This biotech just received EUA approval from COFEPRIS (Comisión Federal para la Protección contra Riesgos Sanitarios) for COVI-STIX, a sensitive and rapid (approximately 15-minute) diagnostic test. Earnings for the company are expected to rise by 37% annually over the next five years.
Sorrento Therapeutics, Inc. (SRNE)
From The Inger Letter
Having nailed the S&P high in January 2020, forewarned Covid risks (including belief the virus came from the Wuhan Lab), and nailed the low ‘to the day’ on March 23rd last year, we decided to delve a bit into next generation (still pending, I’ll hasten to say) of biotechs—always the most speculative. I personally was hospitalized for 2 months early this year and at the same time warning ‘not to fight the fed’ and not chase all the FANG types with after-the-fact momentum crowds doubting our ‘Inger Bottom’ call of March 2020.
Our 2021 pick of the year was and remains Sorrento Therapeutics.
It’s been a wild ride in both directions, and with the heavy portfolio of solutions really close to generating either approval or denials by the FDA, it seems a particularly good time to add to positions in the 8’s, where it is as I write this.
There is more to Sorrento excitement causing others now to take a look--besides the U.K., Phase 2 trial, as important and eye-catching as that news was and is regarding MAB (Monoclonal Antibodies) that differ from competitive ones (a couple failed; and Regeneron’s huge dose saved Trump of course). This is Nose Drops or Nasal Spray and similar to the company’s injectable. NIH and FDA have ignored Sorrento; while it is funded by… DARPA… Department of Defense (seeks a countermeasure that kills Covid flat-out not like vaccine).
I also suspect EUA CoviStix (15 minute antigen test with the highest accuracy and more affordable than others) approval (Nancy’s note: see my headline!) and marketing commencement any day now in Mexico. As to why apply in the U.K.? India, sadly, suffers among the worst with Covid, and tends to follow U.K. leads.
Sorrento also secured an exclusive license agreement for a valuable, potential breakthrough technology, known as ADNICs. These target various types of human diseases including various solid and liquid tumors.
Plus, the company’s ‘non-opioid’ pain relievers and Cart-T oncology drugs are also nearing crucial phases (Sorrento works with Mayo Clinic, Columbia University and other institutions in Sweden as well as acquired a Chinese oncology company).
We’re content with the 20-25 target ‘for now’; and it’s not absurd if anything gets the go-ahead (yes, it’s speculative). Also, depends on whether a big pharma tries to buy the company out or not. Can it be 50 or 100? Who knows? It depends on efficacy of products/solutions; competition; and the pandemic too.
Conservative investors: we still like AT&T and believe the proposed ‘free’ shares of the Warner / Discovery deal will more than exceed the value; several years lower dividends if that even happens. Also, we retain last year’s pick AMD, bought at 17 and hovering around 80.
I will continue covering all these stocks daily. And while Sorrento is not for the faint-of-heart, it’s high potential if FDA stops playing favorites with the big pharmas and gets an open-mind toward stocks like San Diego’s Sorrento.
Gene Inger, The Inger Letter, ingerletter.com, June 16, 2021