Friday's Health Winners & Losers

Health stocks generally mirrored the action in the rising broader-market indices Friday. Leading the sector's winners was Panacos Pharmaceuticals (PANC Quote).

The biotech company late Thursday posted a narrower than-expected third-quarter loss of 15 cents a share. It also announced preliminary results from a phase IIb trial of oral HIV therapy bevirimat in HIV patients that have grown resistant to drugs. The results of the 300-mg study support increasing the amount used to determine the type of dose levels to be used in pivotal clinical trials in 2008.

Today, Caris & Co. upgraded Panacos from average to buy with a $3.50 price target. Shares, which opened Friday on a gap higher, were up 69 cents, or 36.5%, at $2.58.

OSI Pharmaceuticals(OSIP Quote) gained 11.6% after the biotech company swung to a third-quarter profit. OSI late Thursday reported net income of $29.6 million, or 49 cents a share, compared to a loss of $21.3 million, or 37 cents a share, a year ago. Revenue surged 77% to $100.4 million from $56.8 million last year. Shares, which opened Friday on a gap higher, continued climbing $4.32, to $40.98.

On the losing side in earnings was Cardica(CRDC Quote), which posted a fiscal first-quarter net loss of $3.7 million, or 27 cents a share, narrower than the loss of $3.6 million, or 37 cents a share, it posted a year ago. Revenue climbed to $1.3 million from $471,000 last year. Cardica reiterated its full-year fiscal 2008 guidance of a net loss of $16 million to $18 million on revenue of $6 million to $8 million. Shares were trading down $1.79, or 13.6%, at $11.36.