V1, thanks for the investment perspective. My questions had a strong trading flavor to be sure. I see how the vicious cycle of floorless convertibles and the like can reverse, and lead to what you describe. And I missed MLNM in the list of recommended stocks by S&P Outlook. It was also mentioned in today's Barron's by some "star" (diversified) fund manager.
You are correct that many non-sector funds are starting to pile up on a number of biotech names, including the aforementioned as well as several in your list such as MEDI, IDPH, etc. And, yes, they are hungry for more and will move shortly after they pass some magic market cap (look at IMCL, in spite of its weak - your term - or playboy - my buddy's term - management).
As for HGS, you may find the following amusing:
biz.yahoo.com
<<''The discovery of BLyS and its potential medical application is a milestone for immunology and medicine,'' said William Haseltine, Ph.D., Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Human Genome Sciences. >>
But about a month earlier:
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
J Exp Med 1999 Jun 7 ;189(11):1747-56
BAFF, a novel ligand of the tumor necrosis factor family, stimulates B cell growth.
Schneider P, et al.
Institute of Biochemistry, University of Lausanne, Switzerland.
... Here we describe a novel member of the TNF family, designated BAFF (for B cell activating factor belonging to the TNF family), which is expressed by T cells and dendritic cells. Human BAFF was mapped to chromosome 13q32-34. ... The expression of BAFF receptor appeared to be restricted to B cells. Both membrane-bound and soluble BAFF induced proliferation of anti-immunoglobulin M-stimulated peripheral blood B lymphocytes. Moreover, increased amounts of immunoglobulins were found in supernatants of germinal center-like B cells costimulated with BAFF. These results suggest that BAFF plays an important role as costimulator of B cell proliferation and function.
****
Further research shows that BAFF and BLyS are one and the same:
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
And so is TALL-1:
J Leukoc Biol 1999 May;65(5):680-3
TALL-1 is a novel member of the TNF family that is down-regulated by mitogens.
Shu HB, Hu WH, Johnson H
National Jewish Medical and Research Center, University of Colorado Health Sciences Center
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
The last authors did not seem to be aware of the B-cell stimulation properties of this molecule.
How come the press releases and other PR (and yes, there was PR) from HGS did not mention this? In most likelihood HGS was the first discoverer, and will probably end up with the lion share of patent rights; I am just pointing to the ethics or lack thereof of their executives in how they chose to present this to the public. I could almost bet (hope?) the HGS scientists were not happy with the handling of this. Or, maybe I am just too darn naive -g-
PB
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