Category Archives: Biotech Letter

Leaning On The Knobs

I still remember sitting in a conference room in D.C. years ago, listening to a CMS official explain – with a perfectly straight face – that a 0.5% rate increase was “quite generous given the fiscal environment.” The insurers in the room did a great job of not laughing. Fast-forward to today, and Humana (HUM) […]

This Third Wheel Is Riding Shotgun

Obesity is a $100 billion market in the making, and the market’s already crowned two kings: Eli Lilly (LLY) and Novo Nordisk (NVO). Which makes Amgen (AMGN) the quiet third, aka the biotech equivalent of the third man in a two-man race. But here’s the thing – MariTide isn’t just a me-too molecule. It’s potentially […]

The Aspirin Standard

In 1899, Bayer (BAYRY) patented acetylsalicylic acid – what we now call aspirin. This “miracle drug” then became the cornerstone of one of the most powerful pharmaceutical empires the world had ever seen. Unfortunately for Bayer, by 1917, they had to give up the patent as part of World War I reparations. Poof. Gone. That’s […]

The High Cost Of Being First

There is a predictable arc to every great pharmaceutical story. First comes disbelief, then euphoria, then inevitability, and finally punishment for having believed too much of your own press. Novo Nordisk (NVO) reached that final phase in 2025, not because semaglutide stopped working, but because investors forgot how brutally unforgiving this business becomes once expectations […]