BioCentury
ARTICLE | Finance

Still Crazy

May 18, 1998 7:00 AM UTC

Shares of MGI Pharma (MOGN) surged $5.062 to $12.812 on 3.5 million shares on Wednesday after the company announced that its MGI 114 acylfulvene analog "is just as promising, and just as unproven, as other cancer therapies recently discussed in the media." The company was referring to the frenzy that drove EntreMed (ENMD) up 176 percent after The New York Times highlighted ENMD's preclinical anti-angiogenesis compounds (see BioCentury Extra, May 5). MOGN is completing Phase I studies and preparing for a series of Phase II trials in multiple cancers. The stock closed Friday at $9.875, up 25 percent. ENMD was holding at $33, off $0.25 on the week.

MAM IS MUM: A rumor that Mercury Asset Management had sold its 10.6 percent stake in British Biotech(LSE:BBG) further undermined sentiment in the troubled U.K. stock last Thursday. BBG, down 3.5p to 62.5p, announced that MAM no longer held a disclosable stake in the company. However, rather than disposing of its whole holding, it appears that MAM had trimmed its position to below the 10 percent threshold. MAM remains tightlipped about its position in the company, however. BBG dropped 5.5p (8 percent) last week to close at 63.5p...