Biotech lags market rebound

Despite an upturn in the general markets on Monday, the BioCentury 100 was unable to recapture any portion of last Friday's 13 percent loss, as the index slipped a further 2 percent on Monday. The general markets, however, made upward pushes, with the NASDAQ and DJIA indexes posting 6.6 percent and 2.7 percent gains, respectively. The biotech sector did see some strong gains, with drug discovery play CuraGen (CRGN) up $8.938 (36 percent) to $33.938, combinatorial technology company Symyx (SMMX) up $11.875 (33 percent) to $47.625 and drug discovery hardware company PE Biosystems (PEB) up $13.50 (20 percent) to $79.75. On the downside, Cubist (CBST), which is developing infectious disease therapeutics, was off $8.688 (33 percent) to $17.25, lab-on-a chip company Caliper (CALP) fell $10.875 (31 percent) to $24.125 and gene therapy company Vical (VICL) was down $4.75 (25 percent) to $14.375.

Biotech listings on the London Stock Exchange also took a beating on Monday, as was widely expected following the NASDAQ sell-off on Friday (see BioCentury Extra, Friday April 14). The BioCentury London index of 14 LSE-listed biotech companies was off 5.2 percent to 867 on Monday. Biotech stocks were not the only New Economy sector hit in the U.K., as the FTSE techMARK 100 index was down 3.9 percent to 3390.55 on Monday. London blue chips fared better, with the FTSE 100 down only 3 percent to 5994.6. Nevertheless, that index is well below its 6930.2 standing at the beginning of the year. ...