| Recent Biotech Direction - "Weekly BioRollerCoaster: After netting strong gains on Thursday and Friday of the previous week, the AMEX Biotechnology Index (BTK) continued its upward trend on Monday 6-4-01 and Tuesday 6-5-01, soaring 3.1% and 5.1% respectively for these sessions. However on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, biotechnology stocks in general declined with the BTK off 2.6%, 1.1%, 1.9%, respectively. Top news driving biotechnology stocks up early in the weeks included favorable mention in Barron's for several of the more mature biotech companies. Early in the week, genomics companies were also in the spotlight with the announcement of the identification of a gene that may play a role in high cholesterol by one prominent company and news that the FDA granted clearance for another company to begin human testing of an experimental treatment for growth hormone deficiency. Adverse events that set the tone for the latter part of the week were a general slide in technology stocks on Wednesday, followed by news that an experimental psoriasis treatment did not influence the clinical outcome in treated patients. For the week closing 6-8-01, the BTK was up 2.37%, while the BioBizNet Select Index (BBNSI) climbed 3.65%. Again, it was a week in which individual stock picking was important." Please see biobiznet.com for individual stocks. |
