Only One Drug Away From Stardom

Before you say we should forget about the biotech rotisserie league because the stocks are up so much, I have something to say: That's exactly what people told us 40% ago regarding the B2B rotisserie league.

I know these moves have been outsized, to say the least, but when I look at the gulf in market caps between the new biotechs and the mature ones, what strikes me is that some of the former may be only one drug away from major stardom.

Don't get me wrong: I am investing paper money in the rotisserie league. The real thing will come during the price breaks. I'm just trying to get up to speed in an area where I know Biogen(BGEN Quote) and Amgen(AMGN Quote), but Millennium (MLMN Quote) is foreign to me, even though I was an original investor in LeukoSite, the company Millennium recently purchased.

I'm approaching it this way, in cautious paper-trading style, because two years ago I went hog wild on the Competitive Local Exchange stocks right at the top, and if I'd waited I could have made some money buying some down but would have lost a fortune on others. I intend to leg in, similarly, to the biotechs that we draft, once I feel confident of the prospects. I am grateful -- we all should be grateful -- for the work of Melissa "Genome" Kasper, who put up some great squibs about each stock on our message boards.

Once again, here's our draft board. We'll be drafting on Monday.

Biotech Draft Board
Amgen (AMGN Quote)	Genentech (DNA Quote)
Immunex (IMNX Quote)	Biogen (BGEN Quote)
MedImmune (MEDI Quote)	Affymetrix (AFFX Quote)
Celera Genomics (CRA Quote)	Human Genome Sciences (HGSI Quote)
Millennium Pharmaceuticals (MLNM Quote)	Incyte Pharmaceuticals (INCY Quote)
Abgenix (ABGX Quote)	Inhale Therapeutic Systems (INHL Quote)
Alkermes (ALKS Quote)	IDEC Pharmaceuticals (IDPH Quote)
CuraGen (CRGN Quote)	Genyzme (GENZ Quote)
Vertex Pharmaceuticals (VRTX Quote)	Protein Design Labs (PDLI Quote)
Imclone Systems (IMCL Quote)	Transkaryotic Therapies (TKTX Quote)