Thursday's Health Winners & Losers

Regulatory and clinical updates shoved a few stocks around as biotech stocks perked up to the week's high.

Micrus Endovascular(MEND) said Thursday that it received approval in Japan for its full line of stretch-resistant mircrocoils for the endovascular treatment of ceberal aneurysms. The company plans to immediately begin shipping the product. Shares rose 95 cents, or 5.3%, to $18.96.

More in the regulatory sphere, a day after a Food and Drug Administration advisory panel voted to recommend the agency not approve Avastin as used with chemotherapy for breast cancer, Genentech(DNA) was trading down 38 cents, or 0.6%, to $66.25.

Then on the clinical side, Keryx Biopharmaceuticals(KERX) said Thursday that the independent data-safety-monitoring committee watching a phase III trial for diabetic nephropathy treatment Sulonex found no reason to recommend alternation or termination of the study. Shares rose 49 cents, or 5.6%, to $9.30. Keryx is a component of the Nasdaq biotechnology index, which was up 14.04, or 1.6%, to 879.77.

Also, Rigel Pharmaceuticals(RIGL) was up 79 cents, or 10.7%, to $8.18 on Thursday. The company announced that its partner Pfizer(PFE) began a phase I clinical trial of an inhaled version of Rigel's R343 for allergic asthma. Pfizer was trading up 12 cents, or 0.5%, at $24.10.

In earnings, Cantel Medical(CMN) said it earned $1.9 million, or 12 cents a share, vs. $2 million, or 12 cents a share, for the year-ago quarter. The company reported $60 million in quarterly revenue, falling shy of the Thomson Financial consensus targets of 14 cents a share on revenue of $61.3 million. Shares fell $1.65, or 9.2%, to $16.35.

And elsewhere, Lehman Brothers analyst Jim Birchenough upgraded PDL BioPharma(PDLI) to overweight from equal weight, on the premise that the pullback in share price has resulted in the stock trading below what the company is worth. Birchenough said it should be worth at least $21 a share. PDL BioPharma's saga has included a failed phase III clinical trial, management shakeup, disputes with major shareholders and the decision to first sell off parts of the company and later to strategize the possible sale of the company as a whole. Shares rose $1.10, or 6.6%, to $17.83.

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