There are 337 (276 public and 61 private) lifescience companies presenting starting Monday, 1/11 and running through Thursday, 1/14. Link: JPMHealthcareConference-Agenda1.7

Public company presentations are usually web-cast enabling non-participants to view presentations with breakout sessions immediately following their presentations. These web-casts will be available for 3 months after the conference: https://events.jpmorgan.com/ ; so click on the web-cast link (no need for a user name and password but will be prompted an email address). As related to current economic times, registration of attendees was limited by JP Morgan to a total of about 3,500 versus 6,000 in the past years.

Bottom Line: 2010 should be a good year for healthcare companies … despite a very difficult year for the US economy; but, biotech companies still managed to raise nearly $50 B in 2009, the 2nd highest year total in the industry’s history.

Many new technologies have been gestating and are now ready to hatch as IRBs and trial initiations and advancements are encouraging,
There are 328 publicly traded biotech’s at the end of 9/09 with an aggregate market cap of $352 B, 51 companies have market caps greater than $1 B, 36 companies have market caps between $500 and $999 million and 136 public biotech companies that have a market cap below $100 M (Burrill),
Pharma faces serious prospect of patents expiration and a declining number of new blockbusters over the next few years,
Biotech has as a history of hit-or-miss programs; but, many offer a risk reduction capacity for Pharma,
Yet, there were 147 pending NDAs under review since 2009, up from 86 in 2008; the highest number since 1995; let’s see how FY2010 stacks-up,
In 2010, pharmaceutical firms are more likely to ramp-up partnering with smaller biotech firms on drug development. Partnerships pay development firms millions up front with milestone and back-end payments and royalties; a worthwhile investment for sustainability and viability,
Pharma’s development isn’t about a lack of money, but a failure to exploit innovation as the R&D model is dramatically changing,
Financing and partnering deals collectively brought in over $13 B for US companies as of Q3/09, with over $4 B through financings and $9 B in partnering capital. This 147% increase in capital raised compared to the Q3/08 total clearly shows that the financial climate for biotechs is improving (Burrill),
Understand, the biotech industry is about to undergo a major transition based on Obama’s proposal for healthcare reform that could significantly impact the industry,
Despite current market uncertainties; I see momentum gaining in 2010,
My prognosis is biotech stocks who are truly addressing the innovation challenge will have an outstanding 2010,
The stem cell small-caps should appreciate as more trials evolve and will be the best place to make money in 2010 as pipeline demand is strong for biotech and their pipelines.

The Big Week for Investor Visibility, JP Morgan