Dyax Shares Rocket On FDA Clearance For Kalbitor

NEW YORK (AP) — Shares of Dyax Corp. jumped to their highest price in more than a year on Wednesday after regulators approved marketing of the company's hereditary angioedema drug Kalbitor.

Dyax stock climbed more than 20 percent in heavy morning trading, and peaked at its highest price in about 15 months.

Wedbush analyst Kimberly Lee said she thinks Dyax will start marketing Kalbitor in the first quarter of 2010. She said the company is in talks with possible partners who could market the drug overseas. Lee expects a partnership will be announced by the end of June.

Shares of the Cambridge, Mass., company advanced 74 cents, or 21.1 percent, to $4.24. Earlier they rose to a high of $4.69. More than 9 million shares changed hands an hour after the market opened. In a typical day, about 409,000 Dyax shares are traded.

Hereditary angioedema is a genetic disorder in which fluids build up outside the blood vessels, which can cause dangerous swelling in the extremities, the intestinal tract, or the airway.

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