Ebb & Flow: It has been worse

In earlier times, biotech's fundamental progress over the last 13 weeks could have supported the industry perhaps for an entire year. But investors generally turned their backs on the sector's achievements in the third quarter (see adjoining list).

The BioCentury 100 Price Level index was down 11 percent, while the 190 smaller cap companies in The Carson Life Sciences Indexes lost an aggregate $2.2 billion in market cap in the quarter. The top tier stocks continued to benefit, however, as investors looked for a safe haven within the sector. The 11 large cap stocks in The Carson Indexes gained $2.5 billion, increasing their aggregate value to $33.5 billion in the quarter. ...