Pharma's Market

SPECIAL REPORT

Healthy Horizons
A brand new series of weekly segments which will explore the macro and micro issues facing the global economy.

LATEST FROM OUR BLOGS

» More

- 5 Stocks That Benefit from Health Care Legislation: Analysts

MORE HEADLINES

» Markets | Economy | Companies

- Obama says Boosting US Jobs is Top Priority

PHARMA'S MARKET VIDEO

» More

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.

Cholesterol Drug Battle: Merck vs. Abbott Labs

16 Nov 2009

Abbott Laboratories' Niaspan beat Merck's Zetia in a new study. Barbara Ryan, pharma analyst at Deutsche Bank Securities, shares her reaction.

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

Novo Nordisk CEO on Diabetes Epidemic

13 Nov 2009

Diabetes is a global epidemic that presents an estimated $25 billion drug and device market and some predict that number could double over the next several years. Lars Sorensen, CEO of Novo Nordisk, the world's largest diabetes care company, talks to CNBC's Mike Huckman.

RSS FEED

» Help

Subscribe to this RSS feed
Stay up to date with Pharma's Market.

CNBC ON DIGG

Just Another Manic Monday In Biopharma

Published: Monday, 5 Oct 2009 | 11:36 AM ET

Text Size

By: Mike Huckman
Reporter

If you were ever needed examples of the phenomenal risk and reward of investing in baby biopharma look no further than what’s going on in the sector today.

Shares of Seattle Genetics are taking it on the chin on the news that the company is stopping a mid-stage study of a lymphoma drug because it didn’t work well enough. Roche/Genentech were partnered with SGEN on it.

Shares of Amicus Therapeutics are also getting hammered on disappointing data for its developmental drug for Gaucher disease. Amicus has a ticker symbol that is a play on a major piece of its drug technology, FOLD, but most people who aren’t familiar with the science probably don’t get it. I think the company would be better off going with something more straightforward. The problem is AMCS, ACUS and AMIC, just to name a few possibilities, are all taken. But FOLD is such an easy target especially when they’ve got bad news and investors fold.

Meantime, Xenoport and GlaxoSmithKline announced positive mid-stage test results for their post-shingles pain drug. XNPT shares are higher. And microcap AVI BioPharma is rallying on a full-page bullish piece in Barron’s (sub-headline, “This little biotech could become a big player.”) Separately, the company announced today that it’s getting another $11.5 million from the feds for biodefense drug development.

But as the news out of SGEN and FOLD illustrates, there are no guarantees. Drug development has been, is and always will be risky business. Buyer beware.

Manic Monday for BioPharma