December 31, 2004 On the last trading day of the year, the Centient Biotech 200 dropped .95% on extremely light volume. Meanwhile, other market indexes took a late-date dive and joined biotech on the downside. For all of 2004, the Dow was about 3% higher, while the big-pharma sector, as measured by the Amex Drug Index, slid by 6%. On the other hand, giving evidence to a reasonably strong performance in biotech, the Centient Biotech 200 fared better: it added on 6%. It was not a good year for big pharma, and appropriately, we end the year with a discussion of two negative big-pharma stories: the disappointing FDA approval for Pfizer’s Lyrica, and Lilly’s cover-up of Prozac’s side-effects.
