Investors were stunned in december when regulators refused to consider approving ImClone System much-touted colon cancer drug Erbitux. In six weeks Im-Clone's stock plummeted from $55 to $14, before staging a bit of a rebound to a current $27. No surprise there. Biotech has always been a gambler's game, where only one in five drugs that enter human trials reaches the market. Last year two-thirds of 48 experimental biotech drugs in late-stage testing experienced major setbacks, according to biotech research firm Mehta Partners. Why bother with this ultrarisky sector and its jolting swings in stock price? Because you just might hit a jackpot. If you had bought Amgen shares when they were first offered in 1983, you would now be sitting on a 182-fold gain.
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