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Sebelius on Vaccines

24 Nov 2009

Discussing whether a new $487M investment from the government will help speed up the production of the most important vaccines, with Kathy Sebelius, Health & Human Services secretary and CNBC's Mike Huckman.

The New Formula for Faster Vaccines

24 Nov 2009

Novartis is opening on Tuesday the country's first plant to produce flu vaccines using cell cultures. These vaccines are faster, better and cheaper to make than egg-based methods, reports CNBC's Mike Huckman.

Novartis Opens 1st US Plant for Flu Vaccine

24 Nov 2009

Cholesterol Drug Battle: Niaspan vs. Zetia 16 Nov 2009
Abbott Laboratories' Niaspan beat Merck's Zetia in a new study. CNBC's Mike Huckman has the details.

Cardiologist Grades Cholesterol Drug Study

16 Nov 2009

Abbott Laboratories' Niaspan beat Merck's Zetia in a new study. Dr. Steven Nissen, chairman of the Department of Cardiovascular Medicine at The Cleveland Clinic, shares his reaction with CNBC's Mike Huckman.

Merck's Cholesterol Drugs Under Pressure

16 Nov 2009

A new study is putting Merck's cholesterol drugs under pressure today, reports CNBC's Mike Huckman, with Ken Frazier, Merck Global Human Health president.

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CNBC ON DIGG

The Summer of Biotech

Published: Friday, 31 Jul 2009 | 4:21 PM ET

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By: Mike Huckman
Reporter

Pharma Stocks
CNBC.com
Pharma Stocks
Everyone’s talking about the July stock market rally. And, of course, you can’t overlook the outperformance of biotech—big and small.

Amgen up 18 percent. Celgene up 20 percent. Human Genome Sciences up 400 percent. Onyx Pharmaceuticals up 28 percent. Orexigen up 60 percent. Even the embattled Amylin Pharmaceuticals up 10 percent. And that’s just a handful. Sure, not every stock went along for the ride, but it’s been a pretty good month for a lot of companies driven by drug data, drug sales/earnings and deals.

BioTech's Blockbuster Summer

And Bernstein analyst Geoffrey Porges put out a big research note saying it ain’t over yet. It’s titled, “Biotech: Take Outs and Break Outs—Setting Up for a Big Biotech Rally, Plenty of Upside Still to Come.”

In large part due to HGSI’s ginormous gains, the Biotech Index jumped 25 percent in July. But the much larger Nasdaq Biotech Index climbed only eight-and-a-half percent. “We see this index (the NBI) having significant further upside potential,” Porges writes.

On top of all the drug data that came out in July (not all of it good), this weekend OSI Pharmaceuticals [OSIP Loading... () ] unveils the details on how much longer a certain population of lung cancer patients lived on its pill Tarceva. In a couple of weeks, Amgen has a date with an FDA panel on its key late-stage, experimental osteoporosis drug known as D-mab. “Recently there has been a wave of positive data and newsflow in the sector which is likely to continue through the balance of 2009 and 2010,” Porges is telling clients.

Usually, after the second quarter earnings season things quiet down a bit. Biopharma folks go on summer vacation. It’s a welcome breather. But if Porges, and others, are right we could be in for a hot August.

P.S. Please tune in, or check back here at CNBC.com for the replay, for my first-ever interview with Johnson and Johnson Chairman and CEO Bill Weldon [JNJ Loading... () ] this coming Monday at 2 p.m. ET on “Street Signs” with Erin Burnett. I’ve been trying to get a sit-down with him for years. Looks like it’s finally gonna happen.