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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

Just Another Manic Monday In Biopharma

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

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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