Monday's Health Winners & Losers

A clinical trial setback jolted Neurochem(NRMX) Monday while other health stocks were less extreme.

Neurochem announced that results from its phase III trial on Alzheimer's disease treatment Alzhemed didn't demonstrate a statistically significant difference in favor of the drug and the study failed to meet primary endpoints. Shares plummeted $2.22, or 40%, to $3.34.

Also on the losing end, IDM Pharma(IDMI) gave up 20%, or 40 cents, to $1.62, after announcing that it received a nonapprovable letter from the Food and Drug Administration for Mifamurtide, formerly known as Junovan, its treatment for osteosarcoma, a rare bone cancer.

The agency wants data from additional clinical trials to demonstrate the benefit of the drug, as well as information on other sections of the new-drug application. IDM Pharma said it believes capturing supplemental data will overcome the need for additional trials, and it plans to submit an amended application to the FDA by the first quarter of 2008.

On the winning end, Onyx Pharma(ONXX) and Bayer(BAY) said an independent data monitoring committee found significant improvement in liver cancer patients treated with Nexavar and stopped the phase III trial in Asia early to allow all patients to receive the treatment.

Nexavar, which saw similar results in an earlier trial, is awaiting FDA and EU approval for liver cancer. Onyx shares rose $4.02, or 12%, to $37.64, while Bayer was down $1.31, or 1.7%, to $76.95.