TOKYO: The promise of PeptiDream Inc's drug-discovery technology and its lucrative research-for-hire contracts have made it a darling of the Tokyo stock market. Now, those gains have made it a target for short-seller Muddy Waters.
"We'd rather get 5per cent of 100 drugs than get 100per cent of five drugs," he said. He estimates that around half of all drugs being worked on by PeptiDream partners are cancer drugs.PeptiDream's rocketing market value has been helped by its traditional fees for collaborating in R&D and licensing deals to use its libraries. Its operating profit margin is 50per cent, the highest of all 37 members in the Tokyo market's pharma index, where the average is 14per cent.
Twelve of PeptiDream's partners told Reuters their partnerships were active and ongoing, including pharma giants Bristol-Myers, Merck, Novartis, Bayer AG and Amgen Inc. "It's a bunt single, and that's better than a strikeout," Block said of PeptiDream's share fall, referring by bunt single to a baseball play that sees a batter eke out a small gain.