Stockwatch: Pain in the middle eight
This article was originally published in Scrip
Executive Summary
In popular music parlance, the middle eight is the part of a song that is not a chorus or a verse. In America, it's called the bridge, although it can also be thought of as either the padding or less memorable parts of a music track. If life science companies were to be classified as either chorus, verse or middle eight companies, profitable biotechnology companies like Gilead Sciences and Celgene (which we own), that have attained the size that means they may never be acquired, would be the verses, while the chorus would include those companies like Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (which we own) and Alexion Pharmaceuticals that have easily surpassed profitability, but are not yet so big that they could never be acquired.