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Biotech / Medical : Biotech Valuation -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Biomaven who wrote (10526)	2/20/2004 9:50:54 AM
From: Biomaven	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 52153

Reuters UPDATE - Bush picks Mark McClellan to head Medicare Friday February 20, 9:24 am ET WASHINGTON, Feb 20 (Reuters) - U.S. President George W. Bush on Friday will nominate the head of the Food and Drug Administration (News - Websites) , Mark McClellan, to run the agency that oversees Medicare and its new prescription drug program for seniors, administration officials said. ADVERTISEMENT An announcement was expected on Friday morning for the post, which requires Senate confirmation. McClellan would head the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and oversee implementation of a new law that will expand Medicare to include prescription drug benefits for seniors. The job was vacant because of the resignation in December of Tom Scully. Some Senate aides say McClellan is popular both among Republicans and Democrats. "People like him on both sides of the aisle and many lawmakers foresee a fairly quick confirmation," a senior Senate aide said. McClellan has won rave reviews from the pharmaceutical industry for his efforts to streamline the FDA drug review process and help reduce costs for manufacturers. But consumer groups have criticized him as being too industry-friendly. Before being appointed to the FDA, McClellan served on Bush's Council of Economic Advisers. His younger brother, Scott, is Bush's press secretary. Bush had hoped to get a big political boost after he signed the Medicare prescription drug bill into law in December. It adds an outpatient prescription drug benefit -- starting in 2006 -- for the 40 million elderly and disabled Medicare recipients. It also contains huge changes to encourage a far bigger role for private health insurers and managed care plans. But so far, the legislation may be more of a political liability. The White House acknowledged last month that adding prescription drug coverage to Medicare would cost at least $530 billion over 10 years -- 33 percent more than the $400 billion Congress and the administration had promised when the law was approved less than two months ago. The higher estimate cast doubt on Bush's plans to cut the deficit in half by 2009 and sparked an outcry from Democrats as well as from Bush's fiscal conservative base.

To: Biomaven who wrote (10526)	2/20/2004 10:16:46 AM
From: tom r. phillips	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 52153

Peter -- Larry McMillan's implied volatility data show how expensive SEPR options are now: implied volatility nearly 2X's historical volatility. (scroll down to SEPR): optionstrategist.com "actual stock prices distributions have fatter tails". yes, which is why option buyers do better than option sellers over the long term. didn't we once discuss Nassim Taleb's _Fooled by Randomness_ book here? fun reading re. risk in life and in trading. (he buys out of the money puts and calls, month after month, waiting for the random event in the fat tail.) with that said, i bought back some covered calls on SEPR this week for a decent profit. (Feb 27.5s) live and learn. Taleb would call me the kind of fool who makes him a living. (over the long run.) :-) Tom