July 7, 2005 Biotech made a very strong showing on Thursday, despite the terrorist bombings in London which kept a lid on prices in the broad market. Fueled by a large rise in Amgen (AMGN), biotech hit its highest closing print since coming off its April lows. The Centient Biotech 200™ soared more than 51 points to 3441.93, a rise of 1.52%. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 was .25% higher while Nasdaq was up .34%. Amgen (AMGN) did a lot of the heavy lifting that powered biotech higher. The company received an upgrade from UBS Securities, which included a price target of $80. UBS expects Amgen to benefit from expanded use of its existing drugs, rather than any dramatic announcements of new drugs. Yesterday, Amgen announced that Aranesp, an anemia drug, provided good interim data against anemia in myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS), a bone marrow disorder. Amgen was higher by $3.33, closing at $66.93, a 5.2% rise. The stock reached a 52-week high during the day.
