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How do you pick Pharma-Bio Investments?

Posted: June 10th, 2022, 7:19 pm
by DelianLeague
Hello All,

When it comes to buying shares in individual companies I can be cautious, in general. I have a couple of holdings in big pharma and I have never invested in Bio-tech companies….until recently.
I admit that I have little idea of what I am doing as the companies don’t make a profit so I can’t tell if I am overpaying for the shares or not.
I have invested in the following 3 companies simply because I find the technology behind the products/cures fascinating and they seem to be really making a difference to people’s lives:

Autolus, Sangamo and Cidara

I would be interested in anyone else’s stories/ideas on how they chose investments in this sector. I admit that I don’t really know what I am doing but I have kept my Investment in each company fairly modest.

D.L.

Re: How do you pick Pharma-Bio Investments?

Posted: June 11th, 2022, 10:36 am
by TUK020
I have taken a modest punt on Novo Nordisk, purely on the basis of a report that an early stage trial shows that large doses of their already approved diabetes drug seems to result in significant and enduring weight-loss.
This was done on a very simple set of logic assumptions/generalisations without any rigorous analysis:

Money in pharma is for issues which affect western world, not developing countries.
Big and growing issue for developed countries is obesity/diabetes.
Big issue with drug development is cost/time/success rate of trials & safety approvals.
Drug that has already been approved for a related use has a massive head start.

Bought a small stake and have tried not to look at it since.

Re: How do you pick Pharma-Bio Investments?

Posted: June 12th, 2022, 8:26 am
by DelianLeague
TUK020 wrote:I have taken a modest punt on Novo Nordisk, purely on the basis of a report that an early stage trial shows that large doses of their already approved diabetes drug seems to result in significant and enduring weight-loss.
This was done on a very simple set of logic assumptions/generalisations without any rigorous analysis:

Money in pharma is for issues which affect western world, not developing countries.
Big and growing issue for developed countries is obesity/diabetes.
Big issue with drug development is cost/time/success rate of trials & safety approvals.
Drug that has already been approved for a related use has a massive head start.

Bought a small stake and have tried not to look at it since.



Novo was always a share that was on my 'watchlist' It was one of the ones that I wanted at a good price but it always seemed to up and I never managed to buy any at the price that I wanted. I suppose its a sign of quality.

D.L.

Re: How do you pick Pharma-Bio Investments?

Posted: June 21st, 2022, 9:34 pm
by bruncher
DelianLeague wrote:Hello All,

When it comes to buying shares in individual companies I can be cautious, in general. I have a couple of holdings in big pharma and I have never invested in Bio-tech companies….until recently.
I admit that I have little idea of what I am doing as the companies don’t make a profit so I can’t tell if I am overpaying for the shares or not.
I have invested in the following 3 companies simply because I find the technology behind the products/cures fascinating and they seem to be really making a difference to people’s lives:

Autolus, Sangamo and Cidara

I would be interested in anyone else’s stories/ideas on how they chose investments in this sector. I admit that I don’t really know what I am doing but I have kept my Investment in each company fairly modest.

D.L.


Why not split your proposed investment between all three? These stocks are so volatile, that one winner covers your losses if the other two don't do well.

Re: How do you pick Pharma-Bio Investments?

Posted: June 27th, 2022, 8:06 pm
by bruncher
My best performing share last year was Moderna - I bought a dip and more than doubled my money, but not everything works out like that - I'm currently underwater with a small bet on CureVac.

Re: How do you pick Pharma-Bio Investments?

Posted: June 27th, 2022, 9:26 pm
by GrahamPlatt
Have had my fingers burned more times than I care to recall “buying the story” in small companies with a good idea. Mine were largely of an engineering bent, but I’m sure the same applies to pharma. If the product is that good, the gorillas will just acquire them, or time will be against them and they don’t get to market until the funds run out. OTOH, a very few will shoot the lights out. It’s a gamble. So, as bruncher says, spread your bets.

Re: How do you pick Pharma-Bio Investments?

Posted: July 5th, 2022, 1:33 pm
by bruncher
An interesting story re BioNTech and CureVac:

CureVac has filed a lawsuit in the German Regional Court in Düsseldorf against BioNTech SE and two of its subsidiaries, seeking fair compensation for infringement of a portfolio of CureVac’s intellectual property rights,


https://markets.ft.com/data/announce/de ... 91049_en-1

Re: How do you pick Pharma-Bio Investments?

