A problem for small retail investors looking for trusted financial news websites lies in deciphering which ones serve their interests and which ones simply offer analysis more suited for the message board forums. Often the barrier between news and bluster is blurred and one example comes to mind which I would like to highlight. Adam Feuerstein is a Senior Columnist at TheStreet.com who blogs about the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. I feel that Feuerstein also serves as an example of how the flow of information from "news" sources to the retail investor is distorted and broken.
Last Friday, I read first hand an example of Adam's "reporting" on a biotechnology company I follow, Generex Biotechnology (GNBT). Since Generex is a micro cap company, having an article from a "news source" featuring them can result in volatile trading activity for their stock. A columnist offering a negative opinion on a company or stock can often result in a more well rounded perspective and be helpful. However, when the article presents a defamatory opinion based on untrue statements, the small retail shareholder holding shares can watch his investment deteriorate for potentially manipulative reasons.
Feuerstein takes a negative approach towards Generex in his daily featured article, titled Biotech Stock Mailbag. The problem is that he states his opinion based upon premises which I find to be blatantly false. Feuerstein belittles Generex's efforts in developing Oral-lyn buccal insulin spray by stating that "none of the Oral-lyn data collected by Generex has been peer-reviewed in credible medical journals, nor has it been presented at the top-flight diabetes meetings".
In the lively comment section that follows his article, I cited the numerous peer review articles which have been published by the independent researchers studying Oral-lyn in its Phase I, II and III trials, and named the plentiful "top-flight diabetes meetings" where Oral-lyn data has been presented, including having Oral-lyn data being selected for a prestigious podium presentation at last year's American Diabetes Association Scientific Sessions. In reality, Generex routinely presents Oral-lyn data at all of the major diabetes events and the latest peer review article was published last month.
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