Alizyme - 129p The recent stockmarket sell-off has caused the share prices of many companies to fall sharply, often without any good reason, although the fall in the market itself was not totally unexpected.

It took some time for the FTSE-100 Share Index to make a sustained move above the 6,000 level and, once it had breached the 6,100 mark, it was difficult to see it going much higher in the short term.

The reasons for the decline in the market have been well-documented and include a weaker US dollar, fears of higher inflation and an increase in interest rates, whilst the companies which have led the decline have been those companies involved in commodity markets, such as the mining stocks and the oil companies.

However, the market fall has also caused share price falls in other companies which cannot be really justified and which, in our opinion, have created excellent buying opportunities.

One such company is Alizyme, which we have featured in this column before. Essentially, the company is a biotechnology company which is researching new drugs. Alizyme is looking to develop four major products and so far the trials carried out on these have proved to be successful.

It is getting close to final trials with two of these - cetilistat, which is an anti-obesity treatment and renzapride, which is a treatment for irritable bowel syndrome.

Clearly, these products are still a long way from commercial production and that is assuming that they ever reach that stage. But what drives the share price are the results of clinical trials of the drugs and news on any licencing deals which Alizyme can do with potential partners - both factors which are hard to predict!

However, the recent troubles in the market should have little effect on the company and we therefore believe that the share price fall from a high of 194p in March has been overdone. At its last year end at December 31, the group had cash and money market investments of more than £30m, placing it in a strong position when it comes to negotiating licensing deals with potential partners and providing it with sufficient financial resources to continue its development programme without further recourse to shareholders.

For those investors who are prepared to accept a fair degree of risk, we believe that the shares are a BUY.

WARNING: Opinions expressed are the writers' judgments at the time of writing. The information does not constitute a personal recommendation and readers should seek their own professional advice as to the suitability of the investments.