Biotech Values

[DewDiligence]

(FMI BIOC)—NYT feature on blood tests as a replacement for cancer biopsies mentions FMI in passing but talks mostly about companies such as microcap BIOC who are pursuing a different approach:

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/08/business/cancer-analysis-tools-circumvent-biopsies.html

Foundation Medicine, a company that offers a test analyzing more than 200 genes from a traditional biopsy, has a market valuation of about $1 billion.

Doing such analysis on a blood sample is a greater technical challenge. Tumor DNA can represent as little as one ten-thousandth of the free-floating DNA in blood, the rest coming from healthy cells. Similarly, there will be millions or even billions of regular blood cells for every circulating tumor cell.

“It’s like looking at the sun and trying to see the stars,” said Nitin Sood, chief executive of Boreal Genomics.