Biota Shares Rise After Glaxo Ships 66% More Relenza to Japan Email | Print | A A A
By Simeon Bennett
Feb. 11 (Bloomberg) -- Biota Holdings Ltd., which earns royalties on sales of GlaxoSmithKline Plc’s Relenza flu drug, rose in Australian trading after GSK’s Japan unit said it will import 66 percent more of the treatment this year than planned.
Biota shares rose 3.5 Australian cents, or 8.4 percent, to 45 cents as of 12:26 p.m. in Sydney, making it the biggest gainer in the S&P/ASX 300 Health Care Index of 14 companies.
London-based Glaxo, the world’s second-biggest drugmaker, will ship 2 million packs of Relenza to Japan by April, adding to the 3 million packs it originally prepared for Japan’s current influenza season, GSK said in a statement on its Japanese Web site yesterday.
Demand for Relenza has “increased dramatically,” GSK said in the statement, on reports the H1N1 strain of influenza responsible for about half of this year’s epidemic is resistant to “another influenza drug,” referring to rival Roche AG’s Tamiflu.
Melbourne-based Biota, which earns a 7 percent royalty from Glaxo on Relenza sales, will receive about A$3.5 million from the order, Scott Power, a health-care analyst with ABN Amro Morgans Ltd. in Brisbane, said in a note to clients today.
BTA Price at posting:
47.0¢ Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held
