don't know that i've ever seen a vicl headline on my goog home page - lead story under biotech. just for grins, here it is..
Vical, Celgene help pace biotech gains
By Val Brickates Kennedy, MarketWatch
Last Update: 10:22 AM ET Sept. 15, 2005
BOSTON (MarketWatch) -- The biotechnology sector gained early Thursday, as shares of Vical Inc. jumped on news that the company's been awarded a federal grant to help develop an avian flu vaccine.
The Amex Biotechnology Index ($BTK: news, chart, profile) crept up 0.6% to 643.96 while the Amex Pharmaceutical Index ($DRG: news, chart, profile) was flat at 327.50.
Vical (VICL: news, chart, profile) leapt 6% to $5.04. The biotech company said it had received a $2.9 million grant from the National Institutes of Health for the development a gene-based human vaccine against pandemic avian flu.
Vical added that it will be collaborating with St. Jude's Research Hospital on the project.
Elsewhere, Celgene Corp. (CELG: news, chart, profile) advanced 3% to $56.45. An advisory panel of the Food and Drug Administration voted on Wednesday to recommend the agency approve its drug Revlimid for the treatment of transfusion-dependant anemia caused by blood cancers known at myelodysplastic syndromes, or MDS.
Also gaining was oncology-drug developer EntreMed (ENMD: news, chart, profile) , up 4% at $2.65. The company announced in had entered into an agreement with the National Cancer Institute to study inhibition of the compound HIF-1alpha in the treatment of cancer. |
