Article Excerpt:
TWST: Let's start with an overview of what you are covering in the biotech space ' is there a particular focus?Dr. Benjamin: My coverage universe at Rodman & Renshaw primarily focuses on the small and mid-cap biotechnology players. Within small and mid-cap biotech, we tend to concentrate primarily on oncology names, on those biotech companies developing novel therapeutics targeting the hard to treat and dreaded disease cancer. We have cast a wide net as far what sort of therapeutics and indications we currently cover. We have many companies under coverage that primarily focus on hematological malignancies such as BioCryst Hana Biosciences (HNAB), and Vion Pharmaceuticals (VION). We also cover several companies that primarily concentrate on solid tumors, including ArQule (ARQL), EntreMed (ENMD), Idera Pharmaceuticals (IDP), OXiGENE (OXGN), and Spectrum Pharmaceuticals (SPPI). The common thread in our coverage universe ties together small, undiscovered biotechnology companies with a strong scientific foundation, developing novel therapeutics that address hard to treat diseases of large unmet medical needs. And by the way, from a firm perspective, we at Rodman & Renshaw, are striving to be the one- stop shop in biotechnology. To that end, my colleagues at Rodman cover a wide range of biotech companies in a wide range of market caps and therapeutic areas. These companies include well known names such as Genentech (DNA), Celgene (CELG), and ImClone (IMCL), United Therapeutics (UTHR), and BioMarin (BMRN), to less well known, but equally promising names such as SuperGen (SUPG), Cortex (COR), Avanir (AVNR), Titan Pharmaceuticals (TTP), Vivus (VVUS), and InSite Vision (ISV).
TWST: Why concentrate on cancer? Is it because it is the biggest space?
Dr. Benjamin: Yes, you hit the nail right on the head. Not only are
cancer incidence rates predicted to increase to 15 million new cases
worldwide and surpass mortality associated with cardiovascular disease,
the oncology space is also where there is a lot of activity from a drug
development point of view. In a very hard to treat indication, we
believe biotechnology companies are blazing forward and discovering new
drugs and new pathways that could one day revolutionize the way we treat
cancer and contribute in one way or another to the benefit of humanity.
Tickers included in this excerpt: AEZS, ARQL, AVNR, BCRX, BIVN, BMRN, BMY, BPH, CELG, COR, DNA, ENMD, GENZ, GNTA, GPCB, GSK, HNAB, IDP, IMCL, ISV, KERX, NVS, OSIP, OXGN, SPPI, SRA, SUPG, SVYSY, TTP, UTHR, VION, VVUS
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