Share Market It may have been in a recession, but the Biotechnology Index has fallen off a cliff. One measure says it all: Dozens of publicly traded biotechs have fallen so much that they are now worth less than the cash they have in the bank.
Some health care investors are pointing to that trend as a sign that things have started to turn downward. The argument is that the biotech has become so cheap that big pharma—starring a patent rock and armed with hundreds of billions of dollars worth of dry powder for acquisition—will come to the rescue. In fact, a popular biotech exchange-traded fund, the SPDR S&P Biotech ETF, has rebounded nearly 20% from its recent lows.