Australian biotech market watch 08/12/09

By Tim Dean
Tuesday, 08 December, 2009

The All Ordinaries has continued its decline of the past week, down today by 9 points to 4,686. Health stocks also dropped, down 0.73% as of 3pm this afternoon.

CSL (ASX:CSL) continues to ride the wave of demand for flu vaccine - swine and seasonal varieties - and has had a reshuffle of its top brass, with CSL veteran, Peter Turner, taking on the role of COO. CSL has been relatively flat over the last week, and is down 14c to $31.12 today.

Cochlear (ASX:COH) has seen some ups and downs over the last several days, and has shed nearly 3%, or $1.88, in today's trading, down to $64.02.

ResMed (ASX:RMD) continues its rise, against the grain of the market, and is up 3.8% over the last seven days, although it dropped slightly today, down 3c to $5.73.

Surgical glove manufacturer, Ansell (ASX:ANN), is also down, shedding 31c to $10.19. Also down is Ramsay Health Care (ASX:RHC), which dropped 1.7% to $10.83.

Living Cell Technology (ASX:LCT), which recently announced early positive results from the trial of its Diabcell treatment for type 1 diabetes in New Zealand, dropped 1.8% to 27c.

Another pharma in the midst of clinical trials is ChemGenex, with its treatment for chronic myeloid leukaemia, Omapro. It was recently awarded priority status by the U.S. FDA, the stock put on 3c to a square $1 today.