IBI Industry Trends: Important Ramifications From The Amazon Acquisition Of PillPack

Summary

Due to the PillPack acquisition, Amazon will reduce the service demand for traditional brick-and-mortal retail pharmacy.

There is an industry shift favoring mail-order prescription and online pharmacy. Ultimately, it's changing the landscapes for traditional operators like Walgreens and CVS Health.

Under Amazon's gargantuan infrastructure and improved logistics, PillPack will enjoy aggressive business growth. Moreover, it'll launch Amazon's online pharmacy as the initial step for more market domination.

In conveniently offering various medicines in a package, PillPack reduces the complexity of taking drug combination and thereby improves patient convenience.

The theme of investing in logistics providers to capitalize on the growth of another related industry is quite intriguing. This strategy leads to highly profitable returns.

The business schools reward difficult complex behavior more than simple behavior, but simple behavior is more effective. - Warren Buffett

In supplementing my daily research, I periodically feature other articles in various series for members of Integrated BioSci Investing. My goal is to provide members with additional coverage to synergize my usual in-depth research. In the past, I experimented with the excessive emphasis on series articles. And, I learned that it reduced the quality of Integrated BioSci Investing's usual research. With more wisdom, I'll ensure that these brief analysis solely serve to "enhance" rather than "replace" my core value to our private investment community. Through my work, I seek to empower you in making prudent investment decisions and becoming better investors.

Figure 1: Amazon chart (Source: StockCharts)

Though I focus on therapeutic innovation, it's also important for me to assess related business (i.e. retail pharmacy). After all, how innovated drugs are utilized down the vertical chain influences the profitability of bioscience stocks. That being said, I'm intrigued by the recent Amazon (AMZN) acquisition of PillPack. The aforementioned merger and acquisition (M&A) came to my awareness through IBI community discussion.

A notable IBI member shared with the community an article from Christina Farr of CNBC. In my opinion, Farr did a fine coverage of the inside story regarding the Amazon acquisition of PillPack. Instead of solely reading the news, I believe that it's important for you to analyze the information and place them within their appropriate context. In my learning process, I created a "mental framework of data" to make more accurate investment decisions.

My biological analysis machinery is upgraded every time I read up on news and trial results. Consequently, it continually fine-tunes my analytical forecast of clinical trial results and regulatory approvals. And, I want to teach you how to conduct your own analysis rather than simply listening to my recommendation. It's much rewarding to instruct a man how to fish rather than providing him the fish alone.

IBI Announcement: Raising Support For An Innovative Fund

Summary

IBI is raising donation to launch an innovation fund via GoFundMe.

The fund will invests in bioscience companies to assist innovators in delivering lifesaving medicines to patients.

Your contribution even if small will be instrumental to the fund's success.

Someone is sitting in the shade today because someone else planted a tree long ago - Warren Buffett

As my readers and friends, you most likely know that my dream is to launch a life science hedge fund. The fund's objective is to invest in stellar public and private bioscience companies. That way, I can assist innovators in bringing lifesaving medicines to patients who can be you and your loved ones. As I recently lost my father-in-law to cancer, I'm fully cognizant of the need for lifesaving drugs.

Market Outlook: Strategies To Conquer A Bear Market

Summary

A bear market can be your worst enemy or your best friend.

There are three approaches that you can employ to potentially capture enormous profit in this down market.

Which strategies you should take is strongly dependent on your own financial situation and temperament.

For indeed, the investor’s chief problem – and even his worst enemy – is likely to be himself. - Benjamin Graham

Most investors are highly enthusiastic when their stocks appreciate: nearly all investors can relate to that “warm feeling” when their portfolio lit up green during a bull market. Nevertheless, one has to conquer the bears in the middle a downturn in order to capture the profits of the subsequent bull market. In the thick of the recent downturn, the highly powerful human emotion that is fear exerts its detrimental effects. As investors do not easily forget the pain associated with blood spilling on Wall Street, fear usually induces investors to make impulsive decisions. That being said, we’d like to introduce the new Market Outlook series to help you navigate this time of uncertainty and high volatility.

As shown in Figure 1, all major market indices - NASDAQ Biotechnology Index (NASDAQ:NBI), SPDR S&P Biotech (NYSE:XBI), and Dow Jones Industrial Average (NYSE:DJI) - are trading on a downtrend. Back in 2018, we forecasted that the bear market will grow stronger in 2019. Interestingly, the bears came out of the woodwork after a brief rally in January this year. Except for a few trend breakers, most of the bioscience equities gave up a significant percentage of their recent gains. In our view, it’s quite likely that an overall negative sentiment has recently seized the market.

Figure 1: Macromarket analytics (Source: Yahoo finance)

BioLife Solutions: An IBI Notable Community Discussion On January 25, 2019

Summary

Our Notable Community Discussion helped uncovered another potential big winner, BioLife Solutions.

BioLife Solution is a logistics provider for CAR-T and cell-based therapy innovation.

As CAR-T grows increasingly prominent, we expect that BioLife to enjoy much more robust profits.

Statement from the FDA is a good sign that the company, as well as other CAR-T innovators, will enjoy the upcoming industry tailwinds.

We appreciate the intelligence from bdymnsould and especially Stockfan1 that helped us learned about this company. We wish to share this discussion with all members.

Someone’s sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago. - Warren Buffett

We’d like to continue the weekend coverage with another Notable Community Discussion (“NCD”) article. The initial NCD article was on ResMed. As we stated in that article, the objective of this publication series is to provide additional context to the ongoing community discussion as well as to provide coverage for members who are unable to attend our daily discussion. In this piece, we’d like to present the market intelligence relating to BioLife Solution(NASDAQ:BLFS).

Figure 1: BioLife stock chart (Source: StockCharts)

About The Company

Based in Bothell Washington, BioLife Solution is an industry leader that focuses on the development and commercialization of logistics to service the innovators of cell and gene-based therapy like CAR-T. The company is powering by the proprietary hypothermic storage and cryopreservation freeze media. These biotechnologies maintain live cellular specimen in an environment that are protected by cold temperature and other excellent preservation materials.

Specifically, the HypoThermosol and CryoStor platforms are invaluable tools that has application in regenerative medicine, biobanking, and drug discovery. The biopreservation media is differentiated because it is pure and free from potential contaminants like proteins. The enhanced purity prevents samples from potential damage while improving their self-life and survivability. All that mentioned, we’ll dive into the insight shared by the financial guru and professor, bdymnsoul.