Bio-techs are like casino's. $trillionaires on monday and broke and busted by friday.
>
NEW YORK, Jan 24 (Reuters) - Shares of pharmaceutical company Neurogen Corp. <NRGN.O> rose 45 percent on Monday after investors caught up with the issue that had been ignored in the recent runup in the biotechnology sector and it launched a new Web site about its drug discovery technology.
The stock jumped 8-7/8 to a 52-week high of 28-1/4 on Monday, before settling back to 25. It was one of Nasdaq's top percentage gainers.
"Neurogen is a company that has had a significant amount of value," said Michael Sheffrey, an analyst with OrbiMed Advisors. "To a degree, Neurogen was (overlooked) in the recent runup."
The new Web site (http://www.aidd.com) communicates the benefits of the company's accelerated intelligence drug discovery -- AIDD -- technology platform, the company said.
Neurogen licenses AIDD technology to drug and biotechnology companies to help quickly and efficiently enhance drug discovery programs.
"Aside from the press release we put out, there is no news," a company spokeswoman said. "There's increased interest in biotech, and we seem to be benefiting from that."
The biotechnology sector was broadly lower Monday, as Biogen Inc. <BGEN.O> dropped 6-13/16 to 85-3/16, Amgen Inc. <AMGN.O> fell 5-9/16 to 69-1/8, both on Nasdaq, and Genentech Inc. <DNA.N> slid 5-7/16 to 161-13/16 on the New York Stock Exchange.
Another biotechnology company, Enzo Biochem Inc. <ENZ.N>, which enjoyed large gains on Friday, fell 41-14/16 to 78-1/16 on the NYSE.
Shares of biotechnology companies continued a bull run on Friday amid strong fourth-quarter earnings and rising confidence that high-tech medicine will pay off.
The Nasdaq biotech index slid 6 percent to after gained over 12 percent last week.
18:24 01-24-00 |
