Sell-Off is Broad and 50 Day Moving Average is Breached on S&P

The biotech sector could not take a cue from Dendreon (DNDN) and Human Genome Sciences (HGSI) good news and sold off more than 2% with MO names even more.The NASDAQ was down 1.84% and Bio ETF’s fared slightly better with IBB down 1.65% and XBI down 1.34% .Small cap and speculative stocks were hit very hard with many down 4% or more. High flyer Vertex (VRTX $44.80) was down 5.5% and our mid-cap index of 33 stocks was down 2%.

Good news stocks could not help the overall life science sector  due to the strong market downdraft. Human Genome Sciences soared 13% to $29 with the announcement of FDA approval of their Benlysta monoclonal antibody drug for Lupus. Analysts are forecasting a Benlysta $1B blockbuster with a potential market of 1.5M individuals afflicted with Lupus in the US and pricing expected at $35k in patient cost per year. Benlysta will be available by March and co-marketed with partner GlaxoSmithKline (GSK $38.40 down 0.5%).

HUMAN GENOME SCIENCES AND GLAXOSMITHKLINE ANNOUNCE FDA APPROVAL OF BENLYSTA® (BELIMUMAB) FOR TREATMENT OF SYSTEMIC LUPUS ERYTHEMATOSUS – HGS

Dendreon (DNDN $32.91) was up 2% on the announcement by the Company that 36 Workstations in its NJ facility were approved by the FDA for  patient treatments with its Prostate Cancer Immunotherapy Provenge. The Company expects to have 500 workstations on line by the end of 2011. Los Angeles and Atlanta facilities should be licensed by that time.

Many Diagnostics and Tools stocks were hit hard. These stocks are off their mid-January highs and have been very weak lately.Cepheid(CPHD), Illumina (ILMN), Immucor (BLUD), Life Technologies(LIFE), and Sequenom (SQNM) were down 2.5% or more. High flyer Illumina (ILMN $64) is 10 pts off its mid January high. GenProbe (GPRO $64.80) remains solid near its 52 week high of $66.

The 1290 level is key support for the S&P. NASDAQ is right on the 50 day moving average of 2700.MACD and RSI are very weak.

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