EUROPEAN: bourses were all down significantly in the reporting week to September 10, despite a strong showing on the first day, boosted by a turnaround in the banking sector, as credit market and economic woes returned. FRANKFURT saw Evotec leap 9.1%, benefiting from the news of its chemical development business sale to US firm Aptuit for $64.0 million (see page 7). Stada Arzneimittel rose 2.1% on the last day on takeover speculation, but still ended the week 1.7% lower. Bayer was the worst performer, with a 5.6% fall, ahead of a US Food and Drug Administration advisory panel meeting on safety concerns regarding its drug Trasylol (aprotinin) which, in the event, resulted in a positive conclusion for the firm (see page 28). ZURICH saw Actelion slump 7.6%, most likely on profit-taking after its recent advance on good clinical data for the firm's insomnia drug almorexant (Marketletter September 10), and despite a price target of 82 Swiss francs, from 68 francs a share by analysts at Lehman Brothers.
LONDON: share prices followed the trend in the rest of Europe, with the FTSE 100 down 2.9% on the week. The star performer was XTL Bio, which has seen its share price decimated by recent fears of a Nasdaq delisting (Marketletters passim). The stock rocketed 23.2% on the news of initiation of a Phase IIb trial of the firm's bicifadine, a serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor for the treatment of diabetic neuropathic pain (see page 28). Acambis declined 5.1% after its 10.5% rise the previous week, and Antisoma fell 7.7% ahead of reporting results. Of the drug majors, AstraZeneca saw a 3.6% downturn while GlaxoSmithKline managed a small, 0.6%, rise for the week.
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Stock Commentary - Europe - week to Sept 10, 2007
EUROPEAN: bourses were all down significantly in the reporting week to September 10, despite a strong showing on the first day, boosted by a turnaround in the banking sector, as credit market and economic woes returned. FRANKFURT saw Evotec leap 9.1%, benefiting from the news of its chemical development business sale to US firm Aptuit for $64.0 million (see page 7). Stada Arzneimittel rose 2.1% on the last day on takeover speculation, but still ended the week 1.7% lower. Bayer was the worst performer, with a 5.6% fall, ahead of a US Food and Drug Administration advisory panel meeting on safety concerns regarding its drug Trasylol (aprotinin) which, in the event, resulted in a positive conclusion for the firm (see page 28). ZURICH saw Actelion slump 7.6%, most likely on profit-taking after its recent advance on good clinical data for the firm's insomnia drug almorexant (Marketletter September 10), and despite a price target of 82 Swiss francs, from 68 francs a share by analysts at Lehman Brothers.
LONDON: share prices followed the trend in the rest of Europe, with the FTSE 100 down 2.9% on the week. The star performer was XTL Bio, which has seen its share price decimated by recent fears of a Nasdaq delisting (Marketletters passim). The stock rocketed 23.2% on the news of initiation of a Phase IIb trial of the firm's bicifadine, a serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor for the treatment of diabetic neuropathic pain (see page 28). Acambis declined 5.1% after its 10.5% rise the previous week, and Antisoma fell 7.7% ahead of reporting results. Of the drug majors, AstraZeneca saw a 3.6% downturn while GlaxoSmithKline managed a small, 0.6%, rise for the week.
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