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Biotech / Medical : Ligand (LGND) Breakout! -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: tonyt who wrote (19569)	4/25/1998 8:46:00 AM
From: Flagrante Delictu	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 32384

tonyt, The May edition of Bloomberg magazine, which I received last night has an article entitled." It's time to buy Biotechs" by Michael Gianturco. The subtitle is, "A professional growth investor on the sector that's finally delivering on its promises". He starts by saying that about a year ago he started buying biotechs."It was also a strategic move to position our portfolios for the 21st century & for the next industry destined for tremendous growth." He mentioned that, "Growth investing is a % game, & small companies in new industries are most likely to show the highest % growth." "In fact, the biotechnology sector today is approximately where the digital group was in the 1970s. In other words, these stocks are unpredictable & dangerous, & the underlying technology is a mystery to most people. The best thing about the sector is also the worst thing about it. Most growth investors, including many professionals, absolutely loathe biotechnology. They don't understand it, & they don't trust it,therefore, they don't buy it. This explains why b/t stocks are still cheap in a stock market that's long been surging....Professional portfolio managers dislike the b/t group because it has a history of troubling events....It takes a certain amount of grit to look beyond this grim backdrop & see a buying opportunity. But the b/t sector for all its history of hype, represents the most important technology in our future. It can actually transform the fields of medicine, agriculture, & industrial chemistry....Molecular biology is to the second half ot the 20th century what physics was to the first: a springboard for a torrent of widely used commercial applications. Everyone acknowledges the triumphs of biological science. The issue for investors is : Where are the payoffs in technology & products? ..."Commercial b/t remained on the launchpad until the early 80s.(because of the fact it is very) hard to discover & comprehend the thousands of natural products & biochemical pathways pathways spun out over 4 billion years of biochemical evolution.. MORE TO COME

To: tonyt who wrote (19569)	4/25/1998 9:17:00 AM
From: Flagrante Delictu	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 32384

Tonyt, Continuing on the article "Because of its sheer difficulties, b/t failed for decades to yield marketable products. During that time, it absorbed a tremendous amount of direct & indirect capital investment from the pharma industry, gov't, charitable research foundations & private resources.since the mid 70s, ,,,venture capital & public stock offerings have been added to the capital investment pool. Much of the monetary investment in science goes to fund experimental failures. To learn what does work, you must first learn what does not. This is an amazingly expensive process. However, if you have come to b/t investing lately---meaning, right about now---you can take advantage of all that's been learned during the past 4 decades. ...THE END How do you shop for stocks without product revenues? Here are some hints. Read prospectuses & annual reports to identify companies making drugs that are small molecules, rather than large proteins with elaborate structures; small molecules work better,last longer in the body, & are more easily administered. Review your candidate company's intellectual property....In general, look for companies that can clearly describe their methodology for developing lots of drugs. This way you can avoid making a one shot bet on a single product. Last, avoid the siren song of a potential "blockbuster" product. These are drugs that treat chronic conditions affecting large numbers of people.... A number of b/t disasters have followed from small companies that bet everything they had on a megaseller drug that never materialized. Better to invest in a co. with a portfolio of niche- market drugs or a demonstrated method for discovering drugs. There is no easy answer. This is why the whole group is attractively priced. When the winners are easy to spot, the time for bargain-shopping will be long past. If you want to invest in b/t, you must invest the time to study & understand the field.