Sirtex shines as biotech gears up for big year, says AusBiotech

As the year commences, Australia’s Sirtex Medical is being hailed a stand-out performer for 2012 and some analysts are tipping the biotech sector to be a “hot space” in 2013, trade group AusBiotech noted in a web site posting.

At the close of trade on Christmas Eve, the S&P Indices replaced Integra Mining with Sirtex Medical (SRX) on the S&P/ASX 200 and the good news did not end there for the oncology treatment developer. Having freshly joined the S&P/ASX 200, Sirtex took second place for the highest share price increase for 2012 at 193%, on the back of its September report of a 37% increase in sales of lead product, SIR-Sphere microspheres. The performance prompted The Australian Financial Review (January 7, 2013) to refer to Sirtex as the “poster child for the medical research and bio-pharmaceutical sector.”

Amid the economic predictions for the year ahead, many have acknowledged the difficult year for small caps, especially small mining outfits, in attracting risk-shy investors in 2012. While the large cap biotechs enjoyed a brilliant year, as evidenced by the Bioshares Large Cap Index showing a rise of 60% for the year, the rest of the sector faced a challenging time.