Zacks Industry Outlook Highlights: Bristol-Myers Squibb, Vertex Pharma, Abbott Labs, Allergan and Biogen Idec

CHICAGO, June 15, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Zacks Equity Research discusses the Pharma & Biotech industry, including: Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE: BMY), Vertex Pharma (Nasdaq: VRTX), Abbott Labs (NYSE: ABT), Allergan Inc. (NYSE: AGN) and Biogen Idec (Nasdaq: BIIB).

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A synopsis of today's Industry Outlook is presented below. The full article can be read at http://www.zacks.com/stock/news/55127/Pharma+%26amp%3B+Biotech+Stock+Outlook+-+June+2011

We currently have a neutral outlook on large-cap pharma stocks (Zacks #3 Rank). While the companies will continue to face challenges like pricing pressure and genericization, growth in emerging markets and product approvals could help reduce the impact.

According to the IMS Institute, 44 new branded products were launched in 2010. However, the new product approval mix was more towards orphan drugs and medicines with the same mechanism of action as existing treatments. While 10 products represented new mechanisms of action, five orphan drugs and six new chemical entities using existing mechanisms were approved.

Important product approvals in 2011 so far include the approval of Johnson & Johnson's prostate cancer therapy, Zytiga, Merck's hepatitis C virus (HCV) treatment, Victrelis, Bristol-Myers Squibb's (NYSE: BMY) melanoma treatment, Yervoy, and Vertex Pharma's (Nasdaq: VRTX) HCV treatment, Incivek, among others.

We currently have Neutral recommendations on companies like Abbott Labs (NYSE: ABT), Allergan Inc. (NYSE: AGN) and Pfizer. We believe that Allergan's presence across different segments and geographies will help maintain decent growth going forward. We believe the company will be back on its historical mid-to-high teens earnings growth trajectory from 2011.

In the biotech space, we are positive on Biogen Idec (Nasdaq: BIIB). Biogen started 2011 on a strong note with revenues being driven by Tysabri and Avonex. Earnings estimates for Biogen have been increasing based on continued strong performance of the multiple sclerosis franchise. Longer term, we are optimistic on BG-12, the company's oral multiple sclerosis candidate.

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