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Pastimes : Clown-Free Zone... sorry, no clowns allowed -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Knighty Tin who wrote (171838)	6/11/2002 2:40:38 PM
From: NOW	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 436258

that was then, and please believe me, pendulums swing...

To: Knighty Tin who wrote (171838)	6/11/2002 3:13:02 PM
From: NOW	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 436258

As James grant wrote: "In good times, vigilance and envy both sleep. In bad times, both wake up with a start."

To: Knighty Tin who wrote (171838)	6/11/2002 6:30:54 PM
From: Night Trader	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 436258

Knighty, I recently read a paper in one of the academic journals about past investment returns on drug discoveries. Returns were of course highly skewed but the average drug barely broke even on its cost of capital in the 70s and 80s. Excluding the blockbuster Xantac, the average drug lost money in the sense of not adding economic value. ROE is not meaningful because of necessary intangible investments (such as staff) so is overstated by at least 20-25%.