Category Archives: Biotech Letter

Press 1 For English, Press 2 For Robot Surgery

Let me set the scene. You’re stuck in a doctor’s waiting room that still smells like the Clinton administration, flipping through a Time magazine featuring the rise of the iPhone 6 (because apparently time stopped in medical offices). Then a robot wheels by carrying a tray of someone else’s blood samples. Your doctor, meanwhile, is […]

The Art Of War, Immunology Edition

Last month, as I pored over pharma earnings with a strong espresso and a stronger sense of deja vu, I was reminded why I swapped the lab coat for a Bloomberg terminal four decades ago. Markets may not speak Latin, but they sure know how to butcher nuance. And AbbVie (ABBV), dear readers, is a […]

How To Sell One Molecule Two Ways And Make Billions

Did you know Novo Nordisk’s (NVO) Ozempic and Wegovy are basically twins separated at birth? Both contain the same molecule — semaglutide — yet Wegovy costs three times more simply because it moonlights as a weight-loss drug instead of a diabetes treatment. That, my friends, is pharmaceutical sorcery so profitable it would make Merlin jealous. […]

The Biotech’s Orbituary Was Premature

Last Tuesday, while stuck in airport security behind a family debating whether insulin syringes count as “liquids,” I had an epiphany about Wall Street’s chronic inability to see past quarterly earnings reports. Here was life-saving biotechnology reduced to a TSA checkbox, while across the terminal, CNBC was breathlessly explaining why Amgen’s (AMGN) “patent cliff” makes […]