November a lackluster month for biotechnology stocks, says Burrill

The results of the US mid-term elections, which saw the Democrats achieve majorities in both the House of Representatives and the Senate for the first time since 1994 (Marketletters passim), have already begun to send shock waves through the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries during the month of November.

"We know that Congress will shift when Democrats take over both the House and Senate in January, with a new focus on health care, especially Medicare Part B that will potentially plague the pharma and product based biotech industry," commented Steven Burrill, chief executive of Burrill & Company, a San Francisco, USA-based life sciences firm whose principal activities are in venture capital, merchant banking and media.

"A key issue on the Democrats agenda will be increasing the government's power to negotiate lower drug prices for millions of older Americans on Medicare. The pharma lobbyists are already lining up to fight against this agenda, although many concede that the House is likely to pass a bill intended to drive down drug prices. With heated debate squarely on drug pricing, momentum is created for the generic-drug rivals' agenda," he said.