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Biotech market roars

August 24, 2000 7:00 AM UTC

The biotech market charged forward Thursday on the heels of big moves in the discovery group that were driven by Wednesday's announcement of the NIH's guidelines for NIH-funded human pluripotent stem cell research (see BioCentury Extra, Wednesday Aug. 23). The BioCentury 100 added 4 percent on Thursday, outpacing a 1 percent move by the tech-laden NASDAQ Composite and a 0.3 percent gain in the Dow Jones Industrials.

Companies conducting stem cell research - including Geron (GERN), StemCells (STEM) and Aastrom (ASTM)- were the biggest percentage gainers, all moving up more than 20 percent on the day. GERN, which has a research program that generates pluripotent stem cells from human embryos, was up $6.188 (24 percent) to $31.688 on Thursday, after a $1.125 move to $25.50 on Wednesday. ASTM, which is developing stem cell therapies for cancer, added $1.594 (59 percent) to $4.281 on 19.9 million shares on Thursday, following a $1.125 (72 percent) rise to $2.688 on 9 million shares on Wednesday. STEM, which is developing stem cell-based therapies to treat diseases of the central nervous system, pancreas and liver, popped $2.281 (31 percent) to $9.656 on 10.3 million shares on Thursday after adding $2 (37 percent) to $7.375 on 5.6 million shares on Wednesday. ...