Biotech Stock Mailbag: HEB's Artful Dodging

Lately, there's been plenty to write about with regard to Cell Therapeutics, but a quick check of our Web site will demonstrate that the stock is far from the only thing coming off my keyboard these days.

The answer to Golden's question is no, I don't hate Cell Therapeutics, nor do I have any personal vendetta against it or CEO Jim Bianco. I don't make this job personal. I like to find good stories to write about -- stories that hopefully help investors make some money in biotech. (The best way to do that, sometimes, is to avoid buying certain stocks.) If the stories are controversial, it's all the better, because those are usually the most fun.

Clearly I think Cell Therapeutics is an over-valued stock relative to its commercial prospects for the cancer drugs pixantrone and Opaxio. The company's capital structure and finances are a mess. This is what my recent "drum-beating" on Cell Therapeutics is all about.

And to answer the most obvious follow-up question: No, I have no financial interest in Cell Therapeutics. I've never owned the stock, nor have I ever shorted the stock. You can read TheStreet.com's conflict of interest policy here. I'll even go one step further and tell you that during my two-year stint as a Wall Street analyst, my employer never had a position in Cell Therapeutics, either.

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John C. writes, "As a practicing physician and an investor, I have been anxiously awaiting the FDA's decision for Cardiome's (CRME) atrial fibrillation medication. Is it unusual for them to take so long? This is potentially a very useful drug and all that I have read about it makes me think it is safe and effective. I don't understand the FDA's seeming reluctance to give it approval."

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