Friday's Health Winners & Losers

Biotech and pharmaceutical companies put the brakes on a few clinical trials but also announced positive recommendations for European regulatory approvals Friday.

First, biotechnology company Maxygen(MAXY Quote) announced that Roche put on hold clinical development of MAXY-alpha, a treatment for hepatitis C and hepatitis B virus infections.

Maxygen, which licenses the drug to Roche, said that in the phase I trial, it observed a reduction of efficacy in the majority of patients who received two doses of MAXY-alpha.

Shares gave up 89 cents, or 10.8%, to $7.36 but did little to detract from the Nasdaq biotechnology index, which was up 6.06, or 0.8%, to 849.24.

Then Merck(MRK Quote) said it halted its own phase II STEP study, a proof-of-concept trial for an investigational HIV vaccine (V520), because the vaccine wasn't effective. The trial was co-sponsored by Merck and the HIV Vaccine Trials Network. Merck's shares were still up 52 cents, or 1%, at $51.90.

Bayer(BAY Quote) and Onyx(ONXX Quote) said Friday that the European Committee for Medicinal Products gave a positive opinion on Nexavar for liver cancer, recommending that European regulators give the drug marketing authorization. Onyx rose 82 cents, or 2%, to $41.70, and Bayer was trading down $2.01, or 2.5%, at $79.14.

The CHMP also gave a positive opinion recommending a conditional marketing authorization for Amgen's(AMGN Quote) Vectibix in the EU for patients with refractory metastatic colorectal cancer with nonmutated (wild-type) KRAS genes. Amgen was up 35 cents, or 0.6%, at $55.66.