Check out GILD (Tamiflu) on the nasdaq, they went from 50c odd to $50 (like for like, see chart) on the back of pipeline development. Very volatile over the years but they are a good example of what could be done.
Here is the chart: http://finance.yahoo.com/echarts?s=GILD#chart1:symbol=gild;range=my;indicator=volume;charttype=line;crosshair=on;ohlcvalues=0;logscale=on;source=undefined
Can biota outperform in the long term? I think they could, they are certainly going to try with recent comments around pipeline expansion.
BTA Price at posting:
$3.12 Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held