“Mors tua, vita mea” (literally “your death is my life) probably was the motto that gladiators, in the ancient Rome, recited before entering in the Coliseum and fighting for their life. Over and above its literal translation, this Latin expression means that what is a damage for one person is often an advantage for another. There can only be one winner in a competition; that is the reason why we can apply it to biotech companies like Merck (NYSE:MRK) and Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY), which are both fighting to gain the lead into immunotherapy market.

In this column,....More>>>