Biotech Letter - John Thomas - Mad Hedge Fund Trader

The Five Frontunners in the Race for a COVID-19 VACCINE

May 12, 2020/in Biotech Letter /by JP

Mad Hedge Biotech & Healthcare Letter
April 28, 2020
Fiat Lux

Featured Trade:

(THE FIVE FRONTRUNNERS IN THE RACE FOR A COVID-19 VACCINE)
(GSK), (SNY), (REGN), (TBIO), (VIR)

We’re finally pulling out the big guns.

Almost five months into this debilitating global pandemic, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and Sanofi (SNY) announced a collaboration to come up with a coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine.

These vaccine heavy-hitters not only assured that the product would be ready by the second half of 2021 but also that they would be able to manufacture hundreds of millions of doses every year.

This is actually pretty impressive considering that the typical timeline for a vaccine takes at least a decade.

What we know so far is that Sanofi will conduct tests on its experimental vaccine using GSK’s adjuvants.

Adjuvants are added to improve the efficacy of some vaccines. These can also lower the amount of vaccine protein needed for every dose, boosting the likelihood of creating a shot that can be manufactured in large quantities.

According to GSK and Sanofi, human trials will begin in the second half of 2020.

GSK’s coronavirus adjuvant already demonstrated its value during the H1N1 influenza pandemic back in 2009 when this technology played a major role in the success of the Shingrix shingles vaccine.

As for Sanofi, the giant biotech company will be using a previously approved influenza vaccine for this joint effort.

GSK shares rose by 2% following the announcement while Sanofi got a 4.1% increase.

While both companies shared that they don’t really expect much profit from this COVID-19 vaccine, they plan to reinvest any short-term earnings in preparatory measures to better handle future pandemics.

Aside from this joint effort, GSK and Sanofi are also taking multiple shots in the hopes of solving this COVID-19 health crisis.

Sanofi is testing its malaria drug which contains hydroxychloroquine.

If you recall, this is the same drug that Donald Trump hailed as a “miracle” coronavirus cure earlier this year. Days following the president’s announcement, Sanofi offered to donate 100 million doses of hydroxychloroquine to 50 countries.

On top of that, Sanofi is also working with Regeneron (REGN) to assess whether its existing arthritis treatment Kevzara can work as a coronavirus medication.

It also has an ongoing collaboration with Translate Bio (TBIO) to come up with another COVID-19 vaccine using messenger RNA.

Outside its coronavirus efforts, Sanofi has been looking into streamlining the company’s focus to improve margins and shift into more lucrative growth areas. So far, so good.

One of the more drastic measures is eliminating diabetes and cardiovascular research sector of the company.

Funding for these was reallocated, with the acquisition of cancer and auto-immune biotechnology company Synthorx serving as a strong indication of the direction the company plans to take.

Apart from growing its immuno-oncology department, Sanofi is also betting on eczema treatment Dupixent — a move that saw them rewarded almost immediately.

The company’s recent earnings report showed that Dupixent sales jumped 135% in the fourth quarter of 2019, with annual sales soaring to an impressive $2.3 billion. This indicates a 152% increase from the year prior.

Riding this momentum, Sanofi received FDA approval to expand the use of multiple myeloma drug Sarclisa in April.

This marks another significant win for the company.

Multiple myeloma ranks second in the list of most common blood cancer types, with the disease affecting roughly 32,000 Americans annually. It cannot be cured as well, which means that treatments are needed throughout the patients’ lives.

Needless to say, Sanofi has several platforms to contribute to finding the cure and even a vaccine for COVID-19. More importantly, the company has managed to transform itself into a more streamlined and innovative business.

Sanofi would be a wise choice for investors interested in a stock to hold for the long term. This company doesn’t only hold a starring role in the search for a coronavirus vaccine but also offers more opportunities beyond the current pandemic.

Meanwhile, GSK is also not limiting its adjuvant technology to Sanofi but to other companies developing COVID-19 vaccines as well. The list includes Vir Biotechnology (VIR) and even Chinese biotech company Clover Biopharmaceuticals.

