EUROPEAN: bourses had another strong week in the reporting period to April 7, with all those followed significantly higher, although drug stocks were very mixed. In ZURICH, Speedel encountered a bout of profit-taking after benefiting from its recent R&D presentation, falling 16.7% on the week. Novartis managed a 1.5% rise, despite falling on the news of its proposed 25% stake in US eye-care company Alcon from fellow Swiss firm Nestle, at an initial cost of $11.0 billion, with a possible $28.0 million for a further 52% (see page 3). Roche also gained, putting on 1.8%, but both the drug majors underperformed the market's 5.7% rise. MILAN saw an outperformance from Recordati, which rose 7.5% on strong financial results.
LONDON: witnessed a fair deal of volatility in the pharmaceutical sector, which helped move the overall market higher ahead of the weekend. AstraZeneca was up 10.7% on the week, while GlaxoSmithKline advanced 6.9%, both pleasing investors with strong R&D pipeline news. AstraZeneca gained in particular after the firm stopped its JUPITER clinical trial with blockbuster cholesterol-lowerer Crestor (rosuvastatin) because of good results (Marketletter April 7), and GSK advancing on US approval of its Rotarix infant vaccine (see page 22). However, the latter lost some of its shine after the last reporting day on news of a US Food and Drug Administration admonishment relating to post-marketing trial reporting on its diabetes drug Avandia (rosiglitazone; see page 19). SkyePharma, down 20%, succumbed to profit-taking after last week's rise. Elan rose 13.3% on expectations from a pending R&D update and an outperform rating from analysts at Lerink Swann.
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Stock Commentary - Europe - week to April 7, 2008
EUROPEAN: bourses had another strong week in the reporting period to April 7, with all those followed significantly higher, although drug stocks were very mixed. In ZURICH, Speedel encountered a bout of profit-taking after benefiting from its recent R&D presentation, falling 16.7% on the week. Novartis managed a 1.5% rise, despite falling on the news of its proposed 25% stake in US eye-care company Alcon from fellow Swiss firm Nestle, at an initial cost of $11.0 billion, with a possible $28.0 million for a further 52% (see page 3). Roche also gained, putting on 1.8%, but both the drug majors underperformed the market's 5.7% rise. MILAN saw an outperformance from Recordati, which rose 7.5% on strong financial results.
LONDON: witnessed a fair deal of volatility in the pharmaceutical sector, which helped move the overall market higher ahead of the weekend. AstraZeneca was up 10.7% on the week, while GlaxoSmithKline advanced 6.9%, both pleasing investors with strong R&D pipeline news. AstraZeneca gained in particular after the firm stopped its JUPITER clinical trial with blockbuster cholesterol-lowerer Crestor (rosuvastatin) because of good results (Marketletter April 7), and GSK advancing on US approval of its Rotarix infant vaccine (see page 22). However, the latter lost some of its shine after the last reporting day on news of a US Food and Drug Administration admonishment relating to post-marketing trial reporting on its diabetes drug Avandia (rosiglitazone; see page 19). SkyePharma, down 20%, succumbed to profit-taking after last week's rise. Elan rose 13.3% on expectations from a pending R&D update and an outperform rating from analysts at Lerink Swann.
This article is accessible to registered users, to continue reading please register for free. A free trial will give you access to exclusive features, interviews, round-ups and commentary from the sharpest minds in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology space for a week. If you are already a registered user please login. If your trial has come to an end, you can subscribe here.
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