Biotech rally day with speculative news: ASCO,M&A,and Clinical News.
Biotech stocks were green across the board with our mid-cap index of 33 stocks up 1%. ETF’s were strong: FBT up 1.3%, IBB up 1.3% and XBI up 1.45%. The NAZ is up 1.11%. Some notable winners are:
Ariad (ARIA $6.80) up 7.7% on heavy volume, market cap $893M, on speculation: ASCO cancer meeting news (May 18) update on ponatinib for chronic myeloid leukemia , Merck co-promotion deal pending with cancer drug ridaforolimus launch in 2012, and a potential takeover target.ARIA stock was at $3.50 in mid-November.
Exelixis(EXEL $11.68) up 3.8% on speculation on ASCO news and takeover target,market cap $1.28B.Stock was $4 in mid-November.Icahn owns this stock so this may be a reason for the run-up.
Optimer (OPTR $12.40) up 3.3% continued the rally from yesterday has a C.difficile anti-infective Fidaxomycin with an FDA advisory panel meeting on 4/5/11 on a decision date by May.
Pozen (POZN $5.13) up 4.06% on yesterday’s deal with JNJ for migraine drug MT400 and today’s release on PA32540 Phase I study for inhibition of ADP-induced platelet aggregation, an oral product for secondary prevention of cardiovascular diseases.The stock was as high as $12 last May.
Other ~2%+ movers in the Rayno Life Science Portfolio are :
Cardiovascular Sciences (CSII), Cephalon(CEPH), Gilead (GILD), Illumina (ILMN), Regeneron (REGN), and Viropharma (VPHM), Celera (CRA $8.32) is up 1.46% on news that the Biotech Value Fund believes the buyout deal with Quest at $8 is undervalued.