Despite its active participation in the coronavirus vaccine race, GSK tumbled down to over its 10-year low in March.

Although the pandemic’s negative impact looks discouraging, I think the overreaction is good news for value and dividend traders as the stock now trades at bargain-bin valuations.

Hence, investors could enjoy GSK’s lucrative 5.8% dividend at relatively cheap costs.

It also doesn’t hurt that GSK offers a diversified portfolio that all but guarantees minimal losses for its investors.

Its biggest revenue driver is the pharmaceutical arm of the business, which raked in total revenue of roughly $21.68 billion in 2019.

GSK’s vaccine segment contributed 8.87 billion while the consumer healthcare sector brought in over 11 billion.

Although smaller than its pharmaceutical arm, both segments are quickly catching up to GSK’s biggest moneymaker. In fact, its vaccine segment recorded revenue growth of 21% while its consumer healthcare arm jumped by 17%.

Overall, GSK is a compelling addition to any investor’s portfolio. Its impressive dividend combined with its diversified business makes this biotechnology company a wise choice as well.

The collaboration of GSK and Sanofi is considered as the most significant and promising COVID-19 vaccine effort to date.

This partnership not only maximizes the expertise of the two leading vaccine makers in the world but take advantage of their manufacturing capacity as well, which is a critical concern given that a COVID-19 vaccine would have to be distributed to millions, if not billions, of individuals across the globe.

The Biogen Partnership That May Save Your Life

April 3, 2020/in Biotech Letter /by Mad Hedge Fund Trader

The global economy has been dealt a massive blow because of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), which has now spread across 181 countries — and it’s showing no signs of stopping anytime soon.

The recent situation report reveals that COVID-19 has caused over 53,975 deaths and more than 1,030,000 confirmed cases worldwide.

To add to that, the International Monetary Fund recently disclosed their concerns that the pandemic could push the world economy on the brink of a depression. What’s worse is that the fear brought by this possibility is already mirrored by major stock indexes across the globe.

Amid the economic turmoil, the Trump administration came up with an emergency package worth $2 trillion in an effort to help companies particularly in the aviation and healthcare sectors.

However, that won’t be enough in the long run, not even by a little bit.

This is why several biotechnology companies have been scrambling to find a vaccine and a treatment for this quickly spreading disease.

In March, Biogen (BIIB) announced its decision to team up with Vir Biotechnology (VIR) to join the race in looking for a cure for COVID-19.

Due to the urgency of the situation, both companies took an unusual move to simply start working together before even finalizing the details of the agreement. What they only have at the moment is a signed letter of intent.

What we know so far is that Biogen will take charge of the cell line and process development along with the manufacturing of Vir’s monoclonal antibodies.

Vir is a biotech company developing treatment for infectious diseases; its partnership with Biogen will help the smaller biotech to manufacture its COVID-19 drug candidate on a bigger scale. It’s also interesting that the company’s current CEO served as Biogen’s CEO up until 2016.

Prior to this deal, Vir has long been regarded as a biotech company with a strong financial position.

In the third quarter of 2019, the company raked in $320.2 million in cash, cash equivalents, as well as short-term investments. Vir’s balance sheet shows roughly $22.5 million in terms of long-term liabilities. Its recorded $1.4 million in revenue for the quarter.

In terms of its COVID-19 efforts, the company started working on a potential cure in January. Basically, Vir is looking into its library of antibodies to find which one could be used to neutralize the novel coronavirus.

This is actually promising since the company already succeeded in utilizing the same technique for Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), which are also caused by coronaviruses.

Apart from its COVID-19 efforts, Vir’s pipeline includes a number of potential vaccines and treatments for tuberculosis, HIV, and Hepatitis B Virus (HBV).

If you’re planning to buy this stock, make sure to do so before its lock-up period expires on April 8 to maximize your money’s worth.

Between the two companies though, Biogen has been gaining more attention as a more attractive investment since it’s a blue-chip stock selling for cheap these days.

