Friday's Health Winners & Losers

Novogen (NVGN) was up after the company announced it received clearance from the Food and Drug Administration for a final phase of trials on its cancer drug phenoxodiol.

The company boosted its research and development spending to $9.1 million, from $7.7 million last year, in part to scale up the development and manufacturing of the drug, which is intended to boost the effectiveness of chemotherapy in women with drug-resistant ovarian cancer. Shares rose 11.7% to $11.27.

Dyax (DYAX) rose after the company said it signed a deal for a licensing and research program. The company entered an agreement with Paul Capital Partners' Paul Royalty Fund II for a $30 million upfront cash payment. Dyax also has an option to receive an additional $5 million payment if it achieves certain revenue goals within the next two years. Shares were up 10.9% to $3.15.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (VRTX) jumped on an upgrade from UBS. According to analyst Annabel Samimy, who raised the stock's rating to buy from neutral, the biotech should report strong efficacy results on trials of its antiviral drug VX-950. She kept her price target of $42. The stock was up 7.9% to $34.80.

Mylan Laboratories (MYL) sank on a downgrade by an analyst at Banc of America Securities. Analyst David Maris downgraded the stock to sell from neutral. The stock fell 1.3% to $20.89. Maris maintained his 12-month price target of $19.

Among other health stocks taking a hit were CoTherix (CTRX), falling 2.3% to $6.47, Coley Pharmaceutical (COLY), down 1.7% to $10.70, Cell Therapeutics (CTIC), sinking 5.6% to $1.52, Avalon Pharmaceuticals (AVRX), losing 6.8% to $2.89 and Acorda Therapeutics (ACOR), off 7.5% to $3.08.

Health stocks moving higher included SuperGen (SUPG), whose shares jumped 13.4% to $3.80, Elan (ELN), up 4.8% to $16.25, Vertex Pharmaceuticals (VRTX), gaining 7.9% to $34.80, Teva Pharmaceutical (TEVA), 1.8% higher to $35.54, Boston Life Sciences (BLSI), up 8.3% to $3.92, Zila (ZILA), up 2.1% to $2.95, Tiens Biotech Group (TBV), whose shares gained 2.7% to $3.07, Introgen Therapeutics (INGN), up 2.1% to $3.95 and Immunomedics (IMMU), up 4% to $2.04.