Monthly Comment 04-10

Alexis Stephan

Description

Quaker Biotech Pharma-Healthcare Fund October 2004 Mutual Fund Assets: USD15,814,344 Mutual Fund Exposures: Long: 59.7% Short: -16.5% Options:0.1% Cash: 56.7% Top 5 Long/Short Positions: Long Positions % Assets Short Positions % Assets Chiron 5.9% IBB -4.7% Celgene 5.6% Nasdaq 100 TR -4.1% Amgen 5.0% Genentech -3.4% Medicine's Company 4.6% Cephalon -2.3% Medimmune 4.2% Forest Labs -2.0% Commentary: The Nasdaq Biotech Index (NBI) was down on the month (-2.7%) while the Philadelphia Drug Index (RXS) was down -1.1%. The monthly performance of the Nasdaq Composite was +4.1% while the S&P was +1.4%. On the year the NBI is down –4.0%, underperforming the Nasdaq Composite (-1.4%) and the S&P (+1.6%) and outperforming the RXS (-8.0%). There was significant news during the quarter. In regulatory news, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) came under pressure as Merck announced a worldwide withdrawal of its painkiller Vioxx and Chiron’s manufacturing problems resulted in a flu vaccine shortage in the country. In company specific regulatory news, Celgene announced the receipt of an approvable letter for the label expansion of Thalomid and Neurocrine Biosciences filed their NDA for Indiplon IR for insomnia. Onyx fell after management stated that they would not file for approval of their cancer drug on Phase II data (as widely expected), but would wait until completion of Phase III data. In clinical news, Dendreon reported that a three-year ...

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• Publié par: Unji
• Nombre de lectures: 17
• Langue: English

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Quaker Biotech Pharma-Healthcare Fund October 2004 Mutual Fund Assets:USD15,814,344 Mutual Fund Exposures:Options:0.1% Cash:56.7%Long: 59.7%Short: -16.5% Top 5 Long/Short Positions: Long Positions% AssetsShort Positions% Assets Chiron 5.9%IBB -4.7% Celgene 5.6%Nasdaq 100 TR-4.1% Amgen 5.0%Genentech -3.4% Medicines Company4.6% Cephalon-2.3% Medimmune 4.2%Forest Labs-2.0% Commentary: The Nasdaq Biotech Index (NBI) was down on the month (-2.7%) while the Philadelphia Drug Index (RXS) was down -1.1%.The monthly performance of the Nasdaq Composite was +4.1% while the S&P was +1.4%. On the year the NBI is down –4.0%, underperforming the Nasdaq Composite (-1.4%) and the S&P (+1.6%) and outperforming the RXS (-8.0%). There was significant news during the quarter. In regulatory news, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) came under pressure as Merck announced a worldwide withdrawal of its painkiller Vioxx and Chiron’s manufacturing problems resulted in a flu vaccine shortage in the country. In company specific regulatory news, Celgene announced the receipt of an approvable letter for the label expansion of Thalomid and Neurocrine Biosciences filed their NDA for Indiplon IR for insomnia. Onyx fell after management stated that they would not file for approval oftheir cancer drug on Phase II data (as widely expected), but would wait until completion of Phase III data. In clinical news, Dendreon reported that a three-year follow-up of their Phase III trial for Provenge for prostate cancer had demonstrated a survival benefit. Actelion was strong after Pfizer reported underwhelming results for Viagra in pulmonary arterial hypertension, a treatment which would compete with Actelion’s Tracleer. Finally, Chiron announced that they would not be providing any flu vaccine for the US market due to sterility issues in their Liverpool flu manufacturing facility. Medimmune announced 1m additional flu doses for the 04/’05 season and, potentially, 8m-10m for the 05/’06 season. In third quarter earnings results, numerous companies reported earnings at or ahead of expectations including Amgen, Biogen- Idec, Genentech, Intermune and the Medicine’s Company. The A shares of the fund were down –0.4% on the month and up +6.7% on the year, outperforming the NBI. On the long side, The Medicine’s Company and MedImmune, among others, recorded positive contributions. The short portfolio had an overall positive contribution. Biotech equities continue to look attractive, especially after the recent reporting season, which by and large has confirmed the sector’s solid health. Valuations are increasingly attractive at less than 25X 2005 E EPS for large caps. Mid-caps are even more attractive, trading on par with their large cap counterparts on a Price / Sales basis but with an expected sales growth rate of 50% vs 25%. Based on industry fundamentals alone, we would expect biotech equities to perform solidly in the next 6-24 months, driven by sales and earnings growth, drug approvals and clinical results. The short term outlook is uncertain because of the continuously challenging environment for equities in general and the uncertain US regulatory environment (lack of permanent FDA leadership and recent product withdrawals - Vioxx and flu vaccine). The Sub-Advisor: Sectoral Asset Management (S.A.M.) has one of the world’s longest track record (10 years) in managing Biotech mutual funds and is one of the largest investors in that sector with over USD2.2bn under Monthly Comment – October 2004 Sectoral Asset Management

management. For more info on S.A.M., you can visit the following web site:www.sectoral.com  or www.quakerfunds.com . Fund Mandate: Thefund has a very focused mandate and will invest in 15-25 long positions and 0-10 short positions in the Biotech and Pharmaceutical industries.The fund also has the flexibility to go 100% cash if deemed necessary. Tickers: A-QBPAXB-QBPBXC-CBPCX

The Fund’s holdings and characteristics are as of10/31/2004 and are subject to change. As of the quarter ended 9/30/2004, the Class A Share returns for 1 year and since inception (10/14/2002) were9.97% and 18.23% respectively. Performance shown does not reflect sales charges or any fee waivers and expense limitations in effect. In their absence performance would be reduced. Current performance may be lower or higher than the performance shown. For the Fund's most recent month-end standardized performance, visit our website, www.quakerfunds.com or call us at 1-800-220-8888.

The Fund Prospectus includes a complete discussion of investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses, and is available for download at www.quakerfunds.com/request or by calling 1-800-220-8888. The Prospectus contains this and other information about the Fund and should be read carefully before investing.Investment returns and the principal value of an investment will fluctuate, so that an investor's shares, when redeemed, may be worth more or less than their original cost.The Quaker Funds are distributed by Citco Mutual Fund Distributors, Inc. (Member NASD).

Monthly Comment – October 2004 Sectoral Asset Management