According to a STAT column by senior writer Adam Feuerstein, biotech investors have soured on a year that still looks positive on paper. The XBI biotech index is up 24% year to date, but it has fallen 11% from its August peak. Feuerstein notes that this retreat is mild compared with the biotech winter of early 2025, yet investor angst persists.
The column argues that the real problem is not visible in the index's headline numbers. Many investors are losing money even as the sector appears to be having a good year. Feuerstein points to trouble "below the surface" of the XBI's performance as the reason for the glum mood, though the full details of that trouble are behind STAT+'s paywall.
The piece is an opinion/analysis column rather than a news report, and it does not specify which stocks or sub-sectors are driving the losses in the available excerpt. Still, it suggests that the apparent health of the biotech market may be misleading investors about the underlying state of the industry.