M. E. Garza's  Instablog

At the top of Monday’s biggest winners in healthcare, Aspect Medical Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASPM). It was announced that Covidien (NYSE:COV) plans to buy the brain monitor maker for about $210 million, giving the medical products company an expanded presence in the operating room. "Aspect's (technology) is recognized as the market leader but did not have the marketing or distribution muscle which Covidien can provide," said Jefferies analyst Peter Bye.

Covidien announced that they would pay $12 in cash for each share of Aspect, a premium of about 56 percent over the stock's Friday close of $7.67 so shares closed the day 55% higher at $11.96 +4.29 and were trading a bit higher after hours.

There was some very strange trading action action on I-Flow Corporation (NASDAQ:IFLO), who announced last week the availability of its family of four conveniently sized ON-Q® SilverDressings™- which are thin film dressings contain ionic silver that is 99.99 percent effective in killing or inhibiting the growth of a wide range of microorganisms including MRSA1, for up to 7 days. This added layer of antimicrobial protection may reduce the risk of infection, which may help facilities avoid incremental treatment costs.  The CDC reports that there are nearly 375,000 surgical site infections in the U.S. each year. The stock ended the day up 16% at $12.14 +1.70 then in after hours trading, the stock gave up most of its gains falling to 11.09 -1.05 (-8.65%). It will be interesting to see what happens to this stock tomorrow morning.

Shares of Novavax, Inc.(NASDAQ:NVAX), whose vaccines leverage its virus-like particle (VLP) platform technology coupled with a disposable production technology is attempting to rebound after their recent skid. On Sept 16, the vaccine maker said it planned to raise capital by selling a total of $10 million in gross proceeds of its common shares. Today it looks like they may have finally broken out of that downward pattern. They closed the day at $4.41 +0.61 (up 16.05%).

It looks like our readers “Took advantage of the BioDelivery Dip” and gobbled up shares of BioDelivery Sciences International (NASDAQ:BDSI). The stock was way oversold and as BioMedReport's Vinny Cassano reported yesterday morning, milestone payments due to the company alone equal nearly a third of the current market cap without taking into consideration either the potential of the pipeline nor the possibility of the company's cancer pain drug Onsolis reaching the sales thresholds that would garner the additional thirty million dollar payment. Informed investors bought shares and the market closed up nearly 13% at $4.79 +.55

Here is a look at the rest of Monday's Healthcare winners and losers:

 

Gainers		Last Trade	Change
Aspect Medical Systems	ASPM	11.96	+4.29 (55.93%)	208.59M
I-Flow Corporation	IFLO	12.14	+1.70 (16.28%)	296.87M
Novavax, Inc.	NVAX	4.41	+0.61 (16.05%)	400.49M
BioDelivery Sciences Intl	BDSI	4.79	+0.55 (12.97%)	100.66M
ViroPharma Incorporated	VPHM	9.98	+1.03 (11.51%)	772.85M
Losers
Crucell N.V.	CRXL	22.13	-1.57 (-6.62%)	1.47B
Keryx Biopharmaceuticals	KERX	2.51	-0.17 (-6.34%)	120.08M
HealthTronics Inc.	HTRN	2.49	-0.10 (-3.86%)	111.20M
Allos Therapeutics, Inc.	ALTH	7.57	-0.30 (-3.79%)	676.68M
Hansen Medical, Inc.	HNSN	3.57	-0.12 (-3.25%)	133.59M
Most Actives
Abbott Laboratories	ABT	48.58	+1.25 (2.64%)	75.10B
Johnson & Johnson	JNJ	61.27	+0.65 (1.07%)	168.85B
Wyeth	WYE	48.09	+0.23 (0.48%)	64.20B
Pfizer Inc.	PFE	16.57	+0.17 (1.04%)	111.83B
Merck & Co., Inc.	MRK	32.03	+0.78 (2.50%)	67.55B

 

Disclosure: No positions