Australian biotech market watch 17/12/09

The All Ordinaries has continued to recover from the doldrums of last week, and after a good start this morning, has retreated as of 3.30pm to be fractionally up, at 4,687.

Health and biotechnology stocks have followed the rest of the market, peaking around 1pm but dropping back to this morning's open.

Amongst the big movers, Prima BioMed (ASX:PRR) has led the pack, rising 17% to 17.5c, a one month high.

Sydney-based Biotron is up 13.4% to 11c on the back of news of positive results of a trial of it's anti-HIV drug, BIT225.

Patrys (ASX:PAB) has also jumped 12.5% to 13.5c, recovering back to its early December price after experiencing a prolonged drop.

Xenotransplantation company, Living Cell Technology (ASX:LCT), has had some ups and downs since the announcement that the Australian Government was lifting the ban on animal-human transplants in this country. Today it's trading at 27c, up 6%.

Blackmores (ASX:BKL) has gained 49c, or 2.3%, to $21.49.

The majors are all marginally up, with Cochlear (ASX:COH) putting on $1.15 to $65.16, and ResMed (ASX:RMD) putting on 6c to $5.86. CSL is flat at $30.59 in a day of light trading.

The rest of the market is flat.