Health Winners & Losers: Isis
05/27/08 - 04:25 PM EDT
Elizabeth Trotta
Health stocks followed the broader markets on light news to start the holiday-shortened trading week Tuesday.
The health indices reached a bit of green, with the Nasdaq and Amex biotechnology index up 1.2% and 0.7%, and the Amex pharmaceutical index up 0.2%. Biotechs Amgen (AMGN Quote - Cramer on AMGN - Stock Picks) and Biogen Idec (BIIB Quote - Cramer on BIIB - Stock Picks), among those ticking up, climbed 1.6% and 1.9% respectively. While hepatitis C company Vertex (VRTX Quote - Cramer on VRTX - Stock Picks) recorded a 3.1% gain. Among the better-performing Big Pharma stocks at the start of the short week: King Pharmaceuticals (KG Quote - Cramer on KG - Stock Picks) added 2.3% and Schering-Plough (SGP Quote - Cramer on SGP - Stock Picks) added 4.2%. On the red end, Pfizer (PFE Quote - Cramer on PFE - Stock Picks) and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK Quote - Cramer on GSK - Stock Picks) gave up 1.1% and 1.4%, respectively. In the news, Alnylam (ALNY Quote - Cramer on ALNY - Stock Picks) and Takeda announced a deal on RNAi therapeutics (gene silencing biotechnology). Takeda will get access Alnylam's technology and intellectual property in oncology and metabolic diseases, with the option to expand into other indications. Alnylam will get opt-in options to co-develop and co-commercialize Takeda RNAi therapeutic programs in the U.S. on a 50-50 basis, $100 million upfront, $50 million in near-term technology transfer payments, and potential future milestones worth up to $1 billion, according to the company. Isis (ISIS Quote - Cramer on ISIS - Stock Picks), which licensed intellectual property for double-stranded oligonucleotide therapeutics that mediate RNAi to Alnylam in 2004, will receive $4.6 million from the Alnylam and Takeda transaction and may receive portions of milestones. Alnylam shares were down $1, or 3.4%, to $28.45, while Isis shares rose 73 cents, or 5.8%, to $13.37.
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