[What counts is] competition from the new commodity, the new technology, the new source of supply, the new type of organization… competition which… strikes not at the margins of the profits and the outputs of the existing firms, but at their foundations and their very lives.
[Read more...]The “Shadow Pharmaceutical” Sector
April 5, 2012 By Leave a Comment
The business of medical biotechnologies operates within an extraordinarily complex regulatory system.
The SEC and the IRS are only the beginning of the story…
In the United States, the Food and Drug Administration determines what can legally be sold. It even exercises control over what can be said by companies about medical therapies. Elsewhere, other regulatory authorities play similar roles.
[Read more...]Solving the Sickle Cell Crisis
March 21, 2012 By Leave a Comment
The sickle cell trait has its origins in a genetic adaptation common in individuals in which the mosquito-borne disease, malaria, has impacted human life for thousands of years. In sub-Saharan Africa, for example, as many as one-third of people carry the gene. It is also found, although less commonly, in populations ringing the Mediterranean, such as North Africa, Spain, Greece and Italy.
[Read more...]Get Rich Slow
February 6, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Get-rich-quick investment advice is a fantasy. Get-rich-slow is a validated strategy for real wealth.
Today, it is more important than ever to keep the long-run perspective firmly in mind…
Lest you’ve forgotten, world financial markets are in a state of unparalleled disorder. More capital has been drained from markets, thanks to the irresponsibility of politicians and the acquiescence of naive citizens, than at any time in modern history. The damage done by bombers and tanks in world wars has been matched by the unintended consequences of central planning and bureaucracies.
[Read more...]Remember This
September 28, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Periodically, we see articles heralding the imminent death of Moore’s law and accelerating progress in the world of electronics. For the sake of your portfolio, don’t buy it. Creative destruction, using Joseph Schumpeter’s term, will continue to create breakthrough profit opportunities.
In 2007, Hewlett-Packard’s labs demonstrated the first memristor recognized as such. A portmanteau of “memory” and “resistor,” “memristance” was the theoretical fourth circuit variable first described in 1971. While HP stock will probably not yield the sort of profits we’re looking for here, it will help generate them indirectly.
[Read more...]Blockbuster Anti-Cancer Technology
September 14, 2011 By 1 Comment
The science story with the biggest buzz recently was probably the successful treatment of three leukemia patients by scientists from the University of Pennsylvania.
While the leukemia research is important, I don’t think that many understand where it fits in the bigger picture of cancer therapy development. I believe, in fact, that there are a half-dozen more- promising therapies.
[Read more...]
Catastrophically Successful Life Extension
Truly historic discoveries and therapies are coming online right now that will radically decrease the threat and cost of autoimmune disorders, cancers, cardiovascular disease, Alzheimer’s, arthritis, obesity and diabetes, as well as dangerous influenzas, HIV and other virus-borne diseases. Regular readers know that I’m referring to companies in our portfolio.
[Read more...]