Biotech giants down but not out

0 Comments | Insight on the News, July 15, 2002 | by Kristina Stefanova

A year ago they were among the darlings of Wall Street. Today, biotechnology giants Celera Genomics, Human Genome Sciences (HGS) and Gene Logic must confront plummeting stock values, scarce venture capital and a shaky future.

The market's disdain for these companies has not deterred their development, however. HGS has eight drugs that show promise in tests and trials, and Celera has shifted its strategic path from an information company to a drug developer. Meanwhile, Gene Logic now has the chance to become the main player in the genomics-information business. The company has gained four large new clients since the start of the year. With a gene-expression information database of more than 12,000 tissue samples, it offers valuable information to scientists about the order of DNA in the genome.

"To be fair to Gene Logic, they have done everything they've said they'd do in the past 12 months," says Eric Schmidt, analyst with SG Cowen Securities Corp. "But as an investment community, we're just living in a different time, one that isn't favorable to biotech companies."