Feuerstein's Biotech-Stock Mailbag

Daylight Savings Time comes to an end early Sunday, so what better way to hunker down for the winter than by reading the Biotech Mailbag? Thanks for returning and remember to email me here with your comments and questions.

I was surprised by the amount of email I received after my mention of Delcath Systems(DCTH Quote) in last weekend's Mailbag. Let me address some general comments that ran through most of the letters:

I compared Delcath to Dendreon(DNDN Quote) only as it relates to the perception by some investors that the Food and Drug Administration's cancer division is putting both companies under unjustifiably strict scrutiny.

I don't have a dog in this fight, but screaming about malfeasance at the FDA -- as some Delcath fans did in their emails to me -- isn't a very productive investment strategy. Dendreon is proof of that.

More than a few readers were put off by my dismissal of Delcath without a thorough explanation of the data supporting its Percutaneous Hepatic Perfusion (PHP) system for hard-to-treat cancers of the liver.

That's a fair criticism, but I was more focused on the apparent rift between the FDA and the National Cancer Institute because that's what readers emailed me about.

I did look more closely at the PHP data. Some of it shows potential, but a lot of questions remain unanswered. I'm often criticized as being too conservative because I don't automatically love every high-risk biotech or drug stock that trades below $10 (or $2, in this case.)