AMGEN'S PUNISHMENT CONTINUES IMMUNEX ACQUISITION SAPS INVESTOR SUPPORT.Byline: Evan Pondel Staff Writer THOUSAND OAKS Thousand Oaks, residential city (1990 pop. 104,352), Ventura co., S Calif., in a farm area; inc. 1964. Avocados, citrus, vegetables, strawberries, and nursery products are grown. - As rumors swirl about Amgen's $18 billion purchase of Immunex Corp., investors continued their objection to the deal Friday as shares of the biotechnology behemoth behemoth (bē`hĭmŏth, bĭhē`–) [Heb.,=plural of beast], large, fanciful primeval monster, like Leviathan, evoking the hippopotamus mentioned in the Book of Job. lost ground for the second consecutive day. The deal, which would broaden Amgen's arsenal of arthritis drugs with Immunex's Enbrel, could also detract from detract from verb 1. lessen, reduce, diminish, lower, take away from, derogate, devaluate << OPPOSITE enhance verb 2. the No.1 biotechnology company's ability to successfully market its two newly approved products, Aranesp and Kineret. ``People are voting with their pocket books,'' said Dennis Harp, analyst with Deutsche Banc Alex. Brown Inc., referring to the decline of Amgen shares. The Thousand Oaks-based company fell $4.16, or 6.19 percent, to $56.03 by the end of the trading day In Business, the trading day is the time span that a particular stock exchange is open. For example, the New York Stock Exchange is, as of 2006, open from 09:30AM to 4:00PM. Trading days never take place on weekends. . Analysts also expressed concern about the exorbitant price tag attached to the deal as it might be too high and reduce Amgen's earnings per share. ``Intellectually it's intriguing, financially it's a big pill,'' said Jennifer Chao, analyst at Leerink Swann & Co. Amgen's alleged bid for Seattle-based Immunex follows a string of deals last week, with Millennium Pharmaceuticals Millennium Pharmaceuticals NASDAQ: MLNM is a biotechnology company based in the Cambridge, Massachusetts area of the United States of America. Founded in 1993, the company conducts research in various scientific areas, currently focusing on inflammation and oncology. agreeing to acquire COR Therapeutics for about $2 billion, MedImmune to buy Aviron for about $1.5 billion and Cephalon Ceph´a`lon n. 1. (Zool.) The head. to buy Group Lafon for $450 million. If Amgen does purchase Immunex, it would mark the first major acquisition for the company, overshadowing its purchase of Kinetix, a Massachusetts pharmaceutical firm, for $170 million in the fourth quarter of last year. As the biotechnology sector has been virtually resilient to the ebb and flow the alternate ebb and flood of the tide; often used figuratively. See also: Ebb of the economy, the recent spike in consolidation within the industry are testimony to the profitability of these companies, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. Paul Lattak, analyst at McAdams Wright Ragen. And if Amgen links up with Immunex, it could provide an even greater infusion of capital. With Amgen's marketing breadth, selling arthritis drugs Kineret and Enbrel under the same roof would squash the competition. ``It just makes a lot of synergistic sense,'' Chao said. Still, American Home Products owns a 41 percent stake in Immunex, and if the Madison, N.J.-based company is averse to the transaction, the deal would die immediately. AMGEN AT A GLANCE Friday's close: $56.03 down $4.16, 6.91 percent Shares traded: 54.04 million 52-week high: $75.06 52-week low: $45.43 CAPTION(S): box Box: AMGEN AT A GLANCE (see text) |
|
||||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion