Most life sciences and biopharma hedge funds made money in August. Strong gains enabled several funds to return to the black for the year.
One of the top performers in 2024 remains Janus Henderson’s Biotechnology Innovation Composite, a pure play on biotech stocks. It gained 3.9 percent in August and is up 38.7 percent for the year, according to the firm. Janus’s hedge fund composite is more diversified than many of the other biopharma specialists. It includes longs, often smaller and less-liquid companies, private companies, and shorting, which helped performance when the sector was selling off in recent years.
Casdin Capital’s share class that invests only in public securities is likely the top performer for the year, up about 40 percent, says an investor. However, it dropped 1.8 percent last month.
Institutional Investor reported previously that it is not clear how the fund’s class that includes private investments is performing or how many companies are in that portfolio, notes a frustrated investor. And unlike Janus Henderson, which has never suffered a down year, Casdin remains well below its high-water mark after several years of losses.
Elsewhere, Soleus Capital gained 4.7 percent in August and is up 13.8 percent for the year, an investor says. Soleus benefited from the performance of TG Therapeutics, which surged about 19 percent last month. The firm’s largest U.S.-listed long position, which focuses on novel treatments for B-cell malignancies and autoimmune diseases, accounted for about 5.7 percent of assets at the end of the second quarter.
No. 2 long Iovance Biotherapeutics, a biopharmaceuticals company that is working on cancer therapies, surged 33 percent last month. Suvretta’s Averill Partners gained 1.6 percent in August and is up 18.5 percent so far in 2024, per an investor. RA Capital Management jumped 60 basis points and is now up 13.7 percent for the year, according to an investor.
At least two funds moved into the black after posting strong gains last month.
Perceptive Advisors climbed 5 percent in August and is now up 3.5 percent for the year. Last month, shares of Amicus Therapeutics rose about 12 percent. It became Perceptive’s largest U.S.-listed long after previous No. 1 holding, Cerevel Therapeutics, was acquired by AbbVie on August 1.
Cormorant Asset Management is up 1.5 percent for the year after gaining 3.3 percent last month. The firm’s largest position by far is MoonLake Immunotherapeutics, a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing next-level therapies for inflammatory diseases. The stock accounts for more than 21 percent of assets, according to Cormorant’s second-quarter 13F filing. The stock rose 2.7 percent in August.
RTW Investments, meanwhile, lost 1.3 percent last month but remains up 15 percent for the year.