Vernalis PLC Share News (VER)

Pharma company Vernalis will receive a $3m milestone payment from Novartis following the commencement of a phase II study of one of its cancer drugs. The milestone payment was "triggered by the first dosing in a Phase II proof of concept clinical trial of AUY-922, an Hsp90 inhibitor, in a range of solid tumours". Last month, Vernalis raised £28.5m net via a placing and open offer at 76p a share. UBS has cut its recommendation for microchip manufacturer CSR from buy to neutral. The share price has more than doubled over the past year but it is slightly down in the month since the Bluetooth and Wi-Fi chips maker reported its results, which showed a fourth quarter profit of $21m. Demand for CSR's profits is growing in the wireless sector. CSR says it expects revenue for the first quarter of 2010 to be between $160m and $175m.FTSE TechMARK - RisersEmblaze (BLZ) 48.00p +7.87%CML Microsystems (CML) 44.00p +7.32%Anite Group (AIE) 34.00p +4.62%ProStrakan (PSK) 102.00p +4.35%NXT (NTX) 14.00p +3.70%Vectura Group (VEC) 61.75p +2.92%KCOM Group (KCOM) 50.75p +2.53%Kofax (KFX) 244.50p +2.52%Phoenix IT Group (PNX) 283.25p +2.07%Vernalis (VER) 75.00p +2.04%FTSE TechMARK - FallersCSR (CSR) 466.00p -3.78%Skyepharma (SKP) 60.00p -3.61%Kewill (KWL) 100.00p -3.38%BATM Advanced (BVC) 37.00p -3.27%Sepura (SEPU) 45.00p -3.23%Pace (PIC) 187.80p -3.00%Innovation Group (TIG) 12.75p -1.92%Biocompatibles International (BII) 243.00p -1.62%Axis-Shield (ASD) 390.25p -1.58%Morse (MOR) 38.75p -1.27%