Cramer's 'Mad Money' Recap: FDA Approval Plays
By TheStreet.com Staff
1/3/2006 7:11 PM EST
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Viewers may have taken a holiday break, but the Food and Drug Administration didn't, Jim Cramer said on Tuesday's "Mad Money" TV show.
That's why he said it's time
to buy Alkermes (ALKS:Nasdaq - commentary - research - Cramer's Take),
which was anointed by the FDA with an approvable letter for Vivitrol, its treatment for alcoholism.
"It's as close to having approval without having approval as a drug can be," he said.
While it's not a totally new treatment, it doesn't have a lot of competition. And, said Cramer, because Americans are lazy and don't want to work to treat their bad habits, this drug could explode.
A similar company that Cramer said has some interesting things in the pipeline is
Cephalon (CEPH:Nasdaq - commentary - research - Cramer's Take), which makes a treatment called Adderol for attention deficit disorder. But he added that Alkermes is the near-term play with its recent FDA letter.
He told a caller that he likes new pharma better than old, also recommending
Amgen (AMGN:Nasdaq - commentary - research - Cramer's Take),
Gilead Sciences (GILD:Nasdaq - commentary - research - Cramer's Take) and
Biogen Idec (BIIB:Nasdaq - commentary - research - Cramer's Take).
In the world of sleep drugs, Cramer said that the game was over for
Sepracor (SEPR:Nasdaq - commentary - research - Cramer's Take) and its sleep disorder treatment Lunesta.
Instead, said Cramer,
Neurocrine Biosciences (NBIX:Nasdaq - commentary - research - Cramer's Take)
will be the winner in the sleep drug wars when its sleep drug is approved in 2006.
Cramer said that Neurocrine's treatment has posted top-notch results in clinical trials, and that it has a 200,000-person sales team behind it. No matter how good a drug is, it will do better when a company throws the necessary resources behind it. He recommended buying the stock before FDA approval was granted.
He told a caller that personalized medicine and genetics wasn't the game to be in, but that history shows FDA approval will boost a stock.
thestreet.com
regards,
John |
