EUROPEAN: bourses had another roller coaster week, although up significantly after their previous week's battering, ending the reporting period to January 28 in positive territory. Pharmaceutical stocks were mixed, with the large-cap sector seemingly having lost its temporary defensive attraction and investors waiting for the European 2007 financial results season to come into full swing. In ZURICH, Novartis fell a further 4.8%, against a market rise of 4.0%, having presented disappointing 2007 figures (Marketletter January 28) and Roche dipped 0.8% ahead of reporting results (see page 7). FRANKFURT saw a strong spurt for Evotec and MorphoSys, up 10.3% and 8.5%, respectively while drug majors Bayer and Merck KGaA dipped 1.9% and 1.7%. bioMerieux was strong on the PARIS Bourse, where it gained 9.5%, on the news that it had signed an accord with Merck & Co to develop an in vitro diagnostic test for the US major. Sanofi-Aventis, however, declined 2.8% versus a market rise of 2.2%.
LONDON: share prices saw a good recovery, with the FTSE 100 up 3.8% on the week. The best performance in the drug sector came from Protherics, which gained 8.6%, boosted by the news that development partner AstraZeneca (which was down 3.0% on the week) had treated the first patient in its Phase II CytoFab trial program (Marketletter January 28). Protherics stands to earn as much as $341.8 million from the deal if the drug is commercialized. GlaxoSmithKline, which is having to deal with new Avandia (rosiglitazone) label warnings, was down 3.4%, falling after analysts at Cazenove suggested there would be a possible share price correction after the firm reports results on February 9.
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Stock Commentary - Europe - week to Jan 28, 2008
EUROPEAN: bourses had another roller coaster week, although up significantly after their previous week's battering, ending the reporting period to January 28 in positive territory. Pharmaceutical stocks were mixed, with the large-cap sector seemingly having lost its temporary defensive attraction and investors waiting for the European 2007 financial results season to come into full swing. In ZURICH, Novartis fell a further 4.8%, against a market rise of 4.0%, having presented disappointing 2007 figures (Marketletter January 28) and Roche dipped 0.8% ahead of reporting results (see page 7). FRANKFURT saw a strong spurt for Evotec and MorphoSys, up 10.3% and 8.5%, respectively while drug majors Bayer and Merck KGaA dipped 1.9% and 1.7%. bioMerieux was strong on the PARIS Bourse, where it gained 9.5%, on the news that it had signed an accord with Merck & Co to develop an in vitro diagnostic test for the US major. Sanofi-Aventis, however, declined 2.8% versus a market rise of 2.2%.
LONDON: share prices saw a good recovery, with the FTSE 100 up 3.8% on the week. The best performance in the drug sector came from Protherics, which gained 8.6%, boosted by the news that development partner AstraZeneca (which was down 3.0% on the week) had treated the first patient in its Phase II CytoFab trial program (Marketletter January 28). Protherics stands to earn as much as $341.8 million from the deal if the drug is commercialized. GlaxoSmithKline, which is having to deal with new Avandia (rosiglitazone) label warnings, was down 3.4%, falling after analysts at Cazenove suggested there would be a possible share price correction after the firm reports results on February 9.
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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