Biotech walks a 'tightrope' amid unclear funding, regulations
Earlier this week, the Trump administration froze and then rescinded the freeze on federal funding for several programs, including research funding that the biotech industry relies on. Clear Street senior equity analyst and director of research, Mara Goldstein, sits down with Julie Hyman and Josh Lipton on Market Domination to discuss how to play the biotech sector as Trump's second term in the White House is underway. "It's a little bit of optics right now," Goldstein explains. "Clearly, any disruption is typically bad unless it involves dismantling regulation, so the surprise announcement that all of a sudden all federal grants will be frozen — you have to take a sort of a bit of a knee-jerk reaction." "The reality is, for the biotech industry, while research is the lifeblood of this industry, a lot of the research is being federally funded ... there are labs that are being funded that are working with biotech and pharmaceutical companies, or clinical trials that are being funded through federal grants that are being run through big hospital administrations," she explains, adding, "It just adds a layer of uncertainty." Additionally, Goldstein notes that it is currently unclear how the biotech sector could be impacted if Robert F. Kennedy Jr. gets confirmed as Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), who fielded questions from the Senate Finance Committee as part of his confirmation hearing Thursday. "We're walking a bit of a tightrope to some degree ... you have some nominees that are not necessarily science-friendly but maybe are friendlier from a regulatory perspective." She adds that looser antitrust regulation expected under Trump could also benefit the biotech industry. Goldstein highlights Enliven Therapeutics (ELVN), Protagonist (PTGX), and Delcath (DCTH) as top biotech picks. To watch more expert insights and analysis on the latest market action, check out more Market Domination here. This post was written by Naomi Buchanan.
