Biotech Values

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Momenta Pharmaceuticals Inc. (MNTA) fell the most in almost four years in intraday trading after U.S. regulators approved a generic version of Sanofi’s Lovenox blood thinner that competes with Momenta.

The Food and Drug Administration approved closely held Amphastar Pharmaceuticals Inc.’s Lovenox copy today, agency spokesman Sandy Walsh said in an e-mail. Watson Pharmaceuticals Inc. (WPI), Amphastar’s partner on the drug, rose as much as 4.2 percent in intraday trading.

Lovenox, also known as enoxaparin sodium, is given by injection to help prevent blood clots that can cause strokes. Momenta, of Cambridge, Massachusetts, and partner Novartis AG (NOVN), of Basel, Switzerland, have sold generic Lovenox exclusively in the U.S. since winning FDA approval in July 2010.

Momenta slid $4.28, or 24 percent, to $13.47 at 12:51 p.m. New York time in Nasdaq Stock Market trading, the biggest intraday drop since Nov. 6, 2007.

Watson, of Parsippany, New Jersey, gained $2.20, or 3.3 percent, to $69.48 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading after climbing to $70.10. Novartis’ American depositary receipts, each representing one ordinary share, declined $1, or 1.8 percent, to $55.05.

Bloomberg