Zymogenetics (ZGEN) stock soared 84% today on the $9.75 ($885M)buyout offer from Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY). Bristol was also up 1% even though the acquisition is dilutive to 2011 earnings. Bristol was seeking the the ZGEN Hepatitis C drug PEG-Interferon lamda which is in Phase 2 studies and already under a collaboration agreement with BMY. Zymogenetics has already out-licensed a broad pipeline of therapeutic protein drug candidates and had Q2 revenues of $37.7M with a loss of $23.2M. Novo Nordisk A S was also a major holder of the stock with 22M shares and 37% of the stock was tendered for the acquisition.
The deal boosted small and mid-cap biotechs with our mid-cap index up 2.75% and the Rayno Life Science Portfolio up 1.5% as of mid-day trading. Among the smaller cap big winners were: Arqule (ARQL) up 6.67% at $5.44, Biomarin (BMRN) up 2.4% at $22.10, Cubist (CBST)up 3% at $22.83, Exelixis (EXEL) up 4.2% at $3.72, Micromet (MITI) up 3.9% at $6.67, Nektar (NKTR) up 2.3% at $13.78, Seattle Genetics (SGEN) up 3.2% at $12.37,and Targecept (TRGT)up 6.27% at $21.50. ETF’s such as IBB and FBT also rallied about 1.8%. Smaller biotech stocks are recovering from July lows, are way below April highs but are entering the more bullish Q4 seasonality.