Highlights include Novo Nordisk (NVO), Alkermes, Inc. (ALKS), Eli Lilly & Co. (LLY) and Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (AMLN).  Early this morning, Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (AMLN), Eli Lilly (LLY) and Alkermes (ALKS) announced that a New Drug Application (NDA) for Exenatide once weekly for type II diabetes has been submitted to the US FDA. Exenatide once weekly is an investigational sustained release medication for type II diabetes that is injected subcutaneously and administered only once a week. Exenatide is the active ingredient in Byetta injection, which is currently available on the market for people with type II diabetes who are unable to achieve good glycemic control with common oral therapies. Exenatide once weekly is co-developed by Amylin, Eli Lilly and Alkermes.Following the news, shares of the three companies all shot up, with Alkermes shares up the most at ...

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL - April 9, 2009 - Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include: GlaxoSmithKline plc (GSK), General Growth Properties (GGP), Agria Corp (GRO), Regis Corporation (RGS) and Ulta Salon, Cosmetics & Fragrance, Inc. (ULTA).

Get the most recent insight from Zacks Equity Research with the free Profit from the Pros newsletter: http://at.zacks.com/?id=4579.

Here are highlights from Wednesday's Analyst Blog:

Glaxo's Avandia Issue Priced-In

Sales of Avandia have been significantly negatively impacted due to safety concerns, but it appears they have recently stabilized. We believe that sales are now at, or very near, their bottom. While sales of Avandia have been

...

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) is the world’s second largest pharmaceutical company, with global operations based in the U.K. and the U.S. Although Glaxo has made significant progress with its late-stage pipeline, we are worried about the recent negative news surrounding the company’s second-largest-selling drug, Avandia, as well as generic competition to several other products.

Given the issues regarding Avandia and significant sales erosion of other products from generic competition, we expect 2008 sales to come in only about 2% higher than 2007. The company’s efficiency initiative should keep SG&A expenses in check. We think Glaxo possesses one of the stronger late-stage pipelines in large-cap pharma but believe the shares will remain constrained until there’s more visibility on the Avandia issue. Our price target is $47.

While the management’s guidance for 2008 came as somewhat of a disappointment, we continue to like the fundamentals at Glaxo. We believe with the Avandia issue already

...

In last quarter’s letter, we discussed the Fund’s purchase of shares of Sanofi-Aventis S.A. (“Sanofi”), one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world. Numerous issues which are clouding the outlook for the pharmaceutical industry – including a stricter Food and Drug Administration, the upcoming Presidential Election in the U.S., intensifying generic competition, and the ongoing push by governments to contain health care costs – in addition to company specific issues, enabled Fund management to purchase shares of this well-financed, highly profitable and cash generative business at what we believe is an attractive valuation, without attributing any value to Sanofi’s pipeline. While we believe Sanofi represents an attractive investment opportunity for the Fund on a stand-alone basis, the company, and the pharmaceutical industry ingeneral, are subject to inherent uncertainties whose outcomes are difficult to predict with a high degree of certainty.

One of the most notable of these uncertainties is

...