BioHealth Morning Daily, Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Cepheid Inc. (NASDAQ: CPHD) received FDA clearance for the first on-demand diagnostic test for life threatening MRSA and staphylococcus aureus from patient positive blood cultures. No shares have traded yet.
Emergent Biosolutions, Inc. (NYSE: EBS) announced that the U.S. government will purchase an additional 14.5 million doses of BioThrax as part of the anthrax shield under a new contract valued at up to $404 million. Its market cap is $390 million and its 2007 revenues were $182.9 million in total.
Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) won a rather large judgment after a U.S. District Court in Delaware entered a final judgment including accrued interest, which comes to approximately $1.2 billion in favor of J&J’s Cordis unit. It won this against Medtronic (MDT) and Boston Scientific (BSX) in cases involving the original balloon expandable stent patent.
Universal Health (NYSE: UHS) is among some hospital downgrades by UBS this morning. It seems that the hospital sector is not immune from a rapidly weakening economy. Its rating was cut to Neutral from Buy. FULL HOSPITAL DOWNGRADE LIST.
Jon Ogg
October 1, 2008