Posted: July 18th, 2022, 12:17 pm
by WickedLester
One I think that's worth looking at at current prices is fund Arix Bioscience. The shares have fallen so far now they only trade at a tiny premium to the last reported net cash position with all of the investments thrown in for virtually nothing.

They have made at least one very successful exit in the past, I've no idea on the prospects for the rest of their portfolio but the downside seems fairly limited to me as long as they are careful with their cash.

Re: How do you pick Pharma-Bio Investments?

Posted: January 6th, 2023, 11:39 pm
by Bouleversee
I've held GSK for many years and must have bought at the wrong time because they still hover around my purchase price. AZN, OTOH, have done very well for me and I liked their philanthropic approach re the Covid vaccine, even if it did reduce their profits. I made a profit when Horizon got taken over but have lost a packet on Woodford's Patient Capital IT, now run by Schroder, and on the whole intend to avoid small companies in this field as they seem to do better for the staff than the shareholders and are just too risky. I thought I would be safe with Woodford :lol:

Re: How do you pick Pharma-Bio Investments?

Posted: January 27th, 2023, 8:50 pm
by Dobbin
I am not a Bio Pharma investor rather a bio pharma startup. We offer a really interesting investment opportunity in the UK Medical Cannabis market. We are a private company at the moment and are conducting a private fundraise. We intend to go public. 4C LABS is a fully licensed Medical Cannabis company, with Import & distribution, medical clinic, schedule 1 narcotics and production licenses. We will have products ready to enter the UK market in April. We are unlike most other cannabis companies in our approach. We offer a capital light model with products that will sell in the current market for up to 50% less than the competition back by our customer service guarantee.
I am happy to have conversation anytime about the industry and my take on the direction of the Cannabis markets in the UK / EU. G

Re: How do you pick Pharma-Bio Investments?

Posted: September 2nd, 2023, 8:20 am
by TUK020
DelianLeague wrote:
TUK020 wrote:I have taken a modest punt on Novo Nordisk, purely on the basis of a report that an early stage trial shows that large doses of their already approved diabetes drug seems to result in significant and enduring weight-loss.
This was done on a very simple set of logic assumptions/generalisations without any rigorous analysis:

Money in pharma is for issues which affect western world, not developing countries.
Big and growing issue for developed countries is obesity/diabetes.
Big issue with drug development is cost/time/success rate of trials & safety approvals.
Drug that has already been approved for a related use has a massive head start.

Bought a small stake and have tried not to look at it since.



Novo was always a share that was on my 'watchlist' It was one of the ones that I wanted at a good price but it always seemed to up and I never managed to buy any at the price that I wanted. I suppose its a sign of quality.

D.L.

https://www.ft.com/content/97e89e94-38c ... 10e39958bc
behind paywall
Novo Nordisk briefly eclipses LVMH as Europe’s most valuable company

Re: How do you pick Pharma-Bio Investments?

Posted: September 2nd, 2023, 8:53 pm
by 77ss
TUK020 wrote:
DelianLeague wrote:

Novo was always a share that was on my 'watchlist' It was one of the ones that I wanted at a good price but it always seemed to up and I never managed to buy any at the price that I wanted. I suppose its a sign of quality.

D.L.

https://www.ft.com/content/97e89e94-38c ... 10e39958bc
behind paywall
Novo Nordisk briefly eclipses LVMH as Europe’s most valuable company


The Reuters articie - unpaywalled:
https://www.reuters.com/mpharmaarkets/e ... 023-09-01/

Personally, I hold AZN, and get broad exposure to other pharma-bio via an IT (WWH). Not too keen on stock picking these days.

I note that I also have a modest holding in Novo via BRGE and JGGI (as well as in WWH) .

Re: How do you pick Pharma-Bio Investments?

Posted: September 27th, 2023, 9:25 am
by Steveam
I’m looking at Worldwide Health or Polar. I already hold a chunk of Glaxo and the spun off Haleon. I’ve just sold AstraZeneca to crystallise capital gains but will buy back a reduced quantity after 30 days.

Best wishes, Steve