[ed. note: Gumshoe readers have been delighted with the biotech stock discussion led by one of our readers, who has gone by the name karmaswimswami as he has shared hundreds of useful comments — so we’ve asked him to come on as a formal contributor, he’ll be sharing a column with the Irregulars and talking about both the companies he finds interesting and the science behind them to help readers understand investment opportunities (and their own bodies). He’ll start with a quick intro about himself, and we’re listing him with the name Dr. KSS, since that’s what so many of his eager followers have begun to call him anyway and “karmaswimswami” was a bit of a mouthful… what follows is his first column. Dr. KSS has agreed to our trading and disclosure restrictions, and he’s not offering you personal investment or medical advice — nor is he promising to come up with the next hot biotech stocks that will make you rich. As with all of our columnists, we don’t assign topics or opinions and do just a bit of light editing as needed — the doctor’s words and opinions are his alone.]

I am an MD with an additional PhD in biochemistry, and for the past 20 years, in addition to practicing, being a researcher, and conducting clinical trials, I have been investing in biotech companies. I earned my degrees at a top 10 US institution, where I was an NIH scholar and graduated with top honors. I have extensive post-doctoral research experience and am board certified in internal medicine and gastroenterology. I am a member of Phi Beta Kappa and Alpha Omega Alpha (academic honor societies, the latter in medicine) and am a Fellow of the American College of Physicians, the American equivalent of being FRCP in certain Anglophone countries. My hobbies are traveling (I have been to 100 countries), chamber music, literature, film and Asian pottery.

My goal as a Stock Gumshoe contributor is to discuss companies and use discussions of their technology, their drugs or planned drugs, as ways of teaching about physiology and disease states, along with their issues and opportunities.

Intercept Pharmaceuticals (ICPT) is no stranger to some Gumshoe readers. On January 10, 2014, this New York firm’s shares underwent among the most spectacular price surges in biotech history, rising acutely from about $80 per share to $497. The shares did this on interim analysis news of a ...

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