Best Biotech Stocks To Invest In 2014

Based on the aggregated intelligence of 180,000-plus investors participating in Motley Fool CAPS, the Fool's free investing community, biopharmaceutical company Vical (NASDAQ: VICL  ) has received a distressing two-star ranking.

With that in mind, let's take a closer look at Vical and see what CAPS investors are saying about the stock right now.

Vical facts

Headquarters (founded)

San Diego, Calif. (1987)

Market Cap

$312.1 million

Industry

Biotechnology

Trailing-12-Month Revenue

$7.6 million

Top Cheap Companies To Own For 2015: Amgen Inc.(AMGN)

Amgen Inc., a biotechnology medicines company, discovers, develops, manufactures, and markets human therapeutics based on advances in cellular and molecular biology for grievous illnesses primarily in the United States, Europe, and Canada. The company markets recombinant protein therapeutics in supportive cancer care, nephrology, and inflammation. Its principal products include Aranesp and EPOGEN erythropoietic-stimulating agents that stimulate the production of red blood cells; Neulasta and NEUPOGEN to stimulate the production of neutrophils, which is a type of white blood cell that helps the body to fight infections; and Enbrel, an inhibitor of tumor necrosis factor that plays a role in the body?s response to inflammatory diseases. The company also markets other products comprising Sensipar/Mimpara, a small molecule calcimimetic that lowers serum calcium levels; Vectibix, a monoclonal antibody that binds specifically to the epidermal growth factor receptor; and Nplate, a thrombopoietin (TPO) receptor agonist that mimics endogenous TPO, the primary driver of platelet production. In addition, it provides Denosumab, a human monoclonal antibody that targets RANKL, an essential regulator of osteoclasts. Further, the company offers product candidates in mid-to-late stage development in a variety of therapeutic areas, including oncology, hematology, inflammation, bone, nephrology, cardiovascular, and general medicine consisting of neurology. It markets its products to healthcare providers, including physicians or their clinics, dialysis centers, hospitals, and pharmacies; consumers; and wholesale distributors of pharmaceutical products. The company has various collaborative arrangements with Pfizer Inc.; GlaxoSmithKline plc; Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited; Daiichi Sankyo Company, Limited; Array BioPharma Inc.; Kyowa Hakko Kirin Co. Ltd.; and Cytokinetics, Inc. Amgen Inc. was founded in 1980 and is headquartered in Thousand Oaks, California.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Keith Speights]

  1. Onyx Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: ONXX  )
  This one's virtually a no-brainer. A few weeks ago, Amgen (NASDAQ: AMGN  ) made an unsolicited offer for Onyx. Although Onyx rejected Amgen's bid of $120 per share as being too low, that wasn't the end of the story.

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  Credit Suisse analyst�Ravi Mehrotra�and team raised Celgene to�Outperform from Neutral, putting it on par with Outperform rated Biogen Idec (BIIB) and�Gilead�(GILD) and a notch above Neutral-rated Amgen (AMGN).�

• [By James E. Brumley]

  When investors think "immunotherapy", they tend to think of companies like Amgen, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) or Dendreon Corporation (NASDAQ:DNDN). And well they should. Dendreon was the first biotech outfit to come up with a big - and approved - potential game-changer (prostate cancer therapy Provenge) in the immunotherapy world, and the deep-pocketed Amgen is turning heads with T-Vec - an immunotherapy that fights tumors, currently in Phase 3 trials. Sometimes though, being big or being the first to market doesn't necessarily make a stock an investment-worthy ticker. Sometimes it's the little guy that actually has the better technology, and learns from the mistakes made when other biotechnology companies may have rushed in, if not with relatively ineffective medicines, than at least errors in judgment. TNI Biotech Inc. (OTCMKTS:TNIB) may well be one of those "second wave" names that isn't getting a lot of attention now, but has an immunotherapy in the works that could up-end bigger players like DNDN or AMGN.

• [By Kanak Kanti De]

  Amgen (AMGN) has been in the news primarily due to the dilly-dally that kept going on for months on the acquisition of Onyx (ONXX). Now that it is a done deal, the focus has shifted to discussions on the company's entry into the blood cancer market. The acquisition is a good opportunity in a new market not only because it marks the entry of Amgen into the blood cancer space, but also because Amgen needed it badly.

