BioHealth Business Daily (AEZS, ACHN, EXEL, MNTA, NBIX, OXGN, PGNX, SQNM, SCLN, VVUS, VICL)

There were many stocks in Biotech and BioHealth with plus-signs after their share prices today.  The BioHealth Business Daily is smoothing out the brief winners and losers to only weed out the market moves.  Those on the move with news or events were AEterna Zentaris, Inc. (NASDAQ: AEZS), Achillion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: ACHN), Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ: EXEL), Momenta Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: MNTA), Neurocrine Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: NBIX), OXiGENE, Inc. (NASDAQ: OXGN), Progenics Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: PGNX), Sequenom, Inc. (NASDAQ: SQNM), SciClone Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCLN), VIVUS, Inc. (NASDAQ: VVUS) and Vical Incorporated (NASDAQ: VICL).

We have included some basic color and news, as well as relative volume and the price moves where applicable.  Closing prices are snapshots right at 4:00 PM EST so these may be different from official closing prices posted after 4:30.

AEterna Zentaris, Inc. (NASDAQ: AEZS) was up after the FDA approved its Investigational New Drug (IND) application for doxorubicin targeted conjugate compound called AEZS-108 as a treatment to fight bladder cancer.  Shares closed up 14% at an unofficial closing price of $2.09 on over 21 million shares.  That is 7-times normal volume and the 52-week range is $0.75 to $3.25.

Achillion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: ACHN) released additional preliminary data on a Phase 1b ACH-1625 trial in hepatitis C treatments.  Shares closed up 12.3% at $2.65 on right at 1 million shares.  Average volume is 222K and the 52-week range is $1.10 to $3.89.

Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ: EXEL) posted a strong recovery after having been lower on losses and job cuts.  Shares were up over 17% at $6.27 right at the bell.

Momenta Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: MNTA) looked like its names was Momentum Pharmaceuticals more than anything.  We saw over 500,000 shares trade and the unofficial closing bell price was up 11% at $13.85.

Neurocrine Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: NBIX) was also up in a mystery move… Shares were up almost 12% at $2.90 on actually light trading volume of 309,000 shares.  A seller’s strike.

OXiGENE, Inc. (NASDAQ: OXGN) was up 12% at $1.00 in a late day move after yesterday’s earnings report.

Progenics Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: PGNX) rose and rose throughout the trading day.  What is odd is that there was a seller’s strike.  No sellers showed up for trading today.  There were only 118,000 shares traded at the 4PM close and the stock was up 11.7% at $6.12.  The 52-week range is $3.53 to $7.00.

Sequenom, Inc. (NASDAQ: SQNM) is of course in the testing space rather than in biotech… Its stock held up extremely well considering how deep of a discount it got a private placement off.  It raised more than $50 million in a private placement.

SciClone Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCLN) was up ahead of a presentation next week with a company overview and business update.  Shares closed up 14.8% at $4.02 on 901,000 shares.

VIVUS, Inc. (NASDAQ: VVUS) was up again after yesterday’s late-day big bullish options trade.  Shares closed up 2.4% at $12.40 on almost 5.5 million shares.

Vical Incorporated (NASDAQ: VICL) was trading higher on word that its cancer drug showed promise in mid-stage trial results of Allovecton-7.

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JON C. OGG