Furiex climbs on positive late-stage IBS data

Despite a weak jobs report and a volatile up and down week, Wall Street rallied on Friday reversing a three week slide. For the week, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.6 percent, the S&P 500 was up 0.8 percent, and the Nasdaq Composite Index rose 0.5 percent. Biotech continued to outperform the general indices. The Burrill Biotech Select Index gained 1.7 percent for the week and is up 10.1 percent year to date.

Furiex shares climbed 136.6 percent after it reported positive results from two pivotal late-stage studies of its lead drug eluxadoline to treat diarrhea-prominent irritable bowel syndrome. The results met U.S. Food and Drug Administration and European Medicines Agency agreed-upon primary endpoints and put it on a path toward a marketing application in the near future. Furiex expects the results could garner buyout interest due to what it says is the revenue potential of the drug if it is approved.

Affymetrix shares dropped 23.2 percent after it reported fourth quarter earnings results that while improved on a per share basis, were below analysts expectations.

The Biotechnology Industry Organization and other industry groups are appealing to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to mandate unique names for biosimilar versions of brand-name biologics as federal regulators take up the issue.

 Merck is capitalizing on positive momentum behind its leading experimental cancer immunotherapy MK-3475, forming new collaborations with Amgen, Incyte, and Pfizer to explore potential new combination therapies    

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