Ebb & Flow

Investors playing the Transkaryotic-Amgen roulette wheel found their chips stuck on the table Friday, when U.S. District Court Judge William Young issued his final ruling in the EPO litigation between TKTX and AMGN after the market closed. Young ruled that TKTX and partner Hoechst Marion Roussel (now Aventis) literally infringed two of five AMGN patents in the dispute (see Cover Story). Now that the ball has stopped rolling, the chips will be cleaned off the table unless today's conference call by TKTX raises optimism about an appeal.

TKTX closed Friday down $1 to $34 on 146,000 shares, but was up $1.875 on the week before trading was halted shortly before the close. AMGN, which was up only $0.25 to $60 in regular trading on the week, shot up $12.375 (21 percent) to $72.375 in after-hours trading on Friday...