Dear Reader,
Happy Tuesday.
Today is September 2nd, and I want to share something a little more personal with you.
A few years ago, I noticed some stiffness in my pinky finger. At first, I thought I had just jammed it playing basketball or hitting in the batting cages with my son. But it got worse. Every time the bat rattled in my hands, the pain shot through my finger.
Finally, I went to the doctor. He told me I had something called Dupuytren’s contracture.
I had never heard of it. Turns out it’s a condition where the fingers slowly curl inward until you can’t move them anymore.
The doctor called it “Vikings Disease.” Apparently, it’s common among people of Northern European descent. Even Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher had it.
That made me feel a little better—if Reagan and Thatcher had it, I guess I’m in good company.
But still, it’s been getting worse. These days, I can’t move my finger past a certain point. My kids tease me and call me “the claw.” When we play basketball and I miss a shot, they wave their hands at me and laugh.
So here we are. I’ve had to see a hand surgeon about treatment.
The old options were surgery, or sometimes needles, but with mixed results. Now there’s a new treatment.
The doctor injects an enzyme into the finger. Over a couple of days, it goes to work breaking down the tissue that’s pulling the finger in. Then you go back in, and the doctor literally cracks your finger back into place.
He told me it sounds like glass breaking.
I’m not looking forward to that part.
But here’s the stock angle.
The treatment is called Xiaflex. It was developed by Endo Pharmaceuticals, which recently merged with Mallinckrodt.
This therapy is revolutionary. It’s eliminating the need for surgery in Dupuytren’s patients. And as I’ve discovered, a lot more people have this condition than you’d think.
The new Endo entity is projecting about $4 billion in sales and roughly $1 billion in EBITDA. That’s not small. Especially considering healthcare stocks are trading at panic-level valuations—the lowest in 20–25 years.
Now, many of you know biotech has been a brutal sector lately. I appreciate all of you who have stuck with us through it—you’ve seen tough biotech markets before, and you know that’s when the best long-term opportunities emerge.
This might be one of them.
Xiaflex could become a household name in medicine. Endo’s merger gives them fresh footing. And at these levels, the stock might be worth a serious look.
As for me, I’m going in for the treatment soon. I’ll let you know how it goes.
If it works as well as the doctors say, I’ll not only get my hand back… but we may have a new stock to buy.
Stay tuned.
“The Buck Stops Here,”
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Written by Dylan Jovine