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Biotech / Medical : Ionis Pharmaceuticals (IONS) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Scott H. Davis who wrote (2204)	8/15/1998 11:39:00 AM
From: Scott H. Davis	Respond to of 4676

Here's some recent comments on the sector 14) MEDICAL, BIO....4/2...........8/04...........(-) Comment: The biotech industry has taken on a Dr Jeckyl and Mr. Hyde persona, with about half of the component issues trending steadily higher, while the other half has broken down badly. Anytime you're dealing with an industry in which profits are a future consideration, such volatility is common. Not surprisingly, those companies exhibiting the best relative strength - Amgen, Biogen, Genzyme, etc - are large cap firms with established drug pipelines that already generate profits. The losers are being led by the smaller-cap, more research oriented firms. The net result of the split, is that the group has slightly underperformed the market over the past few months. But while the group hasn't lived up to its early year hype, again disappointing investors, Briefing maintains that constructive changes in the industry leave it well positioned for long-term outperformance. Among the key changes we think enhance the group's potential for l/t profitability and market outperformance are: Collaboration creating increased stability: The new business model - collaboration - improves the financial underpinnings of this volatile sector, increases the likelihood for new drugs and should result in a wave of consolidation. New drug developing methods: Improved technology reducing costs and speeding up the front-end of the development process. Will translate into bolder innovation and a plethora of new drugs in the years to come. Genomics, high throughput screening, combinatorial chemistry, bioinformatics, rational drug design, antisense therapy and signal transduction among new methods helping to usher in a new age of medicine. Favorable political/demographic backdrops: FDA moving more quickly to approve new drugs... Population aging. The result of these changes - improved financials and a growing pipeline of new drug/treatment candidates. Add to these factors a more favorable regulatory backdrop and an aging population and the pieces are in place for an explosion of new drug offerings/treatments in the years to come. As a result a number of these companies, both large and small, will emerge as key players in the pharmaceutical industry. Despite our optimistic long-term outlook, the deteriorating market tone suggests that the market will be placing greater emphasis on earnings reliability and price persistance over the short-term. Consequently, we are lowering our near-term rating from market perform to slightly underperform. Stocks:Agouron Pharmaceuticals (AGPH), Amgen (AMGN), Biogen (BGEN), Centocor (CNTO), Cephalon (CEPH), Chiron (CHIR), Genzyme (GENZ), Human Genome Sciences (HGSI), Idexx (IDXX), Immunex (IMNX), Incyte Pharmaceuticals (INCY), Icos (ICOS), Isis Pharmaceuticals (ISIP), Liposome (LIPO), Myriad Genetics (MYGN), Scios Inc. (SCIO), Vical (VICL).