Abington Health Expands Services, Facilities

A physician and investor in the biotechnology field, Dr. Lindsay Rosenwald began his medical training at the Temple University School of Medicine. While starting his private medical practice, Dr. Lindsay Rosenwald completed an internship at Abington Memorial Hospital in Pennsylvania.

The hospital is now the flagship facility of Abington Health, a not-for-profit regional health care provider that consistently offers innovative and advanced care to its patients. Abington Health’s providers assist more than 700,000 patients annually, and the health care system employs in excess of 1,200 physicians. Abington Health has earned Comprehensive Stroke Center certification from the Joint Commission and the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association.

Recently, the provider installed the latest-generation MR system, which offers patients a better MR scan experience and produces high-resolution images that help physicians to make more accurate diagnoses. Furthermore, the health care system added a fourth outpatient center. The new 48,000-square-foot facility houses outpatient services and several doctors’ practices that provide care for a wide range of patients, ranging from newborns to senior citizens. The center encompasses a laboratory draw site and an imaging center.

Early Biotechnology IPOs Led to Greater Growth

As one of the first physician analysts on Wall Street, Dr. Lindsay Rosenwald came to the biotechnology marketplace with a strong understanding of what would benefit medicine in general and secure profits at the same time. Entering the world of biotechnology investment in the mid-1980s, Dr. Lindsay Rosenwald built upon a precedent largely set by Genentech, SmithKline, and other innovative biotech firms 10 years earlier.

With SmithKline’s development of Tagamet (the first-ever “blockbuster drug” with $1 billion in annual revenue) and Genentech’s advances in rDNA technology, the mid-1970s proved a fertile ground for the nascent biotech sector. When Genentech launched a highly successful initial public offering in 1980, opening itself to investment on Wall Street became the next logical step for innovators in the life sciences, followed by other, early IPOs Cetus, Applied Biosystems, and Amgen. At the same time, much larger pharmaceutical companies began acquiring promising biotech firms that had yet to go public, creating multiple pathways for these new drug developers to grow and expand.

Amgen Moves into Cancer Treatment with Purchase of Onyx

New York City-based biotech financier Lindsay Rosenwald, MD, possesses over 20 years of experience in investing in health care and life sciences companies. In 2008, Lindsay Rosenwald co-founded Opus Point Partners to create a premier investment fund focused on biotechnology.

After several months of discussion, Amgen Inc. agreed to buy Onyx Pharmaceuticals Inc. in a transaction valued at $10.4 billion. The deal will bolster Amgen's product line with Onyx's slate of cancer-fighting drugs, including Kyprolis, a treatment for a form of blood cancer. Until this acquisition, Amgen had mainly produced drugs aimed at supporting rather than treating cancer patients. Because the population is aging and the oncology market is expected to grow as a result, Amgen's purchase of Onyx is widely considered a sound, forward-looking move.

This buyout is the latest in a pharmaceuticals industry in which numerous established firms have sufficient cash on hand to acquire smaller companies. From an investment perspective, this market environment offers many opportunities for investors in small, innovative companies to see their stakes rise dramatically in value as larger firms seek to enhance their product portfolios.