Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (VRTX)

The drug works, but the sales are already priced in.

I understand that they have some wondrous drug that will be worth something, someday. All I see is a $6 billion market cap and not one dime of profit. Enough said.

This company is feast or famine. They spend too much cash on a regular basis. But the management has had a clear view of their goals and are sticking to them. Would be great if they could spend less $$$/per quarter. But hopefully late phase drugs reach public distribution sometime in the next 3-5 years. If not they are in REAL trouble.

See ya later Hep C

tick to ck... booom

Kiplingers found this fund to be a good fund because it makes generic drugs.

Unlike most pharma firms this one actually has multiple drugs in its pipeline likely to be approved.

good co., overpriced, unsafe short but hey

this was a low research pick, just ran a screen and this looked like a short

Following it's acquisition of two Hepatitis lines in early March 2009, Vertex set to surge on news of the Obama administration's health care overhaul and reversal of the 2001 Executive Order banning most forms of stem cell research:

http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2009/03/06/ap6138011.html

Buy and hold long.

Promising pipeline.It's biggest bet (in phase III) is propped by J&J and should be huge.

Recent price drop and downgrade was based on poor evidence of occurance of pancreatic cancer in trials. Look for this to rebound as new data emerges, and Big Pharma closes in for a buyout.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Inc or VRTX This company is in the business of discovering, developing and commercializing small molecule drugs for the treatment of serious diseases. The newest drug in trials is the one for Hepatitis C. So far, these trials have been very promising. I would buy this stock on this drug alone.

Their drug develpment business is promising.

Don't I repeat Don't invest in biotechnology unless you have some kind of expertise in this field. There is a ton of mind numbing data which is generated from testing. You can't value these companies in the same manner you would a financial stock. Just to let everyone know its all sums in basically two ways. How good is management at obtaining funding and how good is the pipeline. One drug good or bad will make or break these companies especially the small ones that are not networked or well established. Another thing to look at is partnerships lots of big partners = lots of big money. Don't look at quarterly profit reports they are almost meaningless except with regard to the aforementioned.

Promising new hepatitis C drug

Up up and away. Great stock with great product.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals represents an attractive long-term opportunity based on the potential blockbluster sales of Telaprevir. Other potential pipeline candidates also look interesting, but Vertex is burning cash at a significant rate, thus frustrating stockholders. The financial situation seems solid to analysts, but dilution is a concern. Vertex did announce a timeline slippage which will cause delays with Telaprevir. The cash burn rates are expected to remain above $300 million through 2010.In the First quarter of 08 Vertex raised $390 million, adding to it's 2007 year-end cash position of $470 million.

Telaprevir, is an oral hepatitis C protease inhibitor and one of the most advanced of a new class of antiviral treatments that target the hepatitis C virus. Phase 3 trials were supposed to have begun in March 2008.

Vertex has the capability to integrate biology, pharmacology, biophysics, chemistry, automation and information technologies in a coordinated manner. Using this capability has identified 11 different drug candidates in the pipeline including: VX770 and VX890, two drugs targeting cystic fibrosis; VX500 and VX813, two second generation HCV protease inhibitors; and VX509, a janus kinase 3 inhibitor that targets immune mediated inflammatory diseases. Vertex also has other drugs in clinical trials and preclinical studies targeting cancer, pain and other neurological diseases and disorders.

Vertex does have certain risk factors associated with it, which are common in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical sector. Vertex has incurred significant operating losses ever since its inception and expects to incur a significant loss in 2008. Vertex is planning to make significant investments in R&D and in the potential launch and marketing of Telaprevir.
Some of the risks include:

The need to raise additional capital that may not be available.

Depend heavily on Telaprevir, which is still under development, If unable to commercialize Telaprevir, Vertex could seek additional funding.

If competitors bring superior drugs to market before Vertex, it may be unable to find a market for it's drugs.

Drug development efforts are data driven and potentially subject to abrupt changes in expected outcomes.

If processes and systems are not compliant with regulatory requirements, Vertex could be subject to delays or restrictions in marketing drugs after approval.

After obtaining regulatory approvals drugs are subject to ongoing regulatory review. If Vertex fails to comply with continuing regulations it could lose approvals.

In 2007, R&D expense for Vertex was $514.5 million

R&D dollars invested since inception total $2,015,896,000

Financials include:

Profit Margin (ttm):- 236.63%
Operating Margin (ttm): -248.55%
Revenue (ttm): $171.88 million
Quarterly Revenue (ttm): $185.11 million
EBITDA (ttm): -$398.57 million
Return on Assets (ttm): -30.96%
Return on Equity (ttm): -100.98%
Total Cash (mrq): $749.6 million
Total Debt (mrq): $307.50 million
Total Assets $601,477 million

very interresting pipeline of drugs; currently leading they way in their niche

Rule breaker sept. 2007