Health Stocks in Motion

Updated from 2:17 p.m. EST

Shares of EntreMed(ENMD) were among the best-performing health-related stocks Wednesday, rising 11.4% after the company said its cancer drug Panzem showed positive results in an animal study measuring the growth of head and neck tumors.

The preclinical results, the company said, support a potential clinical study. The preclinical study demonstrated that Panzem used in combination with paclitaxel "significantly inhibited tumor growth in a preclinical xenograft model," EntreMed said. The findings were published in the December issue of Clinical Cancer Research. Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma affects more than 300,000 Americans, and nearly 30,000 new cases are diagnosed annually. EntreMed is conducting clinical studies with Panzem in patients with advanced cancer. Shares traded up 41 cents to $4.02.

Bioenvision(BIVN) fell 4.6% after the biotechnology company said it would sell some 7 million shares of stock in a public offering. The stock is being sold as part of an existing shelf registration filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. JP Morgan Securities and UBS Investment Bank are leading the underwriting syndicate. Shares traded down 37 cents to $7.60.

Shares of Cholestech(CTEC) rose 9.4% after the maker of blood tests posted a third-quarter profit increase of more than 200% on sales that jumped 9%. The company earned $1.7 million, or 12 cents a share, on sales of $14.6 million. A year earlier, Cholestech posted a profit of $513,000, or 4 cents a share, on sales of $13.4 million. As a result of higher average selling prices and better cost controls, third-quarter gross margins rose by 650 basis points. Shares traded up 86 cents to $10.05.

Other health care movers included Aastrom Biosciences(ASTM), up 70 cents to $4.05; Pfizer(PFE), down 42 cents to $24.88; AVI Biopharma(AVII), up $2.10 to $4.14; StemCells(STEM), up 27 cents to $6.26; Merck(MRK), down 28 cents to $31.02; Schering-Plough(SGP), down 36 cents to $19.97; and Amgen(AMGN), down 68 cents to $63.48.

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