Health Winners & Losers: Vivus
Biotech stocks followed the broader markets Friday into a slump ahead of the extended holiday weekend.
The Amex biotechnology and pharmaceutical indices were both down -- 0.7% and 1.3%, respectively. But some stocks still found success.
Vivus
(VVUS) - Get Report
shares rose Friday on positive interim data for a midstage study that was published in an abstract Thursday. The company's obesity drug Qnexa led to a reduction in patients' blood glucose levels of 1.1% vs. 0.6% in the placebo, and resulted in a 6.2% weight reduction vs. 1.2% in placebo. Shares climbed $1.49, or 26%, to $7.20.
Allos Therapeutics
( ALTH) added 39 cents, or 6.9%, to close at $6.03. The company priced a public offering of 10.8 million shares of newly issued common stock at $5.64 a share. Expected net proceeds of $56.6 million will be used to finance clinical and preclinical research and development, working capital and general corporate purposes, among other things. The offering is expected to close on May 29, and underwriters are granted a 30-day option to purchase an additional 1.62 million shares to cover any overallotments.
Post a less-stellar trading session Friday was
GTx
(GTXI)
, which said a late-stage study of prostate cancer drug Acapodene will continue after review by an independent group. If the study had met certain efficacy criteria, the group would have recommended stopping the study, opening the possibility of an early filing. The company will now have to wait until summer of 2009, when it has complete data, to decide on filing with the Food and Drug Administration. Shares ended down $1.61, or 9.9%, at $14.63.
Another stock in the red,
Alkermes
(ALKS) - Get Report
gave up 87 cents, or 6.4%, to $12.75 on Friday. The company said Thursday after the market close that it lost $18.3 million, or 19 cents a share, vs. a year-ago profit of $3.5 million, or 3 cents a share, a year ago. Revenue edged down to $64.2 million from $64.8 million.
Harmed by
Eli Lilly's
(LLY) - Get Report
decision to end development of their partnered inhaled insulin product earlier this year, Alkermes also said it expects a loss in 2009. The company expects to lose between 11 and 16 cents a share, on revenue of $175 million to $200 million. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters had pegged a profit of 20 cents a share on $245 million in revenue.