Health Stocks in Motion

Shares of Eyetech Pharmaceuticals(EYET) were among the best-performing health-related stocks Wednesday, rising 3.5% after the company lifted its sales estimate for Macugen, a treatment for age-related macular degeneration.

The company now expects sales of $175 million to $190 million, up substantially from its previous guidance of $135 million to $150 million. "Macugen's launch has exceeded our initial expectations and we are pleased that Macugen is quickly establishing itself as a foundation therapy for neovascular AMD," the company said.

The company added that the larger and more frequent reorders signify that retinal specialists are adopting Macugen even faster than the company had anticipated. Shares traded up 45 cents to $13.44.

Genelabs Technologies(GNLB) rose 24.4% after the company said that its Prestara drug has been granted orphan drug status by the Food and Drug Administration. The investigational drug is used for the treatment of lupus. Specifically, the FDA said that the drug qualifies for orphan status as an indication for the "prevention of loss of bone mineral density in systemic lupus erythematosus patients on glutocorticoids." Genelabs says that it has scheduled a meeting with the FDA to discuss the company's options regarding the development of the drug. Shares traded up 11 cents to 56 cents.

Shares of Allion Healthcare(ALLI) rose 26.9% on the first day of trading as a public company. The provider of specialty pharmacy and disease management services aimed at HIV/AIDS patients priced 4 million shares at $13 apiece. The price was in the middle of its proposed range of $12 to $14 a share. Thomas Weisel Partners, William Blair and First Albany Capital led the underwriting syndicate. Shares traded up $3.50 to $16.50.

BioMed Realty Trust (BMR) rose 4.5% after the company said it would sell nearly 13.2 million shares at $22.50 apiece in a follow-on stock offering. Originally, the company, a real estate investment trust that focuses on acquiring, developing, owning, leasing and managing lab and office space for the life science industry, planned to sell 11 million shares. The deal price represents a discount of 3% to Tuesday's closing price of $23.20. Shares traded up $1.05 to $24.25.

Other health care volume movers included Pfizer(PFE), up 18 cents to $28.79; Millennium Pharmaceuticals(MLNM), down 15 cents to $9.16; Johnson & Johnson(JNJ), down 53 cents to $66; Guidant(GDT), down 27 cents to $69.15; Merck(MRK), down 1 cent to $31.98; Amgen(AMGN), down 27 cents to $60.88; Bristol-Myers Squibb(BMY), down 8 cents to $25.63; Elan(ELN), down 6 cents to $6.93; and Schering-Plough(SGP), up 10 cents to $20.13.

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