Best Biotech Stocks To Invest In 2014: ImmunoCellular Therapeutics Ltd (IMUC)

ImmunoCellular Therapeutics, Ltd., incorporated on March 20, 1987, is a clinical-stage biotechnology company. The Company is engaged in developing immune-based therapies for the treatment of cancers, such as brain, ovarian and other solid tumors. Immunotherapy is an approach to treat cancer in which a patient�� own immune system is stimulated to target tumor antigens, which are molecular signals that the immune system uses to identify foreign bodies. The Company�� products include ICT-107, ICT-140, ICT-120, ICT-109 and DIAAD. ICT-107, the pipeline product, is a Phase II therapeutic dendritic cell (DC) vaccine for the treatment of glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), the common and lethal type of brain cancer. ICT-107 is designed to activate a patient�� immune system to target six different tumor-associated antigens. In February 2012, it acquired a world-wide license from the University of Pennsylvania and The John Hopkins University (JHU).

The Company in addition to ICT-107, is also developing other therapeutic DC vaccines: ICT-140 for ovarian cancer and ICT-121 for recurrent GBM. ICT-140 targets seven tumor-associated antigens expressed on ovarian cancer cells. ICT-107 is a DC vaccine that targets six different tumor-associated antigens that are found on patients��tumor cells; four of the six antigens are expressed on CSCs. The therapeutic vaccine is used subsequent to conventional therapy or concomitantly with chemotherapy in patients with newly diagnosed GBM. ICT-140 is a DC vaccine that targets seven different ovarian cancer antigens. ICT-121 is a DC vaccine that targets CD133 antigens; it has the potential to be a universal cancer vaccine because CD133 is widely expressed on CSCs from a majority of cancers. Data from this small study demonstrated that ICT-109 had a statistically ability to discriminate between cancerous and non-cancerous samples, suggesting the potential to detect pancreatic and lung cancer in plasma and serum study sets. The DIAAD (differential immunization for an! tigen and antibody discovery) platform it acquired from Molecular Discoveries utilizes immunological tolerization to accelerate the discovery of the molecular differences between diseased cells and their normal counterparts. The monoclonal antibodies produced by DIAAD provide the basis for the discovery and development of its potential diagnostic and therapeutic products.

The Company competes with Dendreon, Oncothyreon, Galena, Bavarian Nordic and Immunovaccine, Northwest Biotherapeutics, Prima Biomed, DCPrime, Roche/Genentech, Seattle Genetics, Bristol-Myers Squibb and Immunogen.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Lauren Pollock]

  ImmunoCellular Therapeutics Ltd.(IMUC) said its leading product candidate, a dendritic cell-based vaccine for brain cancer, didn’t show a statistically significant advantage in overall survival in a Phase II study. In a research note, Maxim Group said it is pushing its EU approval date target to 2019 and lowered its estimate on the stock to $12 a share from $18 a share. The stock plunged 62% to $1.04 premarket.

• [By Smith On Stocks]

  Using my assumptions, the common of Agenus might be worth about $7.00 per share in early 2014 based on the royalties from the Glaxo vaccines and the net operating loss carry forward even if every other asset in the company were valued at zero. However, there may be substantial value in Agenus' internal vaccine programs in recurrent and newly diagnosed glioblastoma and the genital herpes vaccine. Based on a comparison to peer companies like Northwest Biotherapeutics (NWBO) and ImmunoCellular Therapeutics (IMUC), I believe that the internal programs at Agenus currently may be worth $150 million or $4.45 per share. Adding this to the value of the MAGE A-3 vaccine could produce a stock price of $11.00 in early 2014.

Best Biotech Stocks To Invest In 2014: Lpath Inc (LPTN)

Lpath, Inc. (Lpath), incorporated on September 18, 2002, is a biotechnology company focused on the discovery and development of bio-active lipid-targeted monoclonal antibody (mAb) therapeutics. The Company has three product candidates, iSONEP, ASONEP and Lpathomab. The Company's program, iSONEP, is a mAb against Sphingosine-1-Phosphate (S1P). As of December 31, 2012, it was in phase-II clinical trials for wet Age-Related Macular Degeneration. The Company is also advancing ASONEP, the systemic formulation of the mAb to S1P. ASONEP has completed a phase-I clinical trial and is entering phase-II clinical trials in Renal Cell Carcinoma.