Biogen is a frontrunner in the multiple sclerosis and spinal muscular atrophy space. The giant biotech is also a leader in the development and manufacturing of biosimilars, which are cheaper versions of biologically based therapies.

Its pipeline also has a number of high-value clinical assets particularly for hard-to-treat neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.

Its acquisition of Nightstar Therapeutics and recent partnership with Sangamo Therapeutics (SGMO) have also transformed Biogen into one of the red-hot players in the emerging gene therapy market.

Biogen is also sitting on $4.5 billion in cash with a relatively reasonable debt-to-equity ratio of 48.2.

Hence, this giant biotech has no issues paying a dividend and can also be considered more or less immune to the threats of COVID-19. This makes it a stock capable of weathering the ongoing pandemic and even the resulting economic crisis.

Looking at the pipeline of the company, Biogen currently has over 25 drug candidates. Five are already in Phase 3. Meanwhile, its win against Mylan’s (MYL) for its blockbuster Tecfidera ensures that Biogen won’t face competition for this moneymaker until 2028.

However, all eyes are focused on its Alzheimer’s drug Aducanumab.

Since the company’s announcement of this treatment, investors have been on a rollercoaster ride with Biogen withdrawing and eventually going back in.

If it gains approval, Biogen shares will definitely soar. If the drug gets rejected, then the stock will suffer from short-term losses.

According to the Alzheimer’s Association, there are 5.8 million people afflicted by the disease in the United States alone. Needless to say, this represents a lucrative market for Biogen.

With a healthy balance sheet overall and a steady near-term outlook, Biogen is an attractive stock for bargain hunters looking to add a pretty cheap large biotech stock in their portfolio.

The indiscriminate wave of selling brought about by the pandemic has clearly opened a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, particularly for patient investors. The fact that Biogen is part of Buffett’s own portfolio doesn’t hurt its case either.

biogen

More Players Enter the Race for a Corona Cure

March 31, 2020/in Biotech Letter, Diary, Newsletter /by Mad Hedge Fund Trader

Special issue on COVID-19 vaccines: Moderna Inc (MRNA), Arcturus (ARCT), Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), Sanofi (SNY), GeoVax (GOVX), Altimmune (ALT), Novavax (NVAX), GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), Generex (GNBT), Vaxil Bio (VXL.V), Inovio Pharmaceuticals (INO), Applied DNA Sciences (APDN), Zydus Cadila (CADILAHC)

The hunt is definitely underway for potential treatments to fight COVID-19 but coming up with vaccines will take a much longer time.

Since we already have the genetic code of the novel coronavirus (click here for the link), researchers can now use the complete blueprint to come up with ways to defeat this disease.

With code in hand, it takes a supercomputer just three hours to create model vaccines. Then it is just a question of how fast you can make them, if at all. Many proposed models are far beyond our existing technology.

To date, there are roughly 35 companies and academic organizations actively seeking ways to come up with a COVID-19 vaccine. While the process will still take time, there are several promising prospects.

Among the companies working on this, Moderna Inc (MRNA) has been recognized as the first biotechnology company to conduct human trials to test its COVID-19 vaccine in March. The trial includes 45 males and non-pregnant females aged 18 to 55.

Moderna’s vaccine utilizes the genetic sequence of the novel coronavirus. Basically, the goal is to build a vaccine out of messenger RNA.

Aside from Moderna, another biotech company called Curevac has been at the forefront of this cutting-edge technology.

In China, RNACure Biopharma has been working with Fudan University and Shanghai JiaoTong University on using the same technique to come up with a vaccine as well.

China’s CDC along with Tongji University and Stermina as well as Duke-NUS in partnership with Arcturus (ARCT) are also using a similar approach.

Although Moderna’s vaccine reached Phase 1 in record time, authorities cautioned that the development time frame is somewhere between 12 and 18 months — and this is even dubbed as an “overly optimistic” timeline.

Meanwhile, there are companies like Sanofi Pasteur (SNY) elected to use previously deployed vaccine platforms in earlier epidemics like SARS.

Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) also decided to employ the same strategy using its Ebola vaccine platform. In fact, JNJ shared that it’ll be ready to conduct human testing of its non-replicating viral vector by November.

Aside from JNJ, another biotechnology company in China called CanSino Biologics (HKG: 6185) in collaboration with the Academy of Military Medical Sciences is utilizing the same technology.

Just last week, Chinese authorities approved CanSino’s Phase 1 clinical trials.

Apart from JNJ and CanSino, other biotechnology companies are also working on a vaccine using the same non-replicating viral vector technology.

The list includes Wuhan’s BravoVax along with GeoVax (GOVX), Altimmune (ALT), Vaxart (VXRT), Greffex, and the University of Oxford.

Another strategy is employed by Novavax (NVAX), which is to construct a “recombinant” vaccine.

In a nutshell, this strategy entails extraction of the genetic code for the protein found on the Sars-CoV-2. This is a part of the virus that can trigger the immune system. This will then be pasted into the genome of a bacterium or yeast.

In effect, this vaccine will force the microorganisms to produce huge quantities of the protein to be able to fight off the virus.

Big biotechnology companies like Sanofi and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) are following the same technique.

Smaller firms are also in on the action including Generex Biotechnology Corporation (GNBT), Vaxil Bio (VXL.V), EpiVax, and Clover Biopharmaceuticals.

The University of Georgia, Baylor College of Medicine, and the University of Miami are pursuing the same lead as well.

On top of these, several biotechnology companies use a DNA-based approach to come up with a vaccine.

Last March 12, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation provided a $5 million grant to Pennsylvania-based biotech firm Inovio Pharmaceuticals (INO) to help the company speed up the tests needed for its DNA vaccine called INO-4800.

This is on top of the roughly $9 million in funding it received from the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations earlier.

At the moment, INO-4800 is in preclinical studies with plans to push it to Phase 1 clinical trials by April.

Aside from Inovio, Applied DNA Sciences (APDN), Zydus Cadila (CADILAHC), Takis, and Evivax are also pursuing the same strategy.

Despite implementing the most effective and even draconian measures to contain COVID-19, these tactics only managed to slow down the spread of the virus.

With the World Health Organization tagging this situation as a pandemic, everyone has become more desperate in the search for a vaccine because only a vaccine can stop people from getting sick.

However, even the unprecedented speeds afforded, the biotechnology companies couldn’t change the fact that developing a vaccine requires at least a year. It’s crucial to not make mistakes along the way especially since the product could potentially be injected into most of the world’s population.

After all, there’s only a single thing that can be considered worse than a bad virus — and that is a bad vaccine.

vaccine

Pfizer Pushes Ahead with a Corona Cure

March 26, 2020/in Biotech Letter /by Mad Hedge Fund Trader

Pfizer (PFE) has been widely recognized as one of the leading and largest vaccine makers in the industry.

Now, one of America’s biggest biotechnology companies will throw its weight behind German firm BioNTech (BNTX) in its quest to develop a COVID-19 vaccine.

Prior to this announcement, BioNTech has already been working inside China in collaboration with Chinese biopharmaceutical company Fosun Pharma (SHA: 600196).

Its partnership with Pfizer will entail efforts outside China and will be in collaboration with the University of Pennsylvania and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Specifically, the work will be done at sites in the US and Germany.

What we know so far about this experimental COVID vaccine is that it’s called BNT162.

Like the experimental vaccine from Moderna (MRNA), BioNTech’s version is also based on messenger RNA. Clinical trials will start by April.

BioNTech shares were up 55% following the announcement of this collaboration with Pfizer. Meanwhile, the giant biotechnology company’s shares jumped by 3.8%.

Before this coronavirus vaccine collaboration, BioNTech and Pfizer were already partners.

In 2018, the two companies agreed to work together in developing flu vaccines based on mRNA.

However, this recent expansion of their partnership gained more attention because of the intense focus on the efforts to combat the novel coronavirus.

