Tuesday's Health Winners & Losers
Health stocks were swathed in green Tuesday as investors blessed a variety of developments in the sector.
Biotech and pharma indices made a notable ascent -- with the Nasdaq and Amex biotechnology indices adding 3% and 3.4%, respectively, and the Amex pharmaceutical index tacking on 2.2% as well.
Embodying the general sentiment,
Biogen Idec
(BIIB) - Get Report
climbed 3.7% and biotechs
Celgene
(CELG) - Get Report
and
Cephalon
( CEPH) were up 3% and 2%, respectively, with no significant news. Other stocks climbed on license agreements, regulatory approvals, clinical data and analyst actions.
Cell Genesys
( CEGE) soared Tuesday after announcing Monday post close that
it signed Japanese drug maker Takeda Pharmaceutical
as a global partner for GVAX Prostate, a prostate cancer vaccine in late-stage development. Takeda will pay Cell Genesys $50 million upfront, up to $270 in milestones tied to regulatory approvals and commercialization, and also royalties on future sales. The stock added 69 cents, or 29%, to $3.04.
Then
Progenics Pharmaceutical
(PGNX) - Get Report
and
Wyeth
( WYE) excelled after the companies said their partnered constipation drug Relistor was approved for sale in Canada. Relistor is an injection for constipation resulting from opiate pain medications in patients with advanced illness who have tried laxatives unsuccessfully.
Progenics shares traded up 16.5% to $7.61, and Wyeth traded up 1.7% to $42.48.
On the clinical side,
InterMune
(ITMN)
and partner
Roche
announced
of an early-stage trial for ITMN-191, a hepatitis C treatment candidate. The results sent InterMune shares up 17.4% to $17.12.
Meanwhile, Robert Baird upgraded hepatitis C company
Vertex
(VRTX) - Get Report
to outperform from neutral and upped its price target to $33 from $24. Wachovia also upgraded the stock to market perform from underperform.
Vertex wowed investors with
Cystic Fibrosis data
late last week. Its shares were up 7% to $25.57 after the upgrade on Tuesday.
Also, Jefferies initiated coverage on
Savient Pharmaceuticals
(SVNT)
with a buy rating and a $30 price target with high expectations for the company's gout drug Puricase. Savient shares added $1.94, or 9.7%, to $21.94.