U.S. Stocks are experiencing another cut on Wednesday despite the fact that Spain's Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy announced about $80 billion worth of spending cuts and sales tax hikes to save his country from ongoing financial crisis. Below is a look at some of the mid day headlines for companies that made news in the healthcare sector on July 12, 2012.
Hemispherx BioPharma, Inc (NYSEAMEX:HEB) said that it recently met with representatives of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (the "FDA"). At that meeting, the FDA agreed to accept, for review, new analyses of data from Hemispherx's AMP-516 Phase III Clinical Trial ("AMP-516 Trial") in support of its New Drug Application ("NDA") for Ampligen(R) (poly i:Poly C12U). The FDA has advised that whether the new analyses provide adequate evidence of Ampligen(R)'s efficacy in treating Chronic Fatigue Syndrome ("CFS") will ultimately be a review issue. Shares of the company soared 30.28% to $0.370.
Shares of Obagi Medical Products, Inc. (NASDAQ:OMPI) continue to climb steadily and traded as high as $18 after gapping up in early morning trading. Investors continue to watch the company in anticipation of several rumored tender offers at a premium from today's prices. Shares were trading over 3% higher at $17.20 at the time of this report with a steady increase of volume and accumulation activity in the stock during the past few sessions.
Orexigen Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:OREX) shares increased 5.85% to $6.33 after the company announced an update to the projected timeframe for completion of enrollment of the Light Study, the Contrave cardiovascular outcomes clinical trial. The company now expects to complete enrollment of patients required for the interim analysis of the Light Study in the first quarter of 2013, potentially reducing by half the original projections.
Eli Lilly & Co. (NYSE:LLY) stock fell 0.47% to $42.66 in the morning hour after the company announced negative clinical trial results from study H8Y-MC-HBBM (HBBM) investigating pomaglumetad methionil, also known as mGlu2/3, for the treatment of patients suffering an acute exacerbation of schizophrenia. In study HBBM, pomaglumetad methionil did not separate from placebo in the primary efficacy endpoint in either the overall or predefined genetic subpopulation (based on the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale, PANSS) at the two doses investigated (40 mg and 80 mg BID).
Lexicon Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:LXRX) shares climbed 7.06% to $2.73 in the early hour. The 52 week trading range for the company is $0.81 - $2.90. The shares of the company have surged over 65% in the last one year. Lexicon Pharmaceuticals is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of breakthrough treatments for human disease.
ISIS Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:ISIS) shares declined 7.74% to $12.51 in the morning hour after the shares of the company had its "neutral" rating restated by Zacks in a report issued yesterday. They currently have a $15.00 target price on the stock. The analysts believe that antisense technology (the main area of focus at Isis) represents an exciting and potentially revolutionary platform for developing therapeutic candidates to treat a wide margin of diseases.
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Source: Equity Briefing via Thomson Reuters ONE
