January 28, 2007 -- After starting off the year with three straight weeks of advancing prices, biotech gave back some of the gains last week. The Centient Biotech 200™ fell 90 points to 4022, a loss of 2.2%. Much of the blame could be laid at the feet of the two biotech giants, Amgen and Genentech, both of whom had a negative week. Breadth was relatively strong for a down week, and the IPO market keeps showing strength. Oculus kicked off the 2007 class by pricing at $8. In the next two weeks, 3 biotechs and 2 device companies are scheduled to make their IPOs. Last week, tiny Avalon Pharma was the biggest winner, rising on a refinancing; Parexel climbed on stout earnings; Compugen moved up after siging a deal with Medarex; and Cytrix was up on its IP agreement with UMass. More details...
