Bill Gates, Small Biotech's New Biggest Investor (ALTH, AMAG, RDEA, ARYX, AUXL, BMRN, ETRM, INCY, ITMN, MAPP, OREX, VRUS, REGN, SGEN, VRTX, XNPT)
Late yesterday came the 13-F quarterly filing from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust. Bill and Melinda have invested in drugs and research before, as well as dug companies, but there was a slew of biotech stocks in their quarterly holdings. Some of these are cancer winners, while others may seem random. Below we have broken these out by company and size of the position in dollars (M for million; K for thousand) as well as the number of shares.
ALLOS THERAPEUTICS INC. (NASDAQ: ALTH) $3.090M; 500,000 shares
AMAG PHARMACEUTICALS INC. (NASDAQ: AMAG) $1.839M; 50,000 shares
ARDEA BIOSCIENCES INC. (NASDAQ: RDEA) $2.165M; 210,386 shares
ARYX THERAPEUTICS INC. (NASDAQ: ARYX) $1.635M; 480,799 shares
AUXILIUM PHARMACEUTICALS INC. (NASDAQ: AUXL) $2.062M; 74,400 shares
BIOMARIN PHARMACEUTICAL INC. (NASDAQ: BMRN) $1.295M; 104,856 shares
ENTEROMEDICS INC. (NASDAQ: ETRM) $81K; 59,700 shares
INCYTE CORP. (NASDAQ: INCY) $1.02M; 435,700 shares
INTERMUNE INC. (NASDAQ: ITMN) $1.807M; 109,900 shares
MAP PHARMACEUTICALS INC. (NASDAQ: MAPP) $98K; 46,524 shares
OREXIGEN THERAPEUTICS INC. (NASDAQ: OREX) $36K; 13,900 shares
PHARMASSET INC. (NASDAQ: VRUS) $821K; 83,641 shares
REGENERON PHARMACEUTICALS (NASDAQ: REGN) $492K; 35,500 shares
SEATTLE GENETICS INC. (NASDAQ: SGEN) $34.718M; 3,521,088 shares
VERTEX PHARMACEUTICALS INC. (NASDAQ: VRTX) $2.729M; 95,000 shares
XENOPORT INC. (NASDAQ: XNPT) $2.517M; 130,000 shares
After Partner Quits, What's Left at ARYx? (ARYX, PG)
ARYx Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: ARYX) is a stock in trouble today. The company announced late Wednesday that its partner, Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG) opted out of its drug collaboration pact with the company.
The collaboration was developing a gastrointestinal disorder drug to treat chronic constipation and functional dyspepsia, and ARYx had indicated that positive safety data was evident. The company believes there is merit and it will continue the study if it can find a new partner.
As this is often a cause for major concern about a small biotech’s future, we wanted to look under the hood and see what else ARYx has going for it.
The company does have about $60 million in liquidity as of March 31, but total liabilities were also $41.45 million. Its market cap based on today’s 22% drop is now $89.7 million.
The company currently has a Phase II/III clinical study going on for anticoagulation under enrollment. It also is in mid-stage trials for atrial fibrilation and an early stage study in psychotic disorders.
This company doesn’t look dead by any means. But it is definitely injured as a result of yesterday’s actions.
At 10:40 AM EST we have seen a 22% drop, but there has only been 12,000 shares trade hands.
Jon C. Ogg
July 3, 2008
