Archive for the ‘Health Care Stocks’ Category

MLOBF moves, WLSI does well, AXNO goes south

Tuesday, January 18th, 2011

Melo Biotechnology Holdings Inc. (OTCBB: MLOBF) sustained a 500-percent spike in price Tuesday to 12 cents. Shares traded totaled 47,000, or better than four times its full-day average. Melo International Holdings Limited develops trades and markets health products, which are mainly nutritional supplements, in Hong Kong.

Wellstar International Inc. (OTCBB: WLSI) traded in 40.5 million shares on Tuesday, making it among the volume leaders in micro-caps. Its full-day average is around 38 million. Prices for WLSI were flat at one-100th of a cent. Wellstar, through its wholly owned operating subsidiary Trillenium Medical Imaging, Inc.is poised to become a leading diagnostic company in the health-care industry.

Asherxino Corp. (OTCBB: AXNO) dipped in price 59.7 percent to 6.05 cents Tuesday. Volume was 45,000 shares, or triple its full-day volume average. AsherXino is an oil and gas company focused on both offshore and onshore prospects in Nigeria.

SBIBW has wings, C, ALXA sink

Tuesday, January 18th, 2011

Sterling Bancshares Inc. (Nasdaq: SBIBW) flew 60 percent in price to $3.12. Volume was 101,438, or five times its full-day volume average, amid reports this week that Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc. may be acquiring the smaller bank.

Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) flew off the shelves Tuesday, dealt in 731,126,655 shares Thursday, already surpassing a full-day average of 549,838,000. Prices for C fell 5.5 percent to $4.86. Citigroup reported a $1.3 billion profit, compared with a $7.6 billion loss a year earlier. Revenue jumped to $18.4 billion, from $5.4 billion a year earlier, but fell more than 11% from the third quarter.

Alexza Pharmaceuticals Inc. (Nasdaq: ALXA) fell 19.2 percent in early trading to $1.35. Volume for the stock was 1,784,554 shares, nearly double its all-day average, on word that the company will file a new application for its drug candidate Adusuve Staccato in July.

Cumberland Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (CPIX) rises after receiving FDA approval for liver drug

Friday, January 14th, 2011

Shares of drug maker, Cumberland Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: CPIX) surged as much as 32 percent from Thursday’s closing price in morning trading on Friday after the company announced that it received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for a new formulation of its liver drug.

The drug, Acetadote, which has been available in the United States since Cumberland’s 2004 introduction of the product, is currently used in hospital emergency departments to prevent or lessen potential liver damage resulting from an overdose of acetaminophen, a common ingredient in many over-the-counter pain relief and fever-reducing products.

Cumberland is immediately commencing U.S. launch activities for the next generation of Acetadote, and will discontinue to manufacture the previously approved formulation.

The approval could not have come at a more opportune time. Cumberland’s announcement dropped on the same day the FDA said it will cap the amount of acetaminophen in various drugs at 325 milligrams per capsule because of the potential for toxic overdoses when taken in combinations.

“We look forward to introducing this next generation product to the hospital community and the growing number of patients who will benefit from it,” Cumberland Pharmaceuticals’ CEO A.J. Kazimi said in a statement.

In March the company had filed a supplementary new drug application for an indication of Acetadote to treat liver failure caused by factors such as hepatitis B and autoimmune hepatitis.

The FDA rejected the application for the new indication, stating that it did not offer sufficient evidence of efficacy in increasing survival in all patients with acute liver failure.

Shares of CPIX are up about 3 percent over the past three months.

ALJ leaps, PFE trades widely, SMSI sinks

Thursday, January 13th, 2011

Alon USA Energy Inc. (NYSE: ALJ) was a gainer on Thursday, picking up 13.3 percent to $7.34. Volume was 524,908, or six times its full-day volume average. Dallas-based ALJ is a controversial refiner and pipeline operator.

Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) traded in 39,682,127 shares Thursday, making it a volume leader, but still below its daily average of 45,751,100. Prices for PFE fell one percent to $18.19. PFE revealed Thursday and the company and its bankrupt Quigley unit are close to a deal with a group of alleged asbestos victims that would resolve Pfizer’s liability for billions of dollars in potential claims.

Smith Micro Software Inc. (Nasdaq: SMSI) dove 14.5 percent in price to $13.42.Volume for the stock was 2,883,996 shares or nearly six times its full-day average. The company reaffirmed earlier guidance with sales and earnings midpoints well above the average analyst estimate.

BNVI gains, MSFT active, CVVT falls hard

Thursday, January 13th, 2011

Bionovo Inc. (Nasdaq: BNVI) shares jumped 34.9 percent to $1.41 Thursday afternoon. Volume was 666,578, or nearly four times its full-day volume average. BNVI is a pharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of safe and effective treatments for women’s health and cancer.

Microsoft Inc. (Nasdaq: MSFT) traded in 53,058,639 shares Thursday, just a shade below its daily average of 57,799,300. Prices for the software maker tailed off 1.5 percent to $28.11.

China Valves Technology Inc. (Nasdaq: CVVT) got beaten up 16.3 percent Thursday to $7.30. Volume for the stock was 2,744,317 shares or more than five times its full-day average. CVVT is a leading Chinese metal valve manufacturer, based in Zhengzhou.