Thursday's Winners & Losers: Crucell

Among the solid winners, however, was State Street (STT), despite announcing it will take a big charge. The Boston bank established a $618 million reserve for anticipated legal costs to defend against customers with "concerns as to whether the execution" of some battered mortgage-backed investments at State Street Global Advisors "was consistent with the customers' investment intent."

State Street also said it will let go of Global Advisors CEO William Hunt. Executive VP James Phalen will replace him in the interim as a permanent successor is sought.

After taxes, the reserve will slice $279 million, or 71 cents a share, off State Street's income. But, stripping that out, 2007 earnings should come to between $4.54 and $4.57 a share against Wall Street's $4.19 consensus, according to Thomson Financial. Shares were jumping 8.2% at $85.38.

Also on the uptick, Netherlands-based biotechnology company Crucell(CRXL) announced a commercialization agreement with the vaccines division of Sanofi Aventis(SNY), sanofi pasteur. The collaboration and agreement cover Crucell's monoclonal antibodies to be used for rabies vaccines. The company expects to enter phase II clinical trials in the first half of 2008.

Crucell will develop and manufacture the product with exclusive distribution rights in Europe and shared rights in China. The company will receive about $14.7 million upfront and milestone payments of up to $97.98 million. Peak sales for the antibody cocktail are expected to surpass $300 million, according to the company.