Update-1 9/24/25…A quiet day in biotech except for uniQure N.V.(QURE) soaring over 247% tp $47.50 on a potential gene therapy (AMT-130) cure for Huntington’s Disease!. Huntington’s disease is an inherited condition in which nerve cells in the brain break down over time. The disease affects a person’s movements, thinking ability and mental health.The stock languished in the teens since the FDA fast tracked the NDA with Breakthrough Designation on April 17 when Phase 1/2 data showed slowing progression of disease by 80%. The stock soared 38% on that day last April, then gradually traded in a choppy pattern until early September when QURE hit $20. SO given the regulatory support for this therapy and the trading pattern, bulls had clues that clinical data would be positive. And on August 14 MIZUHO upgraded the stock with a PT of $30. The Company announced today they would file for a proposed public stock offering of $200M.
Biotech stocks were mixed today with the XBI up 0.69% to $97.44.Some other well known gene therapy stocks showed nice gains: EDIT, RGNX, SLDB.
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Your Healthcare Portfolio needs More Biotech
- The Healthcare Sector remains a laggard but biotech looks well positioned if tariffs and price controls don’t mess things up.
- Large cap biopharma is overweight in our portfolio with ABBV, GILD, LLY, VRTX. PFE up 2% on $4.9B obesity deal for Metsera.
- Biotech small caps lead the way with innovation in Precision Oncology, AI and specialty drugs. Benefit from M&A.
On September 1 we reviewed our Large Cap Biopharma Portfolio and showed how our picks could beat the S&P 500. We have recommended this subsector of Healthcare for two years now and we expect this outperformance could continue through Q4 2025 because of value plus growth plus dividends . The XLV is down o,34% YTD primarily because of UNH down 32.75% YTD at $340 well off the $237 bottom.
- Our Top Picks are: ABBV, GILD, LLY and VRTX. And we have made trades with other large cap selling AZN and BIIB but adding to ABBV as it climbs to new highs at the $223 level, up 25% YTD. We also own ROCHE (RHHBY) for the long term.
- We also have a long term hold on Fidelity Select Biotech Fund (FBIOX) up 12.86% YTD which helps us balance out our biotech portfolio. Among the FBIOX top holdings which we do not own are : ALNY, AMGN, KRYS. You can also look to supplement your core positions with other Funds such as JGNLX and PPH.
- Another trade would have been to buy a little JNJ at the beginning of the year now up about 23% YTD.
Small Cap Biotech-Our Favorite trading subsector within healthcare. Throughout 2025 and earlier when we published our SMID Biopharma trading portfolio we covered small caps as we bought them. Since early April SMID biotechs have begun to track the Russell 2000 (IWM) up 9.97% YTD. Over the last month the IWM is up 7.41% as the 2025 rally has broadened beyond large cap mega-tech. Small caps have a lot of volatility because very few are profitable so our model is based core technology and momentum.
- Our bellwether ETFS for SMID biotechs are: ARKG $27.51,up 3.58% MTD, 16.84% YTD, IBB $142.72 up 3.5% MTD, 7.95% YTD, XBI $95.60, up 7.66% MTD, up 6.15 5 YTD.
- SMID caps on our list that we recently bought and recommended: were strong last week and are up today:Crescent Biopharma (CBIO) ,Personalis( PSNL) and Xencor (XNCR).
- Some of our best performing SMID biotech trades YTD: ADPT ,BBIO, COGT, CRSP, CYRX, NTRA, PTGX, RNA,RZLT, ROIV, RYTM, SUPN,TEM, VCYT and XNCR.
The IHI and the FSMEX are good picks in the Medtech and US Medical Device markets but at the present time are lagging..Holding reduced positions in ABT, FSMEX,SYK,ISRGand JNJ. Here is some data on NGS markets as sequencing creates next-GEN diagnostics, companies including ILMN,TMO and RHHBY.
We expect deals to drive biotechs stocks over the coming months.