Stock Commentary - Europe - week to June 1, 2009

EUROPEAN: bourses were mostly higher, but not as strong as their New York counterparts, in the reporting period to June 1, with particularly  strong spurts for FRANKFURT and PARIS on the last day. Sanofi-Aventis  just outperformed the latter market's 4.4% rise, advancing 4.5%, booted  by positive presentations at the important American Society of  Clinical Oncology 2009 meeting in Orlando, Florida. The stock was up  despite the negative news that the European Medicines Agency (EMEA) had  given positive opinions on the approval of several generic versions of  the French drugmakers blockbuster Plavix (clopidogrel; see page 23).  Sanofi also signed a deal with US firm Exelixis to expand its oncology  portfolio (see page 3), and gained an outperform rating from analysts at  Credit Suisse. The only drug stock to exceed the Xetra Dax' 4.6% rise  was Evotec, which gained 9.8% over the week. This is a second week's  increase, despite the firm recently posting increased losses and  agreeing to buy Summit Corp's zebrafish screening operations  (Marketletters passim). Also in Frankfurt, Merck KGaA gained 4.2% while  Bayer advanced 2.9%.

LONDON: share prices were mixed, with drug majors AstraZeneca and  GlaxoSmithKline dipping 1.8% and 1.0% respectively. Ireland's Elan was  especially active on June 1, on rumors that US drug major Bristol-Myers  Squibb is planning to take a stake in the firm, although Denmark's  Lundbeck has previously been said to have eyed the company, rising 5.6%.  Vectura was up 4.2% on the week, after reporting that its 2008 loss had  been reduced by 13% due to a Boehringer Ingelheim in-payment  (Marketletter June 1).