Dr. Moussatos: I was originally part of Pacific Growth Equities, and Wedbush acquired Pacific Growth Equities in January of this year. I was part of the health care team of Pacific Growth. Wedbush is a regional broker/dealer in California, mostly west of the Mississippi, and they have a clearing house. They have retail and institutional clients, so their business is pretty diversified. They have been hiring analysts and bankers in different verticals, and they've really expanded out this year. Last year, Wedbush's best ideas list was at the bottom as far as performance; in the first half of this year, the Wedbush best ideas list became number one. Our Director of Research attributed that to the diversification, adding different verticals, and I'm pretty sure some of the health care small-cap stocks which rocketed in the first half contributed to that. So I'm proud because I had a company that was in there.
TWST: What do you cover within the biotech sector?
Dr. Moussatos: In general, I cover small to mid-cap companies that are developing drugs or devices to metabolic, ophthalmology, respiratory and autoimmune diseases.
Tickers included in this excerpt: ISPH, MAPP
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