Peter Kolchinsky’s RA Capital Buys More Tengion $TNGN

Peter Kolchinsky graduated from Harvard with a Ph.D. in virology in 2001. After graduation he got $4 Million from Vertex Pharma co-founder Rich Aldrich and started picking biotech stocks at RA Capital. In 2002 he broke even when the S&P 500 index lost 22%. By the end of 2003, the initial $4 Million investment became $13 Million. Boston-based RA Capital invests in companies with promising drugs and technologies.

RA Capital disclosed a 5.4% stake in Tengion Inc (TNGN) last week. Kolchinsky now owns 1,275,620 shares of TNGN. He initiated a brand new 1,060,070 share position in TNGN during the first quarter. It seems like he increased his bet by 20% as the stock price plunged from $2.55 at the end of March to $1.41 today. Tengion is a micro-cap stock with a market value of $33 Million. Its daily volume is a little more than $200,000. Brookside Capital had a $1.8 Million position in TNGN at the end of March as well.