share").

The next largest portfolio is the ISA I set up for my wife which was funded with £15K in Oct 2020 - here's a screen shot from yesterday (after market close):

All the numbers above are accurate since I have yet to sell anything. I did however fund the account with a further £5K a couple of weeks back, which I used to buy 500 SRNE shares, but have kept the first £15K separate for tracking purposes, and track SRNE like it was a separate portfolio.

On top of that I also have an unwraped share dealing portfolio, started last October, which holds 1000 Orchard Therapeutics shares - that's currently up around 70% too.

But it's not just the individual biotech stocks that have been on the tear, funds have been too. My main portfolio which is heavily overweight biotech/healthcare/tech is also currently at all time highs:

Between them, my biotech investments were up around £13K+ over the last 24 hrs, and if I'm right about the approaching "golden age" in biotech/healthcare, then these are only the small beginnings of it all.

Could it go wrong? Possibly! But we are talking life-changing money here, so I'm happy to take the relatively small risk that accompanies such investments. I believe the main risk for someone investing in individual stocks is panicking, but I'm already used to/comfortable seeing large paper losses and reacting to them  (or not as the case may be) in a calm/logical manner.

BrockStoker

adindas said:

BrockStoker said:

Really nice day today thanks to ARWR. Was within spitting distance of 3 figure portfolio value for the first time today:

Your portfolio is now £99,362.73, above the FSCA £85,000 limit

https://www.ii.co.uk/analysis-commentary/fscs-ps85000-limit-beginners-guide-ii512598

You might not need it, but why take the risk if there is no reward and you could easily mitigate it by diverting it into another investment platform?

Those investors/traders who have their investment maxed out into one investment platform, what do you do. Do you split it or just leave it as it is ? Thanks

Yes, it's a good point (thanks for pointing it out), and one that has been on my mind of late. If things pan out as I hope, and ARWR reaches a SP of $1K+ (I actually believe $4K+ is possible if things go really well), then I will really have a problem, albeit a nice problem to have!

My understanding is that it's possible to split up an existing ISA, but only into yearly contributions (which is what I intend to do), so for me that works out as £20K's worth + £20K's worth, or about 650 ARWR shares +  650 ARWR shares. Each lot of 650 shares could potentially turn into over £1m, but I'll only be protected up to £85K, so any way I look at it, it will be a problem. At least I can have a few different pots, so if one platform collapses, I should still have (at least) two others with £1m or more.

With that in mind, I'm also going to open up two new ISA accounts (one for Mrs Brock and one for me) for the next tax year, which will each be funded to the tune of £20K.