Japan stock market week to Nov 14

Tokyo extended gains in the week ended May 5 (three trading days only because April 29 and May 5 were national holidays in Japan). The Nikkei  225 finished 1.1% higher, to close at the 14,000 level, a four-month  high, while the Topix index rose 1.2%. Investors were encouraged by the  weaker yen against the US dollar and the solid performance of New York  markets with the recognition that interest cuts by the Federal Reserve  Board are likely to pause in the near term. High technology issues and  financial stocks drew buying attention. However, the overall market was  rather directionless because of the string of "Golden Week" holidays and  forthcoming earnings reports after these. The pharmaceutical index  inched up 0.3%, underperforming the market.

Kyorin advanced 3.7% after it entered into a license agreement with  SkyePharma of the UK on Flutiform (formoterol and fluticasone,  fixed-dose combination), an anti-asthmatic agent presently under  development in Europe and the USA (Marketletter April 28). Kyorin  obtained exclusive rights for clinical development, sales and marketing  of the drug in Japan. Elsewehre, the drug has been licensed to Abbott in  the USA and Mundipharma for the rest of the world excluding America.

Eisai gained 3.3%, reflecting media reports that the company is set to  achieve development and filing simultaneously in global market of E5564  (eritoran), an endotoxin antagonist for the treatment of severe sepsis  currently at Phase III in the USA and Europe. The drug's filing is  planned in the next fiscal year, utilizing an analysis of data involving  1,500 cases. The company will decide on its priority new drug research  projects, the number of which recently increased due to the acquisition  of Morphotek and MGI Pharma (Marketletters passim). Other new compounds  which are targeted for global development and filing include E5555, a  thrombin receptor antagonist for the expected indication of acute  coronary syndrome and atherothrombotic disease (Phase II in the US and  Europe) and E2012, a gamma-secretase modulator for the treatment of  Alzheimer's disease and a successor to its currently-marketed Aricept  (donepezil), now in Phase I in the USA. MORAb-003, originated by  Morphotek, is to commence a Phase III clinical trial this year for the  treatment of ovarian cancer.