EUROPEAN: bourses started the reporting week to May 5 in negative mode, as financial sector woes resurfaced ahead of the May 1 holiday for most markets. May 2, however, saw a strong rebound, with all the markets followed up to some degree. AMSTERDAM saw a good performance from life sciences and materials group DSM, which was boosted by its announcement of a second phase of a share buy-back program. FRANKFURT witnessed a huge disparity among smaller issues. Evotec slumped 17.3% for no particular reason, while SYGNIS rocketed 25.9%, helped by news of European orphan status for its AX200 in the treatment of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Drug majors Bayer and Merck KGaA closed in positive territory, rising 1.1% and 2.1%, respectively. UCB encountered profit-taking on the BRUSSELS bourse, after its previous week's 26.7% rise, falling 6.0%. Solvay gained 2.3% after making a friendly bid for fellow Belgian firm Innogenetics (Marketletter May 5) In ZURICH, Actelion was up 3.2%, with Lehman Brothers' analysts suggesting the rally portends an expected blockbuster partnership with a big drugmaker for the firm's insomnia candidate almorexant.
LONDON: share prices were mixed, with little drug sector news ahead of the May 5 public holiday. One item that did stimulate a 9.9% rise for SkyePharma was the firm's asthma drug Flutiform (formoterol plus fluticasone) meeting efficacy endpoints in a Phase III trial (see page 23). GlaxoSmithKline was up 1.9% on news of likely European approval for its breast cancer drug Tyverb (lapatinib; Marketletter May 5). Antisoma jumped 13.9% on a positive interim management statement.
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Stock Commentary - Europe - week to May 5, 2008
EUROPEAN: bourses started the reporting week to May 5 in negative mode, as financial sector woes resurfaced ahead of the May 1 holiday for most markets. May 2, however, saw a strong rebound, with all the markets followed up to some degree. AMSTERDAM saw a good performance from life sciences and materials group DSM, which was boosted by its announcement of a second phase of a share buy-back program. FRANKFURT witnessed a huge disparity among smaller issues. Evotec slumped 17.3% for no particular reason, while SYGNIS rocketed 25.9%, helped by news of European orphan status for its AX200 in the treatment of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Drug majors Bayer and Merck KGaA closed in positive territory, rising 1.1% and 2.1%, respectively. UCB encountered profit-taking on the BRUSSELS bourse, after its previous week's 26.7% rise, falling 6.0%. Solvay gained 2.3% after making a friendly bid for fellow Belgian firm Innogenetics (Marketletter May 5) In ZURICH, Actelion was up 3.2%, with Lehman Brothers' analysts suggesting the rally portends an expected blockbuster partnership with a big drugmaker for the firm's insomnia candidate almorexant.
LONDON: share prices were mixed, with little drug sector news ahead of the May 5 public holiday. One item that did stimulate a 9.9% rise for SkyePharma was the firm's asthma drug Flutiform (formoterol plus fluticasone) meeting efficacy endpoints in a Phase III trial (see page 23). GlaxoSmithKline was up 1.9% on news of likely European approval for its breast cancer drug Tyverb (lapatinib; Marketletter May 5). Antisoma jumped 13.9% on a positive interim management statement.
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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