Monday's Health Winners & Losers

Human Genome Sciences(HGSI) reported positive early safety and efficacy results on its drug Albuferon for chronic hepatitis C.

Interim results at 12 weeks showed that patients with genotype 1 chronic hepatitis C who received the drug, in combination with ribavirin, missed fewer work days than people taking the commonly used treatment pegylated interferon alpha. Shares of Human Genome were up 2% to $12.79.

Enzo Biochem's(ENZ) fourth-quarter loss widened year over year as revenue dropped and expenses increased. The laboratory-research company's revenue was $9.9 million, down from $10.9 million in the year-ago period. Overall, the company lost $4.5 million, or 14 cents a share, compared with a loss of $2 million, or 6 cents a share, a year ago.

Separately, Enzo said it appointed Gary Cupit, a former Novartis (NVS) executive and most recently the president and CEO of privately held Sapphire Therapeutics, to the newly created position of president of its therapeutics unit. Enzo was down 3.9% to $13.90.

HealthNet(HNT) said its third-quarter earnings should be a little better than it previously expected and exceed Wall Street's consensus forecast. Additionally, the board of directors approved plans to resume the company's stock-repurchase program. Under a revised plan, HealthNet will be allowed to acquire up to $450 million of its common stock.

Separately, Health Net said its chief financial officer, Anthony Piszel, has resigned to take over as CFO of mortgage company Freddie Mac (FRE). HealthNet's shares fell 2.5% to $44.86.

Among other movers, Merck(MKT) was up 1.8% to $43.97, Schering-Plough(SGP) was gaining 1.6% to $22.66, and AstraZeneca(AZN) was 1.4% higher to $62.83. Adeza Biomedical(ADZA) was 2.2% higher to $18.23, StemCells(STEM) got a 6.4% boost to $2.41, and Dyadic International(DIL) was up 6.1% to $4.67.

Biovail(BVF) was 1.5% lower to $15.93, Cubist Pharmaceuticals(CBST) was down 3.3% to $21.94, Omrix Biopharmaceuticals(OMRI) sank 13.5% to $17.61, Genitope(GTOP) was down 7.1% to $3.42, and GeoPharma(GORX) was 3.2% lower at $3.36.

>To order reprints of this article, click here: Reprints