Lpath's third product candidate, Lpathomab, is a mAb to the bioactive lipid, Lysophosphatidic Acid (LPA). The Company also applies its technology platform, ImmuneY2, to discovering mAbs to new bioactive lipid targets.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Lauren Pollock]

  Biotechnology company Lpath Inc.(LPTN) warned Pfizer Inc.(PFE) may divest itself of its exclusive option to co-develop the smaller firm’s leading product candidate. Lpath’s stock fell.

Best Biotech Stocks To Invest In 2014: Johnson & Johnson(JNJ)

Johnson & Johnson engages in the research and development, manufacture, and sale of various products in the health care field worldwide. The company operates in three segments: Consumer, Pharmaceutical, and Medical Devices and Diagnostics. The Consumer segment provides products used in baby care, skin care, oral care, wound care, and women?s health care fields, as well as nutritional, over-the-counter pharmaceutical products, and wellness and prevention platforms under the brands of JOHNSON?S, AVEENO, CLEAN & CLEAR, JOHNSON?S Adult, NEUTROGENA, RoC, LUBRIDERM, DABAO, LISTERINE, REACH, BAND-AID, CAREFREE, STAYFREE, SPLENDA, TYLENOL, SUDAFED, ZYRTEC, MOTRIN IB, and PEPCID AC. The Pharmaceutical segment offers products in various therapeutic areas, such as anti-infective, antipsychotic, contraceptive, dermatology, gastrointestinal, hematology, immunology, neurology, oncology, pain management, and virology. Its principal products include REMICADE for the treatment of immune me diated inflammatory diseases; STELARA for the treatment of moderate to severe plaque psoriasis; SIMPONI, a treatment for adults with moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, and ankylosing spondylitis; VELCADE for the treatment of multiple myeloma; PREZISTA and INTELENCE for treating HIV/AIDS patients; NUCYNTA for moderate to severe acute pain; INVEGA SUSTENNAtm for the acute and maintenance treatment of schizophrenia in adults; RISPERDAL CONSTA for the management of bipolar I disorder and schizophrenia; and PROCRIT to stimulate red blood cell production. The Medical Devices and Diagnostics segment primarily offers circulatory disease management products; orthopaedic joint reconstruction, spinal care, and sports medicine products; surgical care, aesthetics, and women?s health products; blood glucose monitoring and insulin delivery products; professional diagnostic products; and disposable contact lenses. The company was founded in 1886 and is based in Ne w Brunswick, New Jersey.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Alyssa Oursler]

  Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) isn’t dependable just because it provides everything from Band-Aids to Tylenol to baby shampoo. It also provides shareholders with steady-eddy dividend. Yes, Johnson & Johnson has been paying a dividend since 1944 — a long enough track record to make it a Dependable Dividend stock.

• [By Brian Orelli]

  And if doctors don't like any of those choices, there's a new class of drugs called SGLT-2 inhibitors that work though a different mechanism. Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ  ) got the first one approved earlier this year. Since it's a new class of drugs, doctors are likely to be cautious, but given the choice between unknown real-world experience and Avandia's history, I think most doctors would choose the unknown.

• [By Sean Williams]

  We've witnessed first-hand what a crapshoot the space can be. Four years ago,�Pharmacyclics (NASDAQ: PCYC  ) looked like just another biotechnology company that was going to waste away into nothing with its share price trading for less than $1. In the years since, it's forged nearly a $1 billion licensing partnership with Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ  ) for its relapsed/refractory mantle cell lymphoma and chronic lymphocytic leukemia drug hopeful, Ibrutinib, and delivered some of the strongest overall response rates ever witnessed in trials for these two diseases. Shares of Pharmacyclics closed yesterday above $80 per share.

• [By John Divine]

  One of those lucky few trading higher today was health0care behemoth Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ  ) , which added 0.6% after its impressive quarterly report yesterday. The fact that the company could boost sales 8.5% shows the company is executing well and can still find areas of growth a full 127 years after going into business. Medical sales, prescription drugs, and over-the-counter medications all grew at double-digit rates, and when you combine that with a 2.9% annual dividend, the stock looks pretty appealing right now.