A majority of verdicts handed down by the FDA in November were positive. Three new molecular entities were approved during the month, taking the total number of NME approvals for the year-to-date period to 45. This is just one short of NME approvals received for the same period last year.
Biotech stocks advanced in the week ending Nov. 26, as a late-week surge on the back of news about a new COVID-19 variant, named Omicron, helped mitigate the losses notched earlier in the holiday-shortened week.
Biotech stocks showed a lack of direction in the week ending Nov. 19 before finishing modestly higher. Stocks did not have much meaningful catalysts to react to amid the winding down of the reporting season and ahead of the holiday week.
Biotech stocks declined for the second straight week amid a broader market pullback, along with earnings news from small- and micro-cap companies and presentations at multiple conferences.