Friday's Health Winners & Losers

AstraZeneca(AZN) is expanding the development of its blood infection drug CytoFab. Shares were lower by 1.1% at $60.59.

After consultation with the Food and Drug Administration and regulators in the European Union, the pharmaceuticals giant has decided to add a 480-patient trial to support a larger study. The larger study alone wouldn't have been sufficient for approval, the company says. The additional study is slated to begin in the second half of 2007.

Shares of specialty pharmaceutical company Novadel Pharma(NVD) jumped 8% following an announcement that regulators approved its oral spray for relieving and preventing angina caused by coronary artery disease.

"The [Food and Drug Administration's] approval of NitroMist is a major milestone for NovaDel, as it represents the first approval of a drug using our proprietary oral spray technology," said Jan Egberts, president and CEO of NovaDel. "With this approval, we will now focus our resources on the rapid advancement of our pipeline of compounds that promise to provide faster onset of action and more patient-friendly dosing."

North American marketing rights to the drug have been licensed to Par Pharmaceutical(PRX). Novadel expects a payment from Par as a result of the product's approval. Shares of Novadel were up 10 cents to $1.35.

Digene(DIGE), a maker of gene-based diagnostic tests, saw record quarterly earnings thanks to an increase in sales of its test to detect human papillomavirus, a disease linked to ovarian cancer. The stock was up 3.4% at $47.29.