Wednesday's Health Winners & Losers

Health indices slipped Wednesday amid new drug safety concerns and a mixed batch of earnings reports.

Biogen Idec(BIIB Quote) and Elan(ELN Quote) lost ground after the FDA posted a letter to doctors warning about the effects of the companies' multiple sclerosis drug Tysabri. The letter said the labeling on the drug has been revised to include a warning about clinically significant liver injury that occurred in post-marketing studies.

Reports of Tysabri patients suffering liver injury were already discussed at the Tysabri-Crohn's disease advisory panel meeting last year, noted a post from senior columnist Adam Feuerstein on RealMoney.com. About one in 1,000 patients suffer from the side effect.

Biogen shares fell $1.40, or 2.3%, to $60.13, and Elan shares dropped $1.54, or 6.3%, to $22.77.

Meanwhile, a meta-analysis of late-stage studies released by the Journal of the American Medicine Association Tuesday reiterated safety concerns about drugs for patients with anemia related to cancer, such as Amgen's(AMGN Quote) Aranesp and Epogen, and Johnson & Johnson's(JNJ Quote) Procrit. The news came ahead of a mid-March panel assessing the drugs' safety.

Amgen's shares sagged $1.22, or 2.5%, to $46.60, and Johnson & Johnson's shed 68 cents, or 1.1%, to $63.04.

Biogen and Amgen are both components of the Amex Biotechnology index, which fell 7.19, or 1%, to 730.70.

Among earnings, Synovis Life Technologies(SYNO Quote) jumped nearly 8% after reporting a better-than-expected fiscal first-quarter results.

For the quarter ended Jan. 31, the company earned $6.5 million, or 51 cents a share, compared with a profit of $264,000, or 2 cents a share, during the same period a year earlier. Excluding a $5.3 million gain from the sale of its interventional medical products unit, the company said it earned 9 cents a share in the latest period, on revenue of $11.3 million.

Analysts polled by Thomson Financial expected a profit of 6 cents a share and revenue of $10.5 million. Shares advanced $1.31 to $18.69.

Medarex(MEDX Quote) also got a lift after its fourth-quarter report.

The company posted a loss of $27.1 million, or 21 cents a share, narrowed from a loss of $181.7 million, or $1.50 a share, in the year-earlier period. When special items are factored out of the recent quarter, the company said it lost 29 cents a share, better than analysts' estimate for a loss of 36 cents a share. Shares rose 67 cents, or 7.5%, to $9.63.

On the flip side, CV Therapeutics(CVTX Quote) tumbled 20% after the company's results missed expectations. The company said its fourth-quarter loss narrowed to $34.1 million, or 57 cents a share, from a loss of $68.1 million, or $1.18 a share, in the comparable 2006 quarter. Wall Street expected a loss of 51 cents a share. The stock fell $1.57 to $6.22.

Shares of Sciele Pharma(SCRX Quote) fell 8% after the company's revenue fell short of targets. The company said it earned $11.1 million, or 31 cents a share, in the fourth quarter, down from $13.6 million, or 38 cents a share, in the year-ago period. On an adjusted basis, the company reported a profit of 52 cents a share, a penny above Wall Street targets.

Revenue rose to $105.0 million from $79.5 million, but missed analysts' mean estimate of $107.1 million.

Sciele also restated its third-quarter results to incorporate a charge of $3.2 million, or 9 cents a share, related to acquired in-process research and development. Shares dropped $1.70 to $20.48.