NicOx Shares Rise to Five-Month High on Drug Trial (Update1)
By Albertina Torsoli
April 21 (Bloomberg) -- NicOx SA, the French drugmaker developing treatments with Pfizer Inc. and Merck & Co., rose to a five-month high in Paris trading on optimism a mid-stage study of a glaucoma treatment will show promise.
NicOx shares jumped as much as 1.85 euros, or 15 percent, to 13.93 euros, the highest level since November. The shares traded at 13.40 euros as of 3:54 p.m., giving the Sophia- Antipolis, France-based company a market value of 633.7 million euros ($1.01 billion). The stock is the biggest gainer on France's SBF-250 Index today.
``There is expectation that the data on the phase II trial on glaucoma will be good, as what we've seen so far is encouraging, and there is speculation that Pfizer may want to become more involved with NicOx,'' said Robin Campbell, an analyst at Jefferies International Ltd. in London, in a phone interview. He has a ``buy'' recommendation on the stock.
The French company said last month that Pfizer started the second phase of a clinical study in the U.S. of their jointly developed compound to treat glaucoma. On March 3, it said the first results of the study would be announced in April.
NicOx hasn't yet set a date for this announcement, Chief Financial Officer Eric Castaldi said in a phone interview today. It will pick the date ``together with Pfizer,'' he said.
``We are still working on the data'' regarding the phase II study, he said. ``We continue working. We will say nothing in advance. I don't know where the speculation comes from.''
Castaldi also said that the French company's relations with Pfizer are regulated ``by contract.''
``Relations are good,'' he said, adding that there is ``nothing to add at this stage.''
NicOx will publish first-quarter sales on April 23. Castaldi declined to give comments on the trend for the first three months of the year. He said NicOx gave no full-year forecasts, but that the company is ``in line'' with its own internal sales targets for 2008.
NicOx shares have jumped about 23 percent this year, beating the 12 percent decline of the SBF-250 Index.