The output of this partnership won’t be kept within the confines of the companies though.

According to Pfizer, any information or tool it comes up with will be shared with the entire scientific community.

The company also pledged its assistance to small biotechnology companies working on COVID-19 treatments and vaccines, going as far as offering its manufacturing power to help speed up the process.

Aside from its coronavirus efforts, the giant biotech has been working on plans to bolster its revenue streams.

Addressing the loss of exclusivity for seizure disorder drug Lyrica, an issue that weighed on the company’s top and bottom lines last year, Pfizer has been gearing up to merge the Upjohn unit with Mylan (MYL).

The merged companies will be called Viatris.

This is a good strategy. Since Upjohn is home to Lyrica and several older drugs nearing the end of their patent exclusivity, separating this unit will allow Pfizer to streamline its portfolio.

Instead of holding on to Lyrica as an anchor, the “new” Pfizer will focus on its new line of blockbuster drugs like breast cancer medication Ibrance and blood clot treatment Eliquis.

Apart from these, Pfizer is investing more on marketing its rising stars like Vyndaquel. The company’s pipeline is also filled with potential blockbusters particularly its 20-valent pneumococcal vaccine.

Although the Upjohn-Mylan merger will inevitably lower Pfizer’s dividend, shareholders of the giant biotech will still own part of Viatris. That means they would have a share in the dividend of the merged companies as well.

The combination of the dividends from both Pfizer and Viatris would total to roughly the same amount as the “old” Pfizer, which currently yields 5%.

What we’re experiencing right now is definitely unprecedented. COVID-19 has mutated from a respiratory disease affecting a single province in China into a global threat endangering everyone’s physical and financial well-being.

However, there’s always good news.

From an objective perspective, this coronavirus crisis has provided a rare opportunity for investors. After all, stock market corrections are actually quite common occurrences.

Looking at each correction in equities in the past, you can see that these were eventually triggered by a bull-market rally.

Remember, the ongoing vaccine research conducted by companies worldwide will yield results sooner or later. So even if COVID-19 is here to stay, it will no longer be a deadly threat in the long run.

In times like these, I think it’s more prudent to consider major biotechnology stocks when looking to invest.

This is because they have a higher capacity to keep trucking through this health crisis and to deal with its aftermath.

Despite the growing fear that this pandemic will lead us to a recession, Pfizer can still be easily categorized as a profitable company.

Considering that it’s trading at merely 13 times its expected earnings, this stock is quite a bargain.

Pfizer has a strong cash flow. Its long history shows that it has also weathered economic storms.

More importantly, it has a product pipeline that we find essential regardless of pandemics and strict quarantines. It doesn’t hurt that they’re priced attractively as well.

The Big Corona Play with Teladoc Health

March 24, 2020/in Biotech Letter /by Mad Hedge Fund Trader

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak continues to inspire terror across the globe.

To date, there are roughly 398,107 confirmed cases and over 17,454 documented deaths, pushing communities to take proactive measures to stem the tide of this global pandemic.

In its wake, an increasing number of government officials and health professionals like the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) have advised patients to take advantage of telemedicine and virtual health systems as much as possible. This is particularly helpful for those with respiratory symptoms since using these platforms could minimize contact with others along with the spread of the virus.

One of the no-brainer beneficiaries of this advice is virtual healthcare services provider Teladoc Health (TDOC).

Basically, companies like Teladoc offer personalized care without the need for patients to leave their houses. Although the kinks have yet to be worked out, the telemedicine sector should be expected to skyrocket in the weeks and even months ahead.

In fact, Teladoc shares gained 9% since February 19 — a good sign for the company especially since the broader market went down by roughly 20% over the same period.

Earlier this month, Teladoc disclosed that the number of patient visits registered in its system showed a 50% increase week over week.

Ever since COVID-19 hit the country, the company has been fielding at least 15,000 visits on a daily basis, reaching over 100,000 weekly. Teladoc shared that it has been experiencing “visit demand consistent with peak flu volumes.”

