Stockwatch: Investors struggle with United front for FREEDOM
This article was originally published in Scrip
Executive Summary
In a month where investors have seen wide gyrations in share prices as the markets expect the first, but maybe not the last, European sovereign debt default, one biotechnology company, United Therapeutics,seems to have generated its own additional volatility but for all the wrong reasons. On 24 August, United reported the results of its Freedom-C2 Phase III clinical study for the drug oral treprostinil for pulmonary hypertension (PAH) (scripintelligence.com , 25 August 2011,). The study failed to meet the primary endpoint in the six-minute walk test (6-MW) compared to placebo and the share price of United finished the week down just under 20% against the Nasdaq Biotech Index (of which, United is a significant component) which finished the week with a slight gain.