Friday's Health Winners & Losers

Progenics surges on regulatory approval for Relistor.
By Elizabeth Trotta ,

Regulatory actions and earnings nudged a few health stocks on an otherwise flat end to the week Friday.

In regulatory news,

Progenics Pharmaceuticals

(PGNX) - Get Report

and

Wyeth

(WYE)

said late Thursday that they received

U.S. approval for Relistor

. The Food and Drug Administration approved the drug for pain-killer-induced constipation in patients who are receiving palliative care, when laxative therapy was unsuccessful.

In addition to the FDA approval, the pair received a positive opinion recommending approval in Europe. Progenics shares rose $2.85, or 26.8%, to $13.49. Wyeth was trading up 27 cents, or 0.6%, at $44.83.

In other green-light news,

Gilead

(GILD) - Get Report

said Friday that the European Commission granted the company marketing approval for Viread in chronic hepatitis B. Gilead's shares added 47 cents, or 0.9%, to $51.49 on Friday.

Meanwhile,

Genzyme

(GENZ)

and

Isis

(ISIS)

said FDA requirements will result in some

delays for Mipomersen

, the cholesterol-lowering antisense drug at the heart of their joint venture deal announced in January. The news sent Isis shares down $4.83, or 28.8%, to $11.97. Genzyme shares were down 88 cents, or 1.2%, to $72.46.

In earnings,

Amgen

(AMGN) - Get Report

reaffirmed 2008 expectations and said Thursday post-close that

first-quarter adjusted net income

fell 4% to roughly $1.2 billion. But on a per-share basis, the company reported adjusted profit of $1.12 a share, compared to $1.08 a share in the year-ago quarter.

Operating expenses came in at $2.07 billion vs. the $2.2 billion Wall Street consensus, helping Amgen beat views on the bottom line. Revenue was just slightly shy of Wall Street views, decreasing 2% to $3.613 billion, from $3.687 billion in the year-ago quarter. Analysts had expected adjusted earnings of $1.05 a share on revenue of $3.624 billion.

Amgen shares were down 25 cents, or 0.7%, to $42.17.

Amgen, Gilead and Genzyme are all components of the Amex biotechnology index, which was up 0.3% at 751.51.

Also in earnings,

CV Therapeutics

(CVTX)

said Friday that it narrowed its first-quarter loss to $31.9 million, or 53 cents a share, from a lossof $55.1 million, or 93 cents a share, in the prior-year period. Higher Ranexa sales resulted in a 49% hike in revenue to $22.8 million. The company beat on the bottom line but missed on the top -- Wall Street predicted a loss of 50 cents a share on revenue of $24.9 million.

Shares were down 22 cents, or 2.4%, at $9.10.

And finally, in analyst action: Credit Suisse analyst Ken Weakley upgraded health-care services company

Tenet Healthcare

(THC) - Get Report

on Friday to outperform from neutral, raising his price target to $8 from $6, with optimism for price -- and subsequently revenue -- improvement. Shares were up 71 cents, or 13%, at $6.17.

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