After a dramatic June downturn, the Biotech Daily Top 40 Index (BDI-40) stormed back 26.4 percent to a near full recovery, outperforming the ASX200 which was up 5.7 percent.

The collective three Big Caps of Cochlear, CSL and Resmed (which are not included in the BDI-40) rose 9.1 percent; and the Nasdaq Biotechnology Index (NBI) 4.1 percent.

The BDI-40 recovered to above its pre-Covid-19 pandemic high (see charts below) with improvements across the board, but was 16.1 percent below July 31, 2021.

Telix added $864 million, or 61.0 percent, taking its market capitalization to a record $2,281 million, on news of its first major sales of its Illucix kit for prostate cancer imaging. Pro Medicus, Nanosonics and Imugene added nearly $1.5 billion to the index.

In July, 32 of the BDI-40 companies were up, 28 by more than 10 percent, 18 by more than 20 percent and five by more than 50 percent. Just seven fell with three down by more than 10 percent. Uscom was unchanged.

Medical Developments was the best by percentage in July, up $76 million or 73.1 percent to $180 million, followed by: Volpara (63.2%), Telix (61.0%), Mesoblast (57.2%), Oncosil (50.6%), Next Science (49.7%), Neuren (48.2%), Alcidion (41.7%), Cyclopharm (38.95%), Nanosonics (38.5%), Atomo (37.5%), Imugene (33.3%), Dimerix (28.2%), Compumedics (25.9%), Resonance (23.1%), Impedimed (22.2%), Avita (21.4%) and Actinogen (20.0%).

Kazia led the falls for no apparent reason, down $14 million or 16.5 percent to $71 million, followed by: Universal Biosensors (14.1%), Starpharma (12.25%), Genetic Signatures (6.6%), Amplia (5.3%), Proteomics (5.1%) and Micro-X (4.6%).

While some might say the sector is “volatile”, Biotech Daily believes it was over-sold by panicking investors, both retail and institutional. As we’ve said before, biotech is not for the faint-hearted.

The collective value of the three Big Caps climbed 9.1 percent in July, with Resmed leading, again, up 11.4 percent to $50,072 million, Cochlear up 8.5 percent to $14,177 million, and CSL up 8.3 percent to $140,369 million.

The Big Caps were up 1.65 percent for the year to July 31, 2022.

All stocks outside the BDI-40 were generally in recovery, with few stand-outs. EBR was up 88.8 percent, Mach7 was up 38.5 percent, Mayne was up 36.1 percent and Althea recovered 163.2 percent to $50 million - just below its April market capitalization.

Cannabis Corner was up 18.9 percent in July, but 0.6 percent below July 31, 2021. Ten of the 11 companies were up, with Incannex the only fall and by just 2.2 percent.

 On the Nasdaq, Queensland’s Protagonist was up 24.2 percent to $693 million, Eyepoint (formerly Psivida) was up 14.7 percent to $445n million, but Redhill with Australian assets slipped $1 million or 1.25 percent to $79 million.