Here's an ITMN story attempting to explain today's weakness:
Monday March 25, 2:56 pm Eastern Time
Intermune shares slip on drug sales data
LOS ANGELES, March 25 (Reuters) - Shares of biotechnology company Intermune Inc. (NasdaqNM:ITMN - news) fell as much as 14 percent on Monday on concern about sales of its lead drug and overall weakness in the biotech sector, analysts said.
But some analysts suggested the selling might be overdone if it is based on reports by IMS Health Inc. (NYSE:RX - news) on sales of the Intermune drug Actimmune, used to treat a bone disease and a blood disorder.
``The IMS sales for Actimmune for the last couple of weeks have been trailing off, leading some to worry about the quarter,'' said Steven Harr, an analyst at Robertson Stephens.
But Intermune has changed distribution of Actimmune from wholesalers to specialty distributors, and IMS, which collects and distributes information on pharmaceutical sales, does not track specialty pharmacy sales very well, Harr said.
Joe Dougherty, an analyst at Lehman Brothers, also questioned the relevance of recent IMS data. ``If you see four of these in a row, then it's time to worry. One week's data is an awfully slim reed to build a case for quarterly sales,'' he said.
Dougherty added, ``I wonder if there's not just a big seller in the market.''
Harr said he was standing by his estimate for first-quarter Actimmune sales of $16.8 million. Sales in the fourth quarter of 2001 were $13.8 million.
Shares of Brisbane, California-based Intermune were down $3.52, or 10 percent, at $29.82 in afternoon trading on Nasdaq and fell as low as $28.66 earlier. The American Stock Exchange biotech index was off 2.3 percent at 516.52.
Intermune markets Actimmune, or interferon gamma-1b, as an injected treatment for chronic granulomatous disease, an inherited white blood cell disease, and severe osteoporosis, a bone density disorder.
I would be extremely surprised indeed to see any weakness in Actimmune sales - patients don't go on and off this drug lightly. Much more likely is that the IMS data reporting is flawed or this is simply a short attack.
Peter |
