Investing in biotech is always risky business, but the prospects of some shares are just plain frightening. If you are looking for the
top biotech stocks in 2008, you might want to stay away from these ones! Here are a few picks for small biotechnology and drug development companies that performed badly all year, hit hard by the economic turmoil of 2008.
Adherex (also trading as ADX:TO) is a biopharmaceutical company that discovers and develops novel
cancer therapeutics. At least that's what their website says. If they were so successful at it, one might wonder why they received an
AMEX delisting notice on December 10, 2008, for net losses in their five most recent fiscal years and failure to meet minimum stockholders' equity requirements.
Enough said.
Generex Biotechnology Corporation is a small development-based company out of Toronto (Canada) with a
pipeline full of novelty oral large molecule drugs. Their insulin spray for treating
Type I Diabetes is a grand idea, it's the glucose
energy spray that might raise a few eyebrows. Medicinal chewing gum is another product line of interest. GNBT shares fell from nearly $2 to less than $0.5 in 2008, and although the products are interesting, it's not such a solid pipeline that you can bet on it to deliver great returns.
Pain Therapeutics Inc., founded in 1998, has seen a
painful decline in share value for the past seven years, starting at about $20 pre-2001, hitting $10 in January 2008, and ending the year hovering at about $6.25. Pain is a research and development company focused on pain management and oncology and has four drugs in clinical trial. Their treatment for the rare blood disorder, hemophilia, might eventually qualify as an
orphan drug and monoclonal antibodies are hot right now, so Pain might have
what investors are looking for. PTIE shares might rebound but be careful hedging your bets. On December 11, 2008, the
FDA declined approval for Remoxy, an abuse-deterrent pain killer, and PTIE stock plunged 17% to $6.40.
Rigel Pharmaceuticals discovers and develops small molecule drugs for autoimmune, metabolic, viral and inflammatory diseases, and cancer. Rigel has several drugs in Phase I and II trials. The most promising candidate, R788, for arthritis and rheumatism, is in Phase II, which means it won't see approval for awhile yet, if at all.
Adverse events, reportedly controllable with reduced doses or by ceasing treatment, could be cause for concern. Development costs meant no third quarter revenues and even with collaborators Merck and Pfizer, this company looks to be spread too thin. RIGL shares, valued from $22-30 in early 2008, plunged to $4.76 by mid-November and now hover in the low $8 range.
Pharmasset Inc. hasn't performed especially badly in 2008 - it hasn't moved at all. The company develops treatments for viral infections, specifically
Hepatitis B and C, and HIV, having a candidates for each in clinical trials. In collaboration with Hoffmann-LaRoche, Pharmasset is developing an oral cytidine nucleoside analog for HIV, which is in Phase II. VRUS shares were top stocks at the start of 2008, valued at $14 in January, rocketed to over $36 in February, but have declined steadily since, ending the year back at around $14.
