Winners & Losers

Return to Article

Friday's Health Winners & Losers

Elizabeth Trotta

Health stocks, such as Tercica(TRCA Quote), neared the long weekend on the uptick refreshed by regulatory approvals and clinical advancements Friday.

Tercica shares rose 1.5% to $6.64 on news partner Ipsen received Food and Drug Administration approval of its Somatuline Depot, a long-term treatment of acromegaly, a disorder caused by overproduction of growth hormone.

The drug will compete with Novartis'(NVS Quote) Sandostatin LAR Depot.

Meanwhile, Novartis' generic-drug division Sandoz received approval in the European Union for its biosimilar epoetin alfa treatment, which works to regulate the formation of red blood cells in patients with renal anemia and patients receiving chemotherapy.

The company said it would quickly bring the product to market, estimating worldwide annual sales of more than $7 billion, including $600 million in Europe. Novartis was trading up 61 cents, or 1.2%, at $52.84.

Caraco Pharmaceutical Laboratories(CPD Quote) said the FDA approved its abbreviated new-drug application (ANDA) to market the generic version of Prometheus Laboratories' gout drug Zyloprim. The agency approved 100-mg and 300-mg Allopurinol tablets. Shares of Caraco rose 48 cents, or 3.4%, to $14.51.

Other companies rose on clinical advancements and development-related news.

Abbott(ABT Quote) and AstraZeneca(AZN Quote) said they'll advance their fixed-dose combination cholesterol treatment into phase III clinical trials. The single pill will combine Abbott's investigational fibrate ABT-335, with AstraZeneca's statin Crestor to target bad cholesterol, good cholesterol and triglycerides.

If the clinical program is successful, the companies plan to submit a regulatory application for the new combination therapy in 2009. Abbott also plans to file ABT-335 as a monotherapy by the end of 2007. It's evaluating ABT-335 as a co-administered therapy with other on-market statins, in addition to Crestor, and expects to present data from the clinical trials in the first half of 2008.

Abbott added 36 cents, or 0.7%, to $51.76, while AstraZeneca tacked on 92 cents, or 1.9%, to $49.37.

Also, YM BioSciences(YMI Quote) hung on to an extra 9 cents, or 5.7%, to $1.65 after announcing Thursday after market close that the FDA cleared it to initiate a phase II trial on nimotuzumab for treatment of inoperable, treatment-resistant brain cancer in children.

Last, the FDA released a brief pre-empting an advisory meeting on Merck's(MRK Quote) HIV treatment Isentress that supported the company's findings and could potentially lead to a positive recommendation.

Isentress, known generically as raltegravir, is the first in a new class of antiretroviral agents known as integrase inhibitors to be submitted for FDA approval. They work by blocking an enzyme necessary for replication of the virus from being integrated into the subject's DNA.

Merck was up 74 cents, or 1.5%, to $50.40 Friday. Pfizer was up 37 cents, or 1.5%, to $24.92.

Merck, Pfizer, Abbott and AstraZeneca are all components of the Amex pharmaceutical index, which was up 4.28, or 1.3%, to 339.29.