Biotech Market update: 1 July 2008

BioTech/Big Pharma stocks in the news, 10am PST.

Drug stocks slipped in early action Tuesday, but shares of Myriad Genetics rebounded from a sell-off in the previous session over its move to discontinue development of its Alzheimer's disease drug candidate Flurizan.

The Amex Pharmaceutical Index were both down marginally at 290.2 and 737.0, respectively.

Myriad shares were up 4% at $47.30.

Myriad reported disappointing Phase III clinical results for Flurizan early Monday, an event that had been widely predicted by industry watchers on Wall Street. The company had been developing the compound for the treatment of mild cases of Alzheimer's disease.

Myriad's bad news appeared to ripple over into shares of other drugmakers working on Alzheimer's medications.

Shares of Wyeth were off 2% at $47.26, while partner Elan Corp. saw its stock slip 1% to $35.05.

Baxter International however, broke from the downward trend, with shares up 7% at $1.85.

Thanks to MarketWatch.
If any clinical data comes out that makes a splash it'll be here.