Prices of biotechnology and pharmaceutical stocks in Canada are all below their 52-week highs, but the falls are generally not as severe as those for hi-tech stocks. With the proposed buyout of BioChem Pharma, investor interest may turn to this sector. Here are the largest companies in the group by market capitalization together with their most recent year's revenue, if any, and their price-to-earnings ratios for those stocks with earnings.
Market cap, Dec. 8 Price fall from Revenue Company ($million) 52-week high* P/E $million Biovail $7,403 -9% - $262 QLT 5,017 -37 310 26 BioChem Pharma 4,051 -13 13 276 MDS 3,737 -14 35 1,192 Angiotech 959 -54 - 4 Patheon 692 -8 60 127 AnorMed 507 -18 - 0 Biomira 505 -65 - 3 Hemosol 489 -45 - 2 Axcan Pharma 476 -19 48 129 Cangene 455 -35 64 47 Vasogen 402 -51 - 0 Theratechnologies 383 -28 - 2 Dimethaid 378 -42 - 1 Stressgen 355 -47 - 3 Aeterna 300 -51 42 6 Canadian Medical 296 -35 9 130 NPS Allelix 289 -12 - 0 Dynacare 267 -3 - 0 Micrologix 237 -56 - 0 Oncolytics 225 -38 - 0
TSE Biotechnology
/Pharmaceutical Index 0 -10
- *Note: Price drop is to yesterday's close. Revenue is for most recent financial year. Source: Bloomberg Financial Services Alexandra Eadie is a statistician at Report on Business ( aeadie@globeandmail.ca)