Jim,
I'm sorry if my mention of the NPR "Marketplace" segment on biotech stock foul-play insinuated that BTIM was fraudulently promoted. I just mentioned the segment because this interesting phenom was being reported on one of my favorite shows.
Again, I believe that Biotime has never made outrageous claims about Hextend. However, I think that David Crossen throws around superlatives too much (e.g., Hextend establishing a "new paradigm", or BTIM being "the most undervalued stock in the biotech universe", etc.). Also, Jono Steinberg's direct recommendation of BTIM and the simultaneous dumping millions of $ of BTIM by his hedge fund did draw a lot of attention from the press (The Street, Baron's (?)).
I repeat, I did not intend to accuse BTIM of being fraudulently promoted. That's a strong accusation that's not worth making. I believe that people should research their stocks, and not blame others.
As to the off-topic "Marketplace" segment:
<off-topic>
The segment was actually on insider trading of biotechs, especially development-stage companies where drugs are tested in clinical trials. In these companies, early knowledge of these results provides temptation and opportunity for insider trading (through 3rd parties). The SEC is now more actively policing this potential abuse. Last year, a physician at Alpha-1 (sic?) was fined $160k for leaking information regarding worse-than-expected clinical trial results of their (lead?) drug. He claimed to only mention to his wife that the results were bad, and not to have made any trading recommendations. However, the SEC tied 3rd party trades to him, and made an example out of him. (The day the trial results were made public, the stock fell 65%.)
Anyway, the thrust of the segment was that there's a lot of temptation and opportunity for insider trading in development-stage biotechs. This occurs because the drug development process is long, involves many people, trading can be done thru 3rd parties, valuations react wildly to trial results, biotech investment is booming, etc.
I believe "Marketplace" is available via RealAudio at marketplace.org
</off-topic>
Steve |
