The Day In Biotech Stocks (January 28, 2008) (ACOR, BIIB, CELG, PHRM, CRXX, LIPD, MDVN, PCOP)

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By Douglas A. McIntyre Published
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Acorda Therapeutics inc. (NASDAQ: ACOR) showed late stage trial results on its drug candidate Fampridine-SR for treating multiple sclerosis.  This data showed that Fampridine, which is designed to treat multiple sclerosis, did not increase patients’ QT interval Associated with Arrhythmia more than a placebo did.  Shares were up $4.29 at $26.07 mid-day.

Amylin Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: AMLN) is set to report earnings after the closing bell, with First Call estimates at -$0.44 EPS on revenues of $202.58 million Shares were up less than 1% at $32.74 on the day ahead of earnings.

Carl Icahn has nominated three individuals for the board of directors in Biogen-Idec (NASDAQ: BIIB) in his activist efforts to move the shares.  Biogen-Idec shares were down $0.90 to $58.02 mid-day.

Celgene Corporation (NASDAQ: CELG) was cleared today by German regulation to proceed with its acquisition of Pharmion. Stocks are up over 3% to $53.31 at mid-day. Pharmion Corp. (NASDAQ: PHRM) shares were up 1.8% to $67.44.

CombinatoRx Inc. (NASDAQ: CRXX) shares fell almost 7% to $4.80 mid-day on thin trading volume.  Technically there was no news today, although this followed guidance last week of losses below view.

Lipid Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: LIPD) announced positive trial results in non-human SIV-infected primates in its proprietary deplidated autogolous virus vaccine. Share prices were up more than 15% or $0.09 to $0.65 at mid-day.

Medivation, Inc. (NASDAQ: MDVN) rose after it announced that, based on its end-of-Phase 2 meeting with the FDA, it plans to begin a pivotal confirmatory Phase III trial of Dimebon for mild-to-moderate Alzheimer’s Disease in the second quarter of 2008.  Shares rose $2.36 to $17.21 by mid-day on this data.

Pharmacopeia, Inc. (NASDAQ: PCOP) shares fell over 10% to $4.37 at mid-day on thin-trading volume. There has been no recent news.

Jon C. Ogg
January 28, 2008

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About the Author Douglas A. McIntyre →

Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.

McIntyre has written thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St. He is an expert on corporate finance, the automotive industry, media companies and international finance. He has edited articles on national demographics, sports, personal income and travel.

His work has been quoted or mentioned in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Time, The New Yorker, HuffPost USA Today, Business Insider, Yahoo, AOL, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian and many other major publications. McIntyre has been a guest on CNBC, the BBC and television and radio stations across the country.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.

TheStreet.com, Comps.com and Edgar Online are some of the public companies for which McIntyre served on the board of directors. He was a Vicinity Corporation board member when the company was sold to Microsoft in 2002. He served on the audit committees of some of these companies.

McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.

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