Biotechs Rise as Novavax Gains on AIDS Vaccine News

by H.S. Ayoub
BioHealth Investor.com



Biotech stocks generally did well on Tuesday as the Nasdaq Biotech Index (^NBI) gained 0.11% to 831.94.

Cerus (CERS) gained more than 12% after the company received a cash payment of $5 million from BioOne Corporation related to the European marketing approval of the INTERCEPT Blood System for plasma. The INTERCEPT system is designed to inactivate numerous viruses, bacteria and other pathogens in donated blood.

Shares of Novavax (NVAX) shot up more than 13% after the company announced it had improved the purity and quality of its anti-HIV/AIDS vaccine. Pre-clinial studies are already under way, and the company has initiated the planning of human clinical trials.

Medicines Co. (MDCO) meanwhile dropped 12% as the company announced a common stock offering of 6,000,000 shares. UBS Securities cut its outlook from 'reduce' to 'neutral' because the stock price has increased substantially in recent months. The UBS analyst believes that the company's anti-coagulant drug Angiomax could lose market share to generic competition starting in 2010.



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