Nektar Shares Jump on EU Panel Recommendation for Exubera Inhalable Insulin <AP, 10/13/05>
NEW YORK (AP) -- Drug maker Pfizer Inc. and drug delivery system developer Nektar Therapeutics said Thursday a European advisory panel recommended that regulators approve Exubera inhalable insulin on the heels of a similar recommendation made by U.S. counterparts a month ago.
Shares of Nektar, which helped develop Exubera with Pfizer and Sanofi Aventis SA, rose $1, or 6.7 percent, to $16.00, in afternoon trading on the Nasdaq. Shares hit a 52-week high of $21.52 in September after the U.S. panel meeting, after climbing from a 52-week low of $13.32 in March, and are down 21 percent so far this year.
The treatment is intended in Europe for Type 2 diabetics whose disease is not treated well enough with antidiabetic agents and who require insulin therapy, or for Type 1 diabetics in addition to their long-acting or immediate-acting insulin.
In September, a U.S. Food and Drug Administration advisory panel recommended 7-2 that the agency approve the product, but expressed concern about users' decreased lung capacity, which the companies promised to study.
Pfizer shares fell 33 cents to $24.51 and American depositary shares of Sanofi Aventis slipped 7 cents to $40.83 on the New York Stock Exchange.
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