AFFX has moved to $45 on this Robby Stenvens news... and although the valuation seems crazy, there is the likelihood of still more good news from AFFX...
Silverman implies that there are additional partnerships to be anounced, and I have heard rumors that these new partnerships might be as lucrative for AFFX as the Roche deal.
This is one of the better stories in the whole of biotech. Im buying more.
For a somewhat related story, look at Aurora Biosciences (ABSC), a San Diego company with an amazing fluorescence technology. Genomics produces lots of new targets, and the ABSC technology can be used for rapid and biologically relevant screening of drugs against these targets, in live mammalian cells.
A very smart prof at UCSD, Roger Y Tsien, a founder of ABSC has figured out how to modify naturally fluorescent proteins (from jellyfish) and use them to report on membrane potential, ion channels, calcium fluxes, and even fatty acid metabolism. Just today, Aurora did a deal today with WLA that could make them profitable next year. They have a busness model similar to that of INCY and AFFX that allows them to be profitable long before any drugs actually get to the clinic.
Went public at 10, in July, at 13 last week, 14 1/2 today. $200 mil market cap, $50 mil cash, burn rate only $4 mil, partnerships with Lilly and BMS, and deal with Roche, and now partnership with Warner Lambert. H&Q sees them at $20 by next summer, but I'll bet a jellyfish they will be there by Jan 98. Check out their website at aurorabio.com |
