EUROPEAN: bourses, despite some up and down movements, ended the reporting week to October 9 on a five-year high, with the FTSE Eurofirst closing at 1,414.38. Sentiment was bolstered by a strong New York market and takeover speculation. FRANKFURT started the reporting period in negative mood, with volume impacted by a public holiday. There, biotechnology stocks LION Bioscience and MorphoSys leapt 13.2% and 9.6%, respectively, while the basic drugmakers were mostly lower, although Bayer managed a modest 0.1% gain week-on-week. ZURICH saw drug stocks underperform the market's 2% rise. Roche gained 1.3%, helped to some extent by good clinical data presented at the 46th Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy (Marketletter October 9).
LONDON: saw the FTSE 100 rise 1.2% over the reporting period, with a mixed showing from the drug sector. The star was Shire Pharma, which rocketed on the news of tentative US approval for its next-generation attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder drug NRP104 (see page 19), leaving the stock up 16.3% overall. The firm plans to launch the drug, which is still subject to "scheduling" under the US Controlled Substance Act, in the second quarter of 2007. GlaxoSmithKline moved up ahead of the weekend, boosted by talk of a merger with a European rival, reported the Financial Times. However, the news that followed was that it had made a $566.0 million offer to acquire the US firm CNS Inc, which will bolster its consumer health care business (see page 2). GSK closed 1% higher. SkyePharma, up 3%, benefited from positive trial results for its Lodotra (modified-release prednisone).
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Stock Commentary - Europe - week to Oct 9, 2006
EUROPEAN: bourses, despite some up and down movements, ended the reporting week to October 9 on a five-year high, with the FTSE Eurofirst closing at 1,414.38. Sentiment was bolstered by a strong New York market and takeover speculation. FRANKFURT started the reporting period in negative mood, with volume impacted by a public holiday. There, biotechnology stocks LION Bioscience and MorphoSys leapt 13.2% and 9.6%, respectively, while the basic drugmakers were mostly lower, although Bayer managed a modest 0.1% gain week-on-week. ZURICH saw drug stocks underperform the market's 2% rise. Roche gained 1.3%, helped to some extent by good clinical data presented at the 46th Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy (Marketletter October 9).
LONDON: saw the FTSE 100 rise 1.2% over the reporting period, with a mixed showing from the drug sector. The star was Shire Pharma, which rocketed on the news of tentative US approval for its next-generation attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder drug NRP104 (see page 19), leaving the stock up 16.3% overall. The firm plans to launch the drug, which is still subject to "scheduling" under the US Controlled Substance Act, in the second quarter of 2007. GlaxoSmithKline moved up ahead of the weekend, boosted by talk of a merger with a European rival, reported the Financial Times. However, the news that followed was that it had made a $566.0 million offer to acquire the US firm CNS Inc, which will bolster its consumer health care business (see page 2). GSK closed 1% higher. SkyePharma, up 3%, benefited from positive trial results for its Lodotra (modified-release prednisone).
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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