Bad News for These Two Pharmaceuticals

by Alyssa Oursler | September 24, 2012 9:00 am

Big pharma names Peregrine Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:PPHM[1]) and Questcor (NASDAQ:QCOR[2]) got a rude awakening to the work week as shares of both took a hit Monday morning.

Peregrine, for one, fell on the news that positive data from a drug study — which sent shares soaring a couple weeks back — was actually unreliable.

The lung cancer drug was in the mid-study stage and looked promising, but the company is now citing “major discrepancies”[3] in the distribution of trial supplies.

In pre-market trading, the stock lost nearly 85%.

Questcor, on the other hand, announced that it is being investigated by the U.S. government. It fell around 25% in pre-market trading.

For Questcor, the tumble added insult to injury. The company also plunged last week when insurer Aetna (NYSE:AET[4]) said it would limit coverage of the company’s top-selling drug. The resulting hit was its biggest drop in 20 years, Bloomberg reports[5].

Even before then, concerns were being raised about the company’s marketing strategy for the orphan status drug and a possible generic threat to it as well.

On top of that, shares of both companies could be ripe for even more punishment when the opening bell rings.

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