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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Neeka who wrote (169724)	8/10/2001 12:19:10 AM
From: calgal	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769670

Money and Power.

To: Neeka who wrote (169724)	8/10/2001 2:05:31 AM
From: calgal	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769670

Enzon, biotech stocks move lower By Ted Griffith, CBS.MarketWatch.com Last Update: 9:28 PM ET Aug. 9, 2001 NEW YORK (CBS.MW) -- Biotechnology stocks headed lower for the fourth straight session Thursday, with shares of Enzon giving back some of the previous day's big gains. FRONT PAGE NEWS U.S. shares end well off session lows Bush OKs funding for limited stem-cell study Nikkei firms; DoCoMo rebounds Pixar gains after results beat expectations Market news and more! Sign up to receive FREE email newsletters Get the latest news 24 hours a day from our 100-person news team. The Amex Biotechnology Index (BTK: news, chart, profile) fell 1 percent and the Nasdaq Biotechnology Index (NBI: news, chart, profile) lost 0.7 percent. Both biotech indexes ended lower in the previous three sessions as well. Shares of Enzon shed 85 cents, or 1.3 percent, to $64.11, forfeiting some of the ground gained Wednesday. Shares of Enzon (ENZN: news, chart, profile) had surged Wednesday after the company said partner Schering-Plough won government clearance to market a hepatitis treatment developed using Enzon's technology. Also on the downside were shares of Guilford Pharmaceuticals, which lost $1.52, or nearly 11 percent, to $12.68. Guilford (GLFD: news, chart, profile) stock has been weak since Monday when the company reported a wider-than-expected second-quarter loss. As for the weakness in biotech stocks generally, some analysts say recent decisions by the FDA have put pressure on the sector. A number of potential products have received unfavorable rulings from the regulatory agency. For example an FDA advisory panel recommended in late July against approving Aviron's (AVIR: news, chart, profile) flu vaccine until the company provides more information about the product's safety. "There have been some negative decisions from FDA recently," noted Bennett Weintraub of Btech Investor, a biotechnology consulting and investment firm. An exception to the downward trend were the shares of companies involved with stem cell research. Stocks of stem cell companies rose sharply in anticipation of President Bush's announcement Thursday night on whether he'll allow federal funding for the research. Bush announced in a prime-time address that he would allow funding for research involving existing stem-cell lines. See full story. Ahead of the news, shares of StemCells Inc. (STEM: news, chart, profile) jumped $1.72, or 36 percent, to $6.45. Shares of other companies in the field also moved up. Aastrom Biosciences (ASTM: news, chart, profile) gained 46 cents, or 25 percent, to $2.25 while shares of Geron (GERN: news, chart, profile) added $2.04, or 16 percent, to $14.94. In the pharmaceutical sector, shares of Schering-Plough edged down 10 cents to $38.25. Schering-Plough (SGP: news, chart, profile) Thursday faced criticism for its advertising campaign for allergy drug Claritin and separate calls for a criminal probe into a recall of asthma inhalers. See full story. Elsewhere in the drug sector, generic drugmaker Barr Laboratories said it had been sued by Pfizer over Barr's plan to market a generic version of an oral contraceptive. Shares of Barr (BRL: news, chart, profile) fell $1.40, or 1.7 percent, to $79 while shares of Pfizer (PFE: news, chart, profile) added 65 cents to $40.75. The Amex Pharmaceutical Index ($DRG: news, chart, profile) edged up 0.1 percent. cbs.marketwatch.com