After a dizzying climb in the
first quarter and a staid April, the biotechnology stock indexes were slashed
last week. The bloodbath was triggered when InterMune Inc. (NASDAQ:ITMN)
fell back to earth on Wednesday, was further fueled by the global market panic
on Black Thursday, and continued down on Friday.
On the week, the BioCentury
100, the NASDAQ Biotechnology Index and the NYSE Arca Biotechnology dropped
9.5%, 9.4% and 12.6%, respectively.