Biotech Investors Jolted Out of Summer Lull as High-Fliers Sink
Biotech Investors Jolted Out of Summer Lull as High-Fliers Sink
(Bloomberg) -- Investors are having an eventful day in drug-developer stocks after regulatory and manufacturing issues rocked a trio of high-flying companies on Wall Street.
Nektar Therapeutics Inc. led losses in the Nasdaq Biotechnology Index early on Friday, plummeting as much as 41%. The company’s disclosure of quality control issues in the manufacturing of its experimental cancer therapy raised more questions about its efficacy. Nektar is now rivaling Abiomed Inc. for the worst performer in the S&P 500 this year, after leading the index at one point last year.
Amarin Corp. plunged as much as 19%, its biggest drop in almost nine months, after U.S. regulators scheduled a November advisory panel on its application to promote the heart benefits of its Vascepa capsules. The company -- whose ADRs had surged from less than $3 apiece to nearly $24 in under a year -- now expects a delay in the Food and Drug Administration’s decision on the key drug-label expansion.
Another laggard on Friday was Sarepta Therapeutics Inc. The stock extended losses to fall another 5.1% after a report in a government database Thursday raised concerns about its Duchenne muscular dystrophy gene therapy. The company called the submission “erroneous” and bulls rushed to the stock’s defense. Nonetheless, investors remain skittish.
To be sure, it wasn’t all bad news in the biotech space. A former Wall Street darling, Puma Biotechnology Inc., surged as much as 32%, the most since March, after sales of its cancer drug recovered from the disappointment in the prior quarter’s results. The stock, however, still trades 96% below its peak in 2014.
The Nasdaq Biotech Index fell as much as 1.8% before midday Friday. It’s on pace for its fourth weekly decline in five weeks.
To contact the reporter on this story: Tatiana Darie in New York at tdarie1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Catherine Larkin at clarkin4@bloomberg.net, Jeremy R. Cooke
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