MT.

HOPE HIGH SCHOOL

OUR MISSION:
TO EDUCATE ALL STUDENTS
TO BECOME SKILLFUL LEARNERS
AND RESPONSIBLE, PRODUCTIVE CITIZENS

DEPARTMENT
Science

COURSE NAME
Introduction to Biotechnology
TITLE OF TASK
Biotech Stock Game: Powerpoint

PBGR(S):

2 Speaking Effectively (oral presentation)

22 Apply Scientific Principles to Real World Situations

GRADE SPAN EXPECTATIONS (GSES):

CONTENT STANDARDS:

APPLIED LEARNING STANDARDS:

NOTE: LIST PBGRS, GSES AND STANDARDS THAT ARE ASSESSED BY THE
TASK.

T.O.C # ________

Biotechnology Stock Project

(Inspired by Mark Okuda, Silver Creek High School, San Jose, CA.)

To gain an understanding of what Biotechnology is and what people are doing

with Biotechnology, we will use the Virtual Stock Exchange (VSE) to investigate
and invest in different biotech companies. The VSE provides a stock market
game that starts players off with an amount of money and allows them to
buy and sell shares of companies they choose. The project will last for 90
days. During this time, you must invest your money in biotech companies that
you research and choose. The website will keep track of your holdings and tell
you how much you are making/losing on each stock.
At the end of the project, we will award bonus points and prizes to the top
earner in each class. You will produce a 5-10 min PowerPoint presentation to
be given to the other investors in class. This PowerPoint will be uploaded to
digital portfolio as evidence of PBGR # 22 Applying scientific principles to real
world situations.
Background Info:
The Stock Market is a term that actually describes several markets such as
the New York Stock Exchange and the American Stock Exchange where the
stocks of companies are traded. Shares in a company are sold and the
shareholders then become part owners of the company. Shareholders receive
stock certificates that show the number of shares purchased.
By offering shares to the public, companies become publicly traded. Offering
shares of stock raises money for continued research and development of
company products or services. To determine the prices of shares, investment
bankers evaluate the companys value and earnings or potential earnings. Then,
stocks are offered to the public at some initial public offering (IPO) price. The
public can buy shares of the stock at the given price per share. When investing
in a company, the goal is to buy shares at a low price and then sell them at a
higher price. Individual stocks may go up or down independent of how The
Market is doing overall. Stock market indices such as the Dow Jones Average,
the NASDAQ, and the Standard and Poors 500 report how The Market is doing
on average. To check the progress of individual stocks, one can look up their
price per share on one of the published indices. These are available in the
business section of newspapers and on the Internet.
How does one know which stocks to buy? No one ever knows for sure since no
one knows what will happen to the economy, the market, or a company.
Purchasing stocks is always a gamble but the more you know about a companys
finances and its products the better you can decide whether a companys stock
has the potential to increase in value. For example, if a new drug is just

completing Clinical III Trials, and is about to go on the market, the company
may expect to start making money on that product. Using annual reports and
researching companies on the Internet is a good place to start.

The Game
Since scientific research is extremely expensive, many biotech companies offer
shares to the public. Our class will participate in a Virtual stock market
simulation, the Virtual Stock Market Game. The purpose of this extended
activity is to broaden our knowledge of the biotech industry, and to see the
scope of how different companies are making money in this multi billion dollar
industry.

The Rules
1.) You must register on the Virtual Stock Exchange website.
(http://vse.marketwatch.com/Game/Homepage.aspx ) and join our
Game Mt. Hope Biotechnology, the password for this game is
biotech
2.) You will be given $100,000 to trade on biotech companies only. 40% of
your money, ($40,000) must be invested in 2 companies that you choose.
These will be called, your core companies.
3.) You can invest the rest of your money however you see fit, but your
investments must be based on research. You should be able to defend
your trades with printed sources. Remember, only biotech companies.
4.) You can hold your investments long term, or day trade to make a quick
buck. The choice is yours.

The Product
The game will run until Christmas break. When we return from break, you will
prepare a presentation that you will make to the class using Microsoft
PowerPoint. More details will follow soon on what the presentation is and how
you should prepare it.

Name: ________________________________

T.O.C # ____

Biotech Stock Exchange Game

Core Company Profiles
The back of this page contains a list of the top twenty biotech companies from
2006. Use this list as a starting point for your research into the 2 companies
that you will invest the biggest part of your portfolio. Visit the companys
website to learn more, and complete the research questions for each in the
spaces below.
Company #1: ___________________________________
Location of headquarters: ________________________
Objectives of company: _______________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
Type of products produced: ____________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
Cost per share: _______
Give a brief explanation of why you find this company interesting enough to
invest in. ____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
Company #2: ___________________________________
Location of headquarters: ________________________
Objectives of company: _______________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
Type of products produced: ____________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
Cost per share: _______
Give a brief explanation of why you find this company interesting enough to
invest in. ____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________

Name: ________________________________

T.O.C # ____

Biotech Stock Exchange Game

Weekly Portfolio Journal
Each week, you will be responsible to publish an update on the performance of
your portfolio. This will help to keep important information in one place and
help you to remember your rationale for making new trades when the game is
done and you make your presentation. In this journal, you must report the
current price of any stocks you own, list any transactions you made, and
summarize any research you did during the week. You may attach news articles
about companies you own or are considering, or any other research materials.
The goal for this journal is to keep you thinking about the game, and help you
organize your thoughts and information.

Stock Prices This week:

Company Name

Price of Stock

Company Name

Price of Stock

Transactions:
Buy/
Sell

Company name:

Research:
Company Name:

Rationale

Value of
Stock

Important News /Info

Loss/
gain

Rank
2006

Company

Country

Net
Revenue R&D in income/ Employee
in 2006
2006
(loss) in
s in
(USD millio (USD mill
2006
2006
ns)
ions)
(USD millio
ns)

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
16
17
18
19
20

Amgen
Genentech
Genzyme
UCB
Gilead Sciences
Serono
Biogen Idec
CSL
Cephalon
MedImmune
Celgene
Abraxis BioScience
Actelion
ImClone Systems
Amylin Pharmaceuticals
Millennium
Pharmaceuticals
PDL BioPharma
OSI Pharmaceuticals
MGI Pharma

USA
USA
USA
Belgium
USA
Switzerland
USA
Australia
USA
USA
USA
USA
Switzerland
USA
USA

14,268.0 3,366.0
9,284.0 1,773.0
3,187.0
650.0
3,169.6
772.6
3,026.1
383.9
2,804.9
560.5
2,683.0
718.4
2,148.3
119.1
1,764.1
403.4
1,276.8
448.9
898.9
258.6
765.5
96.9
754.6
169.0
677.8
112.1
510.9
222.1

2,950.0
2,113.0
(16.8)
461.1
(1,190.0)
735.4
217.5
86.8
144.8
48.7
69.0
(46.9)
192.4
370.7
(218.9)

20,100
10,533
9,000+
8,477
7,575
4,775
3,750
2,895
2,515
2,359
1,864
1,734
1,550
1,287
1,100

USA

486.8

318.2

(44.0)

1,073

USA
USA
USA

414.8
375.7
342.8

260.7
176.7
100.1

(130.0)
(582.2)
(40.2)

993
962
947