The market refuses to reward this drugmaker for developing three potential breakthrough treatments. Strange how investors won't throw money at promises. It's almost like they've heard the word "breakthrough" before.
The non-opioid pain reliever sounds fantastic until you remember every pharmaceutical company has been claiming they've cracked this code since 2016. The FDA has approved exactly none of them worth mentioning. But sure, this time will be different. This time the science will overcome the fact that effective pain relief without addiction is essentially pharmaceutical alchemy. Retail traders hear "non-opioid painkiller" and imagine buying a beach house. The market hears it and imagines another clinical trial failure in 18 months.
The lupus treatment gets called a "potential blockbuster" which is industry speak for "we have no idea if this works but the PowerPoint looks incredible." Lupus affects roughly 1.5 million Americans. Know what else affects millions of Americans? Student debt. High cholesterol. The inexplicable belief that they can day-trade their way to financial independence. Only one of those has proven impossible to cure.
Then there's the EpiPen for heart attacks. Fantastic branding. Really rolls off the tongue. Comparing your experimental drug to a device that Mylan turned into a price-gouging scandal is certainly a choice. The EpiPen works because allergic reactions give you minutes to respond. Heart attacks destroy heart muscle by the second. But let's say this miracle injection works perfectly. You're having a heart attack. You're sweating, confused, your left arm feels like it's in a vice. In this moment of crisis, you'll definitely have the presence of mind to give yourself an injection instead of calling 911. Absolutely. Paramedics hate this one simple trick.
The market hasn't given this company credit for the same reason Vegas doesn't give you credit for future royal flushes. Potential means nothing. Clinical trials fail. Regulatory approval takes years. Competitors exist. And most importantly, "the market has yet to give it credit" is just financial journalism's polite way of saying the stock is bleeding out while true believers check their portfolios and wonder if lupus is even a real disease.
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