If the lack of a spending bill shuts down the government this evening, biotech investors will get a break from one of their favorite pastimes: betting on binary events.
Like most government agencies, the Food and Drug Administration will cut nonessential workers. CNN reported that some plant inspections will continue, but they'll be prioritized to high-risk plants that have a history of safety issues. It seems that Dendreon's
Drug approvals seem to fall in the nonessential category. But it gets worse. Not only are we unlikely to see any approvals during the shutdown, but decisions on drugs such as Vertex Pharmaceuticals'
Investors looking to get their fix of potential big stock moves can still invest in companies with upcoming clinical trial results. Celgene
And of course there's still one upcoming binary event that will still be in play: when the shutdown will end. Investors could sell put options on companies with upcoming FDA decisions that would then expire worthless if the decision date is extended beyond option expiration. Or take it a step further and strangle the stock.
Or you could just use the break to add stocks to your watchlist and do some more research.
