Pharmaceuticals & Biotechnology
Peregrine Pharmaceuticals Inc (PPHM) $1.74 -5.43%
Peregrine Pharm (PPHM) drops 13 cents to $1.71 and a 20,000-lot of Apr 2.5 calls is sold on the biotech at 17.5 cents per contract. It probably closes one leg of an April 2.5 – 5 call spread, bought for 20 cents, 20,000X on 9/27/2012. Jul 2.5 and 5 calls are the largest open interest [...]
Spread Trader Rallies Around Rigel Pharmaceuticals (RIGL)
Rigel Pharmaceuticals (RIGL) adds a nickel to $6.75 and a Jun 10 – 15 call spread trades on the stock for 85 cents, 1440X on ARCA. Looks like a buyer is opening a new bullish position. 2,000 traded on the day. Looking at the term structure of IV on this biotech, the highest vols are [...]
Savient Pharmaceuticals Inc (SVNT) $1.04 -3.87%
Savient (SVNT) is off 4 cents to $1.04 and multiple sweeps of Mar 1 calls, mostly small sizes, have been trading on the biotech this afternoon for 8 cents per contract. 8,600 traded total. Similar flow yesterday for 9 cents per contract created 3,108 in new open interest. Today’s activity probably adds to the open [...]
Questcor Pharmaceuticals Inc (QCOR) $28.50 +3.98%
Questcor (QCOR) saw an intraday spike to more than $30 per share and is up $1.17 to $28.58 in heavy trading of more than 4 million shares on reports Blue Cross is relaxing its stance on Repository Corticotropin. Order flow doesn’t seem to reflect much bullishness in QCOR, however, as 12,000 puts and 5,330 calls [...]
Dendreon Corp. (DNDN) $6.16 -2.99%
Dendreon (DNDN) drops 24 cents to $6.11 and Aug 5 – 7 bearish risk-reversals on the stock are seeing interest for a third day. 12,200 were opened Wednesday and another 10,000 yesterday. Today, an investor sold the combo (sold Aug 7 calls at 96c and bought Aug 5 puts for 84c) at 12 cents, 7500X, [...]
Forest Laboratories Inc (FRX) $36.13 +1.13%
Forest Labs (FRX) adds 45 cents to $36.18 on increasing volume of 1.8 million shares and a 4450-lot of May 41 calls trade on the stock for 30 cents when the market was 15 to 30 cents. It will create the largest block of open interest in the name. 5,930 contracts now traded. May 35 [...]
AstraZeneca PLC (AZN) $46.11 +1.30%
Astrazeneca (AZN) adds 77 cents to $46.29 and a 9000-lot of Jul 50 calls trades on the stock for 65 cents when the market was 55 to 70 cents. An investor bought, to open, according to source on the floor. 11,298 now traded against 2,290 in open interest. The company is going ex-dividend today. They [...]
Elan Corp ADR (ELN) $10.63 +3.94%
Elan (ELN) ticks 27 cents higher to $10.50 in relatively active trading of 2.5 million shares and a 5000-lot of Jul 12 calls trades on the stock for 30 cents per contract when the market was 20 to 30 cents. Looks opening. Shares were up 4 percent yesterday even after UBS downgraded the stock to [...]
Avanir Pharmaceuticals Inc (AVNR) $2.80 -1.75%
5,000 Sept 4 calls bought for up to 25 cents, exceeds open interest of just 339, volume is 20X the daily average and 40% of the oustanding open interest. This trade represents the sole activity in the name today. This activity is way OTM and buys time until September. AVNR is expected to receive the [...]
Elan Corp ADR (ELN) $9.84 +4.68%
The largest equity options trades of the day are in Elan (ELN) after an investor sold 50,000 Jan 10 puts on the stock at $1.15, sold 25,000 Jan 10 calls at $1, and sold 25,000 Jan 12 calls at 45 cents, apparently opening a new straddle/strangle play on the Irish biopharmaceutical company and looking for [...]
