the next biotech to shoot up, page-5

re: re:one of the next biotech to shoot up Shares in Amrad Corporation surged more than 40 per cent, up 19¢ to 66¢ on Monday after the Melbourne-based biotechnology company announced a collaboration with the Australian subsidiary of Merck Sharp & Dohme that could be worth up to $US112 million ($168 million) plus royalties. Amrad has received $US5 million up front and will now begin developing new asthma drugs, the company said in an announcement from the BIO2003 conference in Washington DC. Merck will be responsible for clinical development and marketing. Elsewhere in the biotech sector, shares in skin cancer specialist Epitan were changing hands almost 7 per cent higher, up 2¢ to 32¢ by midday. Shares in Antisense Therapeutics, which is working on treatments for psoriasis and multiple sclerosis, rallied more than 17 per cent, up 1.7¢ to 11.5¢. Medical technology group Occupational & Medical Innovations lifted 27¢, or almost 8 per cent, to $3.67 by midday after it penned an agreement with VitalCare Group to manufacture its Needleless Access Valve.