Biotech's Hot Season: Get Ready

There will also be a lot of investor focus on Cardiome(CRME Quote) this fall. Not only is it awaiting an FDA approval decision on the injectable form of its arrhythmia drug Vernakalant, but we could also get phase II data on the oral version of the drug, which addresses a much larger commercial market.

The other stocks on this list that really grab my attention for their potential as big movers are Sonus Pharmaceuticals(SNUS Quote), United Therapeutics(UTHR Quote), Medarex(MEDX Quote) and Advanced Life Sciences(ADLS Quote).

I mentioned earlier that the summer is often a good time to buy quality biotech stocks on sale. So far this summer, the Nasdaq Biotechnology Index is down about 5% since June 1, while the Amex Biotechnology Index (more heavily weighted in big-cap stocks) is down about 8%.

I previously ran a stock screen to identify biotech companies trading within 5% or so of their 52-week low. Now, many of the companies on the list probably deserve to be there, but others are just a positive data point or resurgent market away from a significant lift.

Big-cap biotech stocks Genentech(DNA Quote), Amgen(AMGN Quote) and Genzyme(GENZ Quote) haven't performed well this summer, and they continue to trade near their year lows. But if the sector gets hot again, investors may revisit these stocks.

A word on merger and acquisition activity: Expect more deals. With Big Pharma still facing serious revenue shortfalls due to generic competition and many big-cap biotech facing similar problems and/or weak pipelines (Amgen, anyone?), it's not unreasonable to expect small- and mid-cap biotechs to be on the receiving end of attractive buyout offers.

Predicting when such deals may happen -- and with whom -- isn't easy, but generally speaking, the most attractive takeout targets are those companies with compelling technology platforms, novel and potentially lucrative new drug targets and rock-solid intellectual property protection.

Lastly, experienced biotech investors know that a lot of attention is paid to medical conferences, which provide a high-profile forum for companies to present new clinical data.

With that in mind, listed below is a calendar of significant medical conferences for the remainder of the year.

I hope this preview helps you prepare for the coming months. Biotech investing can be exciting and terrifying, but it's never boring.

Medical Meetings: 2H 2007
Meeting	Dates	Location
World Conference on Lung Cancer	Sept. 2-6	Seoul
Symposium on Hepatitis C and Related Viruses	Sept. 9-13	Glasgow
American Society of Bone and Mineral Research	Sept. 16-19	Honolulu
European Association for the Study of Diabetes	Sept. 17-21	Amsterdam
Interscience Conference on Anti-microbial Agents and Chemotherapy	Sept. 17-21	Chicago
American Neurological Association	Oct. 7-10	Washington, D.C.
European Committee for Treatment and Research in MS	Oct. 11-14	Prague
American College of Gastroenterlogy	Oct. 12-17	Philadelphia
American College of Chest Physicians	Oct. 20-25	Chicago
AACR-NCI-EORTC (cancer)	Oct. 22-26	San Francisco
American Academy for the Study of Liver Disease	Nov. 2-6	Boston
American Heart Association	Nov. 4-7	Orlando
American College of Rheumatology	Nov. 6-11	Boston
American Society of Hematology	Dec. 8-11	Atlanta
San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium	Dec. 13-26	San Antonio