BioHealth Business Daily (ACUR, AMLN, BIIB, ELN, CADX, CYCC, HGSI, MIPI, PRAN, RNN, SQNM)

Today’s version of the BioHealth Business Daily has many stocks moving on news, but oddly many of the real news stocks are hardly moving and were eliminated from today’s report.  Today’s leaders are Acura Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: ACUR), Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMLN), Biogen Idec Inc. (NASDAQ: BIIB), Elan Corp. plc (NYSE: ELN), Cadence Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: CADX), Cyclacel Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: CYCC), Human Genome Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: HGSI), Molecular Insight Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: MIPI), Prana Biotechnology Ltd. (NASDAQ: PRAN), Rexahn Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (AMEX: RNN), and Sequenom Inc. (NASDAQ: SQNM).

Acura Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: ACUR) is higher before Thursday’s FDA advisory panel is set to discuss the drug company’s lead candidate, called Acurox, which is for pain relief.  Shares are up 45% at $8.50 on over 1.4 million shares.  The market is listed now as $369 million.

Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMLN) is surprisingly soft and quiet considering that this morning was its earnings, and its losses narrowed on narrower expenses.  Shares are down 2.3% at $21.24 on 2.7 million shares, which is barely 60% of a full day’s trading volume.

Biogen Idec Inc. (NASDAQ: BIIB) is up, while Elan Corp. plc (NYSE: ELN) is down after Elan said it is considering spinning off its drug delivery operations.  Elan is down 2.8% at $7.50 and Biogen Idec is up 2.1% at $54.78.

Cadence Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: CADX) is rising after the company released data that it plans to resubmit its new drug application for OFIRMEV pain shot.  The stock is up 14% at $10.48 on 1.2 million shares (over 3-times normal volume).

Cyclacel Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: CYCC) looks to be up on block volume besides chat room discussions.  Shares are up 4.9% at $2.78 on over 11 million shares of stock, which is so far the most volume since Feb. 17 when it traded 13.8 million shares.

Human Genome Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: HGSI) is down after its partner Novartis withdrew its European Medicines Agency application for approval of JOULFERON for the treatment of chronic hepatitis C.  Shares are down 3% at $31.43 on over 3.4 million shares.

Molecular Insight Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: MIPI) is running higher in recovery after debt discussions last week after shares fell each day after an almost 200% gain on Tuesday.  Shares are up 13.7% at $2.57 on 1 million shares.  This is more evidence of continued trader interest back and forth more than breaking news or breaking rumors.

Prana Biotechnology Ltd. (NASDAQ: PRAN) is acting like the next ten-bagger chase after positive Alzheimer’s data, the difference being that is over reversal of the effects rather than delay of effects.  Shares were up over 100% earlier before coming off highs.

Rexahn Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (AMEX: RNN) is down today after last week’s gains.  This may be profit taking, but TheStreet.com says there are “holes galore in Serdaxin data.”  Shares are down 15% at $2.41 on almost 5 million shares.

Sequenom Inc. (NASDAQ: SQNM) is up after its launch of the new MassARRAY Analyzer 4, with the capability for quantitative gene expression analysis, epigenetic nucleic acid methylation analysis as well as high-throughput genotyping and SNP fine mapping applications.  Shares are up 3.6% at $6.01 on over 8.3 million shares.

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JON C. OGG