ORCH...some interesting information
ipo.com
biz.yahoo.com
thestandard.com
*Excerpt from 6-4-2000 Barrons:
Although Isaly owns his fair share of big multinationals -- Eli Lilly, Warner-Lambert and Pharmacia & Upjohn are among his favorites -- his true passion is for the smaller, more research-driven companies in the biotech area. The majority of his biotech holdings aren't pharmaceutical makers themselves, but outfits that are perfecting drug-discovery processes. One important part of the process is understanding the components of human genes, or genomics. Isaly compares gene sequencing to throwing disassembled parts of a Rolex watch on a table in front of you. "Do all the parts really add up to a Rolex?" Not yet, but it's a start. One of his favorite companies in this area, Orchid Biosciences, specializes in trying to sort out the extremely small differences in individuals' genes. From there, it seeks to figure out what they mean and how to use them to predict diseases.
These differences are called single nucleotide polymorphisms, or SNPs, and Orchid specializes in identifying those SNPs and scoring them. Once the scores are developed, they can be used to discover drugs, design clinical trials, monitor patients, as well as breed plants and animals. A number of analysts see SNP-scoring technology as the next multibillion-dollar market opportunity within genomics. Given this, Isaly thinks that Orchid, which went public last month -- and which Isaly has owned since it was a private company -- is a bargain at a recent $13 per share, even though it's still losing money. |