The convenience that companies like Teladoc provide can ease the burden on the broader healthcare system, which has been overworked with COVID-19 cases.

Another factor that could have contributed to Teladoc’s increasing patient load is the decision of some major health insurers to waive the patient costs for telemedicine visits.

So far, Humana (HUM), Aetna (AET), and Cigna (CI) confirmed that this policy will be relaxed throughout the national health emergency.

Needless to say, this announcement was highly appreciated by their clients, with Teladoc reporting that over half its patient visits in the past weeks are from first-time users.

However, this isn’t exactly Teladoc’s first big break.

Even prior to the pandemic and the recommendations from health experts, Teladoc has been quite impressive on its own.

Throughout the years, Teladoc has been consistent in reporting strong growth metrics. Since it went public in 2015, the stock has skyrocketed to 330% compared to the 30% gain for the S&P 500.

Reviewing its fourth-quarter earnings report for 2019, it’s clear that this is a stock for long-term investors. Based on the management’s commentary and how the story is playing out in the past months, there’s a good possibility that investors will be richly rewarded as well.

In 2019 alone, Teladoc added a total of 14 million new members to record an impressive growth rate of 61%. The company closed the year with 36.7 million patients registered in its system.

In terms of revenue, Teladoc delivered $156.5 million, showing off a 27% jump year over year.

This is particularly impressive as it eclipsed the high end of its guidance, which fell somewhere between $149 million and $153 million. It also beat the consensus estimates of analysts at $152.95 million.

This increase in revenue was bolstered by strong growths both in the US and the international markets. Its subscription-access fees reached $127 million, which was a 24% increase year over year.

Fees collected from visits showed quicker growth to contribute $29.5 million, demonstrating a 47% jump compared to the same period in 2018.

Total office visits increased by 44%, climbing to 1.24 million and surpassing the company’s guidance range of 1 million and 1.2 million as more and more patients opt for the subscription-based plans.

Meanwhile, its paid memberships in the US climbed 61% year over year to reach 36.7 million while its fee-only access soared by 104% to jump to 19.3 million members.

While 2019 was definitely a good year for the company, it’s difficult to downplay the reality that its impressive adoption curve recently could make 2020 an even better year for Teladoc.

Looking at how the company has been thriving, two things could happen for Teladoc.

One possibility is for it to develop into one of the most disruptive companies in the industry. The second possibility is that it will get acquired by a bigger player.

No matter what happens, the outcome will be a win-win for its investors.

The Race to Find a Corona Cure

March 19, 2020/in Biotech Letter /by Mad Hedge Fund Trader

Naturally, many people are wondering about which stocks to own in light of the coronavirus. The latest development on the race to find a coronavirus cure is a joint effort involving two giant names from the biotechnology industry: Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (REGN) and Sanofi (SNY).

Taking a page off Gilead Sciences’ (GILD) move to recycle HIV drug Remdisivir and Roche Holding’s (ROG) decision to utilize rheumatoid arthritis Actemra, Sanofi and Regeneron are looking into an existing drug’s ability to offer refuge for patients suffering from COVID-19.

According to a recent announcement, the two companies are looking to test rheumatoid arthritis medication Kevzara on COVID-19 patients.

This drug was initially approved in 2017 and while it failed to reach blockbuster status at the time, Sanofi and Regeneron are preparing to transform it into the next leader in this pandemic race.

It should be noted though that Kevzara is not a coronavirus cure. Rather, the companies are hoping to use this drug to combat the symptoms related to COVID-19.

This is why it’s promising.

When a person gets infected by the novel coronavirus, the immune system is activated and starts attacking the virus to protect the body. As time passes, the immune system goes into overdrive and ends up overreacting, causing additional damage.

Gradually, the immune system starts attacking even the healthy tissue and organs as with the case for some COVID-19 patients.

This means that the coronavirus is causing an accelerated response from the immune system resulting in the patients’ damaged organs starting with the lungs.

This is where Kevzara comes in.

The drug functions as an inhibitor of the protein that triggers the patient’s immune and inflammatory response.

