Biotech Sector Recovers from Monday’s Weakness-Bull Intact
Biotech stocks are strong today tracking a NASDAQ rally and favorable news on JNJ’s prostate drug Zytiga which met its goal in a new study. Dendreon stock took a big hit down 10% because the JNJ therapy is simpler and cheaper, while Medivation (MDVN $74) stock soared 14% on big volume of over 3.5M shares as investors believe the MDVN drug is comparable to Zytiga with marketing applications to the FDA expected later this year. The Medivation market cap is now $2.6B with collaboration revenues of $60M, cash of $144M,and shareholder equity of $1.3M.
Our mid-cap biopharmaceutical index roared up 2.6% today but the IBB stayed a tad under $120 up 1.6%.Big movers included Aria(ARIA $15) up 4%, Dynavax (DVAX $4.18) up 3.47%, Exelixis(EXEL $5.50) up 4.76%, and Optimer (OPTR $12.82) up 3.47%.
The diagnostics and tools sector also rallied with Sequenom (SQNM $4.17) up 13% on an optimistic view of revenues going forward. Revenues were $55.9M for 2012 with a loss of $74M or 75 cents a share. The Company launched its fetal trisomy MaterniT21 LDT in Q4.