By Val Brickates Kennedy, MarketWatch
BOSTON (MarketWatch) -- European pharmaceutical makers led drug stocks lower early Friday, echoing their earlier performance on the FTSE 100 Index.
Lead early morning decliners included Bayer AG (BAYRY 57.95, -0.65, -1.11%) , Sanofi-Aventis (SNY 30.11, -0.35, -1.15%) , GlaxoSmithKline PLC (GSK 34.55, -0.42, -1.20%) , and AstraZeneca PLC (AZN 44.63, -0.44, -0.98%) , with shares all falling at least 1%.
The NYSE Arca Pharmaceutical Index (DRG 279.09, -0.83, -0.30%) and the NYSE Arca Biotechnology Index (BTK 1,066, +6.39, +0.60%) also moved lower, to 278.18 and 1,057.30, respectively. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA 10,133, -20.25, -0.20%) , meanwhile, was largely flat at 10,133.
Among the small-caps, Mannkind Corp. (MNKD 6.93, +0.37, +5.65%) was the mover of note, with shares up 8% at $7.09. The biotech group plans to present results from a study for its new inhaled insulin product Afrezza at a scientific meeting of the American Diabetes Association on Saturday.
The study will also be published in June 26 issue of the leading British medical journal The Lancet.
Shares of tiny Molecular Insight Pharmceuticals (MIPI 1.86, -0.23, -11.01%) tumbled 12% to $1.83.
The company said that Nasdaq officials have notified the company that its market capitalization has fallen under the Nasdaq Global Market's $50 million limit. Molecular Insight will regain compliance if its market capitalization meets or exceeds the $50 million mark for ten consecutive business days prior to December 21.
Molecular Insight said that if it is unable to regain compliance by the December deadline, it will apply to transfer its common stock to the Nasdaq Capital Market exchange.
