Stock Commentary - Europe - week to April 27, 2009

EUROPEAN: bourses were mostly significantly higher over the reporting week to April 27, with STOCKHOLM rising 7.1%. ZURICH saw a more modest  rise of 2.2%, and there Roche was the worst performer, down 4.3%, having  slumped 10.4% - the biggest fall in 19 years - on April 22 after the  firm posted disappointing late-stage clinical trial results for its  cancer drug Avastin (bevacizumab; Marketletter April 27). Hopes of this  study providing positive data for the use of the Genentech-developed  drug in additional indications was one reason that the latter had held  out for a higher acquisition price, and now the feeling is that Roche  may have overpaid to get full control of its US subsidiary  (Marketletters passim). At the end of the week Roche was a beneficiary  of the swine flu scare, as was France's Sanofi-Aventis on the PARIS  market, though the latter ended the reporting period down 2.3%, ahead of  posting first-quarter results (see page 11). Ipsen leapt 10.6%, after  revealing it is in talks with the Food and Drug Administration to  resolve a delay of the marketing application for botulinum toxin type A  product Reloxin. Ipsen expects feedback in a few weeks (Marketletter  April 20).

LONDON: share prices were mostly higher in the drug sector, with  Phytopharm steaming ahead 24.2% still on the back of new data relating  to its Parkinson's disease candidate Cogane (PYM-50028). Alizyme  continued to rise, gaining a further 6.7% after the previous week's 39%  leap. Pharma major GlaxoSmithKline jumped 5.7% on the last day due to  the swine flu scare, but ended just 2.9% higher over the week, having  dropped 3% on April 22 on posting sharply-reduced first-quarter net  profit (Marketletter April 27).