Excluding Freak Detour, ImClone's Gain is Modest

Updated from 8:25 a.m. EST

ImClone(IMCL Quote) drifted higher Friday, one day after the FDA approved its Erbitux for treatment of advanced colorectal cancer.

The shares were recently fetching $44.98 on Instinet, up $10.98, or 32% from their Thursday close -- although the size of the gain is being exaggerated because of freak trading in the shares Thursday. Erbitux was cleared under the FDA's accelerated review program, which allows the approval of products for life-threatening diseases based on early evidence of their effectiveness. ImClone said it expects the drug to be available to patients in two weeks.

Howard Liang, one of a handful of analysts who follow ImClone, said Friday that Erbitux should get a boost from the FDA's approving it as a single therapy for colorectal cancer as well as for a combined therapy with the chemotherapy drug irinotecan. In both cases, the drug was approved for treating colorectal patients whose cancer had spread and/or who hadn't responded to other therapies. ...