Titan Pharmaceuticals Inc (TTNP)

[TRUISM]

Drug Price Worries Derail Biotech Stocks…Again
12:55 pm ET Oct 6, 2015
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Investors again pounded biotechnology stocks, as worries over drug prices charged by the industry simmer.

The Nasdaq Biotechnology Index tumbled 6.3% in midday trading, while the broader S&P 500 was down 0.5%. At current levels, that would mark the biggest one-day decline for the biotech index since August 2011.

Biotech shares, a favorite of investors for nearly four years, have come under heavy selling in recent weeks amid intensifying scrutiny of the prices charged by the industry. In a page-one story Tuesday, The Wall Street Journal reported that repeated price increases have been a key driver of revenue for biotech companies, even when demand is weak.

Shares of Biogen Inc.BIIB -3.59%, a focus of the article, lost 5.4% on Tuesday. Rival Gilead Sciences Inc. shed 3.7%, while Amgen Inc.AMGN -1.57% fell 3.5% and Celgene Corp.CELG -3.90% declined 5.8%.

The recent attention on biotech pricing has spooked investors, even though nothing about the underlying health of the companies has changed, said Christian O’Brien, a health-care stocks trader at Raymond James.

“It’s the same thing concerning [drug] overpricing, and it seems like it’s getting louder,” he said of Tuesday’s declines. “People are ignoring the fundamentals at this point.”

The momentum-driven sector has experienced periodic routs the past few years, only to rebound and continue its march higher.

But the recent slide is one of the sharpest and longest in recent history. The Nasdaq Biotech index has lost 26% from its record high reached on July 20. The last time the index saw a fall of that size was during the financial crisis, when the index dropped 35% from late 2008 to early 2009. The latest rout has wiped out the sector’s gains for the year. At its July 20 peak the index was up as much as 31% for 2015.

One noteworthy aspect of Tuesday’s declines is that it has been on the back of relatively light trading volume. That’s a sign that buyers remain scant, even if the speed of the recent selling has slowed, Mr. O’Brien said.


TRUTH'S OPINE

Yet and still....

TTNP has nothing approved to price yet....

Just saying.

Which company will set the pricing if approved?

To be continued.



Blessings to All

TRUTH