Vernalis PLC Share News (VER)

TechMARK is dominated by pharma companies who have disappointed the market in the past week. Antisoma and Vernalis continue their declines. Shares in cancer drug developer Antisoma plunged following news that Novartis has halted a Phase III trial for lung cancer treatment ASA404. Vernalis was hit by disappointing results from the IN-STEP Phase IIb study for the safety and efficacy of V3381 (indantadol) as a treatment for neuropathic pain due to diabetes.Shares in human tissue research services provider Asterand fell even though its 2009 results were in line with the expectations of joint broker Daniel Stewart. Revenues fell from £15.2m to £12m but stripping out non-recurring revenues they rose by one-fifth. Asterand swung from a profit of £3.9m to a loss of £1.1m. Excluding one-offs, Asterand was close to breakeven. Daniel Stewart forecasts a profit of £700,000 for 2010.The Vectura share price has stabilised and edged up slightly following its sharp falls last week. The pharma company declined due to its agreement to take full control of the US development of asthma treatment VR315 back from Sandoz. Yesterday, FinnCap published a note on Vectura which argued that this is a significant positive move for Vectura. Finncap argues that: "The regulatory and commercial risks associated with VR315 in the US are unchanged in our view. Vectura now receives 100% of the revenue from the product rather than one third of the net profit. We believe the risk/reward ratio has improved significantly".FinnCap has a price target of 120p a share. Vidacos Nominees has cut its stake in Vectura slightly to 6.82%.FTSE TechMARK - RisersCryptologic Ld (CRP) 245.00p +6.52%Morse (MOR) 39.00p +4.00%Phoenix IT Group (PNX) 270.00p +3.85%Domino Printing (DNO) 392.50p +3.29%Intec Telecom Systems (ITL) 96.25p +2.67%Vectura Group (VEC) 46.00p +2.22%Psion (PON) 83.75p +1.82%Xaar (XAR) 101.50p +1.50%Kofax (KFX) 218.00p +1.40%Wolfson Microelectronics (WLF) 150.25p +1.18%FTSE TechMARK - FallersAsterand (ATD) 15.00p -16.67%Antisoma (ASM) 6.84p -14.50%Vernalis (VER) 56.50p -8.13%Emblaze (BLZ) 42.00p -6.67%Torotrak (TRK) 24.00p -4.00%BATM Advanced (BVC) 37.25p -3.87%Skyepharma (SKP) 46.00p -3.66%NCC Group (NCC) 375.00p -3.60%Sinclair Pharma (SPH) 29.50p -3.28%ProStrakan (PSK) 86.25p -3.09%