Wednesday's Healthcare Market Movers

On a day when the entire healthcare sector was lagging, there were a few uplifting stories that helped pass the time during a trading day that saw most stocks head south - the very slow painful way - as the day progressed.

Shares of Jazz Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:JAZZ) were up 258% after announcing that it anticipates results from a second late-stage trial of its fibromyalgia treatment JZP-6 to come soon and, if successful, file for FDA approval by year-end.

As of March, the company remains in default on $119 million in debt and is burning through its cash in hopes that cost cutting efforts and sales growth from its two marketed products will allow it to survive long enough to return to profitability.

K-V Pharmaceutical Co. (NYSE:KV.A) was in play up to 2.43 +0.75 (44.64%) after the company announced it has entered into a settlement agreement with Purdue Pharma L.P. of Stamford, Conn., in regard to the patent infringement lawsuit between the two companies.

Under the terms of the settlement agreement Purdue will grant KV Pharmaceutical Company certain limited non-exclusive, royalty-bearing, non-transferable rights to sell in the United States generic versions of the drug OxyContin(R) (oxycodone HCl controlled-release) for a limited period of time.

AGEN Antigenics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AGEN) again went up 22% during the afternoon hours on no solid news. Some have voiced skepticism over Antigenics' recent drug data which showed that users of its kidney cancer therapy Oncophage lived considerably longer, but the stock still moved upward.

Shares of Novavax, Inc.(NASDAQ:NVAX) continued to rise to $3.00 +0.32 (11.94%) as news of the World Health Organization's increased concern over an "Imminent" Flu Pandemic continues to make headlines. Novavax, with its VLP technology, was one of the firms mentioned in our Flu Vaccine Initiative report (05/25/08).

The other company in that report is Hemispherx BioPharma, Inc (AMEX:HEB) - a loser yesterday - whose shares continued to float in oblivion as the FDA has yet to report whether HEB's Ampligen drug has received approval for CFS. Shares were down (-11.27%) minus $0.32 to $2.52. The company is waiting for more information, just like the shareholders.

From our FDA Calendar, Trinity Biotech (NASDAQ:TRIB) was up 17.62%‎ to 3.72 +0.56‎ yesterday as they awaited two responses from the Food and Drug Administration.

The biggest percentage price change dropper was Sequenom, Inc. (NASDAQ:SQNM) - whose shares are giving up some of Tuesday's lofty gains which were attributed to chatter that SQNM may be close to resolving issues of mishandled data for SEQureDx Trisomy 21 Test. Definitely worth keeping an eye on if true.

Shares for Psychiatric Solutions, Inc.(Public, NASDAQ:PSYS) were down 11.55% yesterday to $18.60, a day after the Nevada State Health Division suspended the license of one of the company's hospitals and ordered the facility closed within 30 days.

Comments

[Cadence fan]

Cadence has a good product that will be coming to market in 2010. It is a buy in my opinion.

2009 Jun 11 10:52 AM