May 22, 2005 Once again, biotech made a gain last week, continuing its 7-week rise off the early April lows. Last week, the Centient Biotech 200 rose almost 53 points to 3326.82, a climb of 1.6%. During the last seven weeks, most of the weeks have been gains for biotech. There have been a couple of minor, 2-point losses, but without any major setbacks, the CBT 200 has been able to put together a steady advance, rising 8.34% off its April 4 low point in less than two months. Genentech was the winner at ASCO last weekend, while Onyx was the major loser, and their stock prices reflected the news during the ensuing week. Among the winners last week, Exact Sciences moved up 35% on hopes that better handling techniques will prove its DNA cancer test effective, StemCells gained 32% on the advances in therapeutic cloning techniques in South Korea, and Salix rose 18% on data from its gastrointestinal drug. More details...
