Customer Reviews

The Biotech Investor: How to Profit from the Coming Boom in Biotechnology

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Tom Abate has been covered the Biotech industry for the San Francisco Chronicle for years. It shows. He brings a strong dose of reality to this hype driven sector.

Who this book is for:
-Independent investors willing to spend a lot of time doing research
-People looking for a current industry overview
-Job seekers

The Good:
-Extremely well written
-Up to Date (as of spring 2003)
-Knowledgeable - several small tidbits of data pay for the book by themselves

The Bad:
-Will quickly go out of date. For example the Appendix contains a list of firm websites and market caps; Market Caps change - companies disappear.
-Not enough FDA information. This should have been a separate chapter covering the FDA approval process in detail as well as other countries' processes.
-Too much basic investment advice: firm valuation/free cash flow/ portfolio theory / investor risk profile. Other books do a better, more thorough job of this.
-No bibliography

I gave it 5 stars because if you are going to invest in biotech the book will more than pay for itself.

An excellent introduction to biotech investing.

Tom Abate is a good writer and knows his subject. I thought this book was written in a guarded, pragmatic way that suits the reader's purpose (presumably investment). The dustjacket shouts of a 'coming boom' but the author can be forgiven for what is basically puffery. Abate is clearly arguing for a period of drawn out growth fuelled by demographics and accelerating technical progress - not an imminent goldrush.

I gained a number of insights I consider valuable:
-An understanding of the mechanism of FDA approval and how companies manage themselves around it.
-The fluid business models of existing companies.
-The way in which institutional fund managers seem to advocate active trading over a 'buy and hold' approach to biotech portfolios (this surprised me).

Timely, relevant and convincingly argued. I'd probably buy another book by this author.

As our population ages, there are more opportunities for companies involved in treating diseases. Companies in the biotech industry have a bright future. But, the author says that investing in biotech is risky. This is understandable because the firms in this industry rely heavily on innovation. New discoveries can make current products obsolete. Many investors lost money investing in these companies because they do not understand the industry and individual companies.

I liked how the author distinguished between high-tech and biotech companies. Successful high-tech companies develop valuable networks. For example, Microsoft has a network of software developers who tailor their programs to run on Windows. Biotech, on the other hand, is an industry of niches. The industry is complicated compared with other industries. However, the author did a good job making it more understandable to readers.

- Mariusz Skonieczny, author of Why Are We So Clueless about the Stock Market? Learn how to invest your money, how to pick stocks, and how to make money in the stock market

This is a very good book to get a rapid overview on how to invest in the biotech industry, filled with numerous concrete examples. However, thorough investors would rapidly move towards a more in-depth and up to date literature.

Very good book on the unique concepts of biotech investing. It covers all areas and would be useful for beginners or advanced investors.