Australian biotech market watch 02/02/10

Biotech stocks continued to slump today as the market rebounded following two weeks of decline.

The All Ordinaries was up by 68 points, or 1.5% as of 3.30pm this afternoon, primarily on the back of minerals, energy and mining stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Health Care index, by comparison, was down 16.7 points to 8188.8.

Leading the drop was CathRX (ASX:CXD), shedding 13.6% to 38c, following a statement by the company indicating second half revenues for this year are not expected to exceed first half revenues.

Xenotransplantation specialists, Living Cell Technologies (ASX:LCT), also dropped 7.1% to 19.5c after a few days of ups and downs.

It appears Mesoblast (ASX:MSB) has finally peaked after experiencing a stellar start to the year, with the stock levelling over the past week and dropping by 9c to $1.88 today.

ChemGenex (ASX:CXS), which is due to start sale of its anti-leukaemia drug in the U.S. in March, dipped by nearly 4% to 86c in moderate trading.

QRxPharma (ASX:QRX) has seen some fluctuating prices over the last week, up today by 7.5% to 86c.

Of the Big Three, CSL (ASX:CSL) and ResMed (ASX:RMD) are down fractionally, and Cochlear (ASX:COH) has levelled out at $62.00, down 32c for the day.