Unusual Biotech Movers (DSCO, GNTA, IDMI, DDSS, POTP, DARA)

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By Douglas A. McIntyre Published
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Discovery Laboratories Inc. (NASDAQ: DSCO) shares are up after a report that their drug Surfaxin, a respiratory distress syndrome treatment for premature infants, should gain FDA approval by May. In pre-market trading, the shares rose 6% to $2.08. Since opening, shares are up almost 13% to $2.21 in mid-morning trading. The 52 week range is $1.75 to $3.75.

Genta Incorporated (NASDAQ: GNTA) shares are down over 22% to $0.53 per share after news this morning that they have entered into an agreement to sell 6 million shares of common stock to institutional investors for $3.1 million in proceeds.

IDM Pharma, Inc. (NASDAQ: IDMI) shares are recovering today after last week’s plunge due to a delisting threat from the Nasdaq Stock Market. The company has until August 4, 2008 to close at over $1 for 10 consecutive days. Shares are up over 30% this morning to $2.20. The 52 week range is $0.57 to $10.75.

Labopharm Inc. (NASDAQ: DDSS) shares continue to rise after Friday’s announcement that late-stage clinical trials for Trazodone once-daily antidepressant showed improvement in patients’ quality of sleep. The drug has FDA approval for a twice-daily treatment and the company expects to apply for the FDA approval of the once-daily version later this year. Shares are up over 15% in early morning trading to $2.68.

Stockholder approval for Point Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: POTP) pending merger with DARA BioSciences, Inc. is expected this afternoon. Assuming the merger closes February 12 as expected, the new entity will trade under “DARA” on Nasdaq. Shares rose up over $0.06 in early morning trading but have slipped back down to opening price ranges to $0.14 in mid-day trading on relatively high trading volume.

Rachel Lopez
February 11, 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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