Joseph Edelman is known for being the founder of the hedge-fund firm Perceptive Advisors which has its roots in biotech. Even though the sector fell 20% last year, Joseph Edelman’s fund gained 3.8% after soaring 52% in 2015.

Edelman’s has a personal net worth of $1.1 billion and he is number 12 on Forbes list of highest-earning hedge fund managers.

Joseph Edelman, a former sell-side biotech analyst,  has been quietly producing strong returns investing in biotechnology stocks since he started his own firm in 1999.

Edelman benefited from the biotech stock surge and in the last four years, his main Perceptive Life Sciences fund has returned more than 20% each year.

In 2015, Edelman’s biggest fund returned 49.2%. His firm currently manages  $1.5 billion of assets. However, biotech sell-off last year, 2016 hit his fund hard. Edelman’s investors were nursing double-digit losses at the start of 2016.

His father, Isidore “Izzy” Edelman, was a renowned scientist. Izzy, who died in 2004, was a professor emeritus of biochemistry and molecular biophysics at Columbia’s College of Physicians and Surgeons, where he spent 26 years.

Joseph Edelman earned an M.B.A. from New York University and a B.A., magna cum laude, in psychology from the University of California San Diego.

Joseph Edelman was Senior Analyst at Aries Fund, a Paramount Capital Asset Management biotechnology hedge fund, from November 1994 through December 1998. Prior that Edelman was a Senior Biotechnology Analyst at Prudential Securities for four years.

Edelman’s, Perceptive Life Sciences Fund was a top performer in 2014.  Edelman joined the rich list after earning $300 million in 2015.

Joseph Edelman is the founder of the hedge-fund firm Perceptive Advisor. Edelman’s has a personal net worth of $1.1 billion.

In 2015, Edelman’s biggest fund returned 49.2%.

INVESTMENT STYLE

Joseph Edelman is heavily geared towards biotech stocks.

“The tricky thing about drug prices is that when they are higher, it encourages more innovation because it’s a very risky industry” said Edelman.

Joseph Edelman invests a lot in small- and mid-cap biotech stocks. The essential questions for Edelman are as follows:
Does the drug work?
Will it be approved? Will it sell more or less than expected?

If it works and is approved, the stock will go much higher. Price controls are a negative perception that keeps people away from the group, not the driving factor in stock prices.

Is this the year biotech beats the Standard & Poor’s 500?

“If I had to guess, I’d say yes. These stocks are in general very good value. I’m more confident in the ones we’re invested in, which have major clinical regulatory events that, if they go well, the stocks will almost certainly go higher.”

Our largest investment focus is on developmental-stage biotech companies, which requires both a strong scientific focus and knowledge base, as well as significant investment experience and a realistic appraisal of the chances of success – Joseph Edelman

LEARNING RESOURCES

Even though the sector fell 20% last year, Joseph Edelman’s fund gained 3.8% after soaring 52% in 2015.

His father ran the biochemistry department at Columbia University (Joseph started working at the lab at the age of 13), then started a biotech company that he eventually sold.

The tricky thing about drug prices is that when they are higher, it encourages more innovation because it’s a very risky industry – Joseph Edelman

CONNECT WITH INVESTOR

Follow this World Top Investor via their various social media channels and read more about their background and current investment interests on their official website:

Joseph Edelman
www.perceptivelife.com