Will the New Politics Help Bio Defense Stocks?

It appears that the Obama administration's national defense priorities will differ from the previous administration. These shifts in priorities could be an opportunity for investors interested in biomedical applications and products. With less emphasis on the bombs and missiles, and more emphasis on diplomacy, the new administration expected to be very friendly to innovative technologies to benefit both human health and defending the population against disease outbreaks, whether natural or manmade. 

Several companies are well positioned to play an important role to work with government programs to prevent and contain outbreaks of disease outbreak is natural or intentional. Most of the companies that specialize in these programs is still small and their equipment to be purchased at reasonable prices with the expectation of growth in research and product development initiatives mature. 

Emergent biological solutions that are traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol EBS is the largest and best known of the biodefense specialty companies. This company has done an impressive job of landing big contracts, and has many years experience in production of vaccines. Their product is the only vaccine approved by the U.S. FDA to prevent anthrax infection. Emergent is also working to develop vaccines for other diseases of both the defense and protection of public health, including botulism and tuberculosis. Unlike most companies have Emegent's stock generally increased in value over the global economic slowdown. 

iBioPharma Inc., which traded under the symbol IBPM on OTC BB, is new to public markets, but not to a significant biodefense research. This company became public following a recent spin-off from a larger parent company that focuses primarily on non-biotech markets. Share price fell significantly after the spin-off, probably due to existing parent shareholders who had no interest in biotechnology and biodefense convert their new shares for cash. In an exclusive relationship, provides a well-established research iBioPharma with patents, technology and product candidates, including influenza, plague and anthrax. The U.S. government has partially financed iBioPharma technology. 

PharmAthene, traded on the AMEX exchange under the symbol "PIP, was formed in 2001 and is developing products for defense against both biological and chemical products. PharmAthene was originally backed by private venture capital funds, and in 2007 it was published by a reverse merger with Healthcare Acquisition Corporation. PharmAthene stock price has declined significantly along with the overall market, despite considerable public funds obligations for the achievement of various scientific references.