That is, Kevzara can stop the body from attacking itself despite the triggers caused by the coronavirus.

In terms of the specifics of this joint effort, Regeneron will take the lead for the US trials while Sanofi will be in charge of international efforts.

Aside from Kevzara, both Regeneron and Sanofi have been pursuing separate leads on how to deal with the pandemic.

Sanofi has been working in tandem with the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), specifically with the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), to come up with a coronavirus vaccine.

However, it’s the coronavirus efforts of Regeneron that gained much attention in the past weeks.

In February, Regeneron and the HHS expanded their partnership to come up with potential COVID-19 treatments. So far, the biotechnology giant has decided to work on monoclonal antibodies via its VelocImmune platform.

This avenue is particularly promising since Regeneron has already come up with an antiviral drug to combat Ebola. Its collaboration with HHS has also already resulted in plans to develop a MERS treatment, which is also a type of coronavirus.

According to Regeneron executives, the company will have a coronavirus treatment ready for human testing by August. If all goes well, then it aims to produce 200K prophylactic doses.

Although its innovative coronavirus proposals are exciting, Regeneron remains focused on its older and more dependable money makers particularly the eye drug Eylea.

This strength is in display in Regeneron’s fourth quarter results, which showed better than expected numbers.

For Eylea alone, the company generated an 11% year-over-year growth in sales.

Despite the emergence of new competitors like Novartis’ (NOVN) Beovu, Regeneron’s eye drug remains the leading product in this sector. In fact, Eylea managed to cross $2 billion in global sales just for the year 2019.

As for inflammation-reducer Dupixent, the treatment’s global sales climbed 136% in 2019.

Meanwhile, revenue from its cancer immunotherapy Libtayo soared to over quintuple from the previous period.

Building from the strength of Eylea, Regeneron also announced its successful late-stage clinical study that aimed to expand the indication of the drug to moderately severe to severe non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy (NPDR).

If this Eylea expansion pushes through, then Regeneron has yet another blockbuster drug in its hands.

In the past five years, Regeneron has demonstrated a strong EPS growth, growing by 23.74% annually. Given its recent performance and based on forward-looking statements, the company can be expected to report an average of 17.4% growth on its EPS in the next two years.

Amid the panic and confusion caused by the coronavirus pandemic, it’s crucial to remain objective, especially with the stock market.

Before making a decision, ask yourself this question: “Will this current situation change the 10-year or even the 20-year outlook for the financial sector?”

Despite the paranoia proliferating in the market in the past months, I believe the answer to this question is still a resounding “no.”

For now, it would be wise to treat owning stocks like how to own businesses. It’s important to think about which stocks to own during the coronavirus, but don’t do it just to make a quick buck. Rather, take a look at lasting and stable companies with the capacity to not only grow over the years but also to compound their returns.

Special Pandemic Announcement

March 13, 2020/in Biotech Letter, Diary, Newsletter, Tech Letter /by Mad Hedge Fund Trader

To minimize risk to our staff while continuing to provide an excellent service to our customers, the Mad Hedge Fund Trader is going completely virtual. Of course, the fact that we are already a global virtual company makes this really easy.

All work will be done from home. Everyone has to lay in a two-month stockpile of food. If you have to leave the house, you must wear a 3M N-95 Respirator Mask (click here for the link). Make sure your Netflix account is paid up. Stay on good terms with your family. You are about to get to know them really well.

My bet is that most US companies will adopt the same policies in the coming weeks. The major Bay Area technology companies already have. The Internet was built to cope with a nuclear war. We got a biological one instead.

As long as the Internet and our key applications keep working, we should have no problem delivering our investment and trading advice several times a day as usual. Now, you have more time to read it. We have just suffered the most rapid bear market in market history with only modest trading losses. Making money from here should be like shooting fish in a barrel.

Again, thank you for supporting my research. Let’s make 2020 our best year ever!

Good Luck and Good Trading. And stay healthy.

John Thomas
CEO & Publisher
The Diary of a Mad Hedge Fund Trader