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Biotech / Medical : Biotech Stock Picking for Charity - 2007 -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: technetium who wrote (345)	12/15/2007 10:07:28 AM
From: rkrw	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 397

Congratulations! Cousins of mine went to West End House overnight camp for years. I remember going there with the camp I went to, competing in hoops and baseball games with those guys. Classy place. Hoops games in particular were a lot of fun, I remember it well, tiny gym that would get really, really loud, fans banging on the bleachers to Queens We Will Rock You. I'd get so pumped up and the games were great. Circa 1980-1983 if you happened to be there at the time. I have good memories of West End and am glad to send my check their way.

To: technetium who wrote (345)	12/15/2007 10:16:52 AM
From: Casaubon	Respond to of 397

Nice charity. My check will go out this weekend for $200.00. Now for some strategy discussion. I backend loaded my portfolio with companies that would have significant clinical trial news towards the end of the year. The hope was to get some pops that wouldn't fade to nothing (a risk if the pop happens too early in the year). Also, the companies represented takeover candidates for big pharma, who are flush with cash from repatriation of dollars earned outside the US. Takeovers are great in the competition because, they lock in gains. In real life, this might not maximize your profit potential but, in the game, it forces your hand to the plus side. There was some risk to the strategy. Delays in critical clinical filings throws a monkey wrench into the strategy. Also, for some reason, there was far less M&A activity than I had anticipated this year. Perhaps that was a result of the sub-prime freeze up, but that shouldn't really effect pharma with cash and weak pipline. Now for a synopsis: I had 2 outright blowups and 5 losers. One do nothing and, 2 winners. With the diversification, I only finished 6.5% to the bad. Considering the magnitude of some of the losses this was not bad. I spent 51 weeks off the leader board somewhere in the biotech backwaters. My conclusion: Pick companies working on sound science programs (for the most part, money will fall out of the equation over time). This requires knowledge of proposed disease mechanisms (non-scientific people should probably stick to mutual funds for biotech exposure). Evaluate the size of the market potential. Only a small percentage (I think about 20%) of compounds entering the clinic ever graduate to drug status. Only about half of those are considered commercial success stories. This is a tough game.

To: technetium who wrote (345)	12/15/2007 7:13:10 PM
From: BulbaMan	Respond to of 397

Technetium: I plan to donate my $300 pledge online and wonder whether you'd like to get credit for choosing the West End House in the Comments box on the donation form. If so, please send me a private message with your name or if anonymity is not an issue, just post your name here. Congrats again! Bulba

To: technetium who wrote (345)	12/15/2007 8:33:17 PM
From: zeta1961	Respond to of 397

Technetium..big congrats from me too..I have fond memories of West End House from my years in Boston...they collaborated with some of my friends over the years...I'll happily send in my pledge next week... Happy Holidays Biofreaks! Message 23140364

To: technetium who wrote (345)	12/15/2007 8:33:17 PM
From: zeta1961	Respond to of 397

Technetium..big congrats from me too..I have fond memories of West End House from my years in Boston...they collaborated with some of my friends over the years...I'll happily send in my pledge next week... Happy Holidays Biofreaks! Message 23140364

To: technetium who wrote (345)	12/15/2007 8:48:12 PM
From: technetium	Read Replies (6) \| Respond to of 397

West End House matching donation for the Kids Cafe. I noticed after posting that someone will match gifts made by December 31 if you mention the Kids Cafe in the comments section for online donations or via snail mail. The West End House provides meals for many children in the community. westendhouse.org "Help Support Our Kids Cafe - Serving 47,000 meals annually! "You can help us serve even more meals to children and teens this year by donating now to our Kids Cafe program. The West End House recently received a generous pledge to match every gift directed towards the Kids Cafe that is made between now and December 31, 2007."