Last year, FBT benefited from positive news from Vertex’s Phase III trials for its cystic fibrosis treatment, Puma confirming its experimental breast cancer treatment, neratinib, proved successful in a Phase III trial, Roche’s acquisition of InterMune and, most recently, Dow component Merck (NYSE: MRK) announcing it will acquire Cubist Pharmaceuticals (NasdaqGS: CBST) for $9.5 billion. As for Intercept, the stock has been known to move biotech ETFs even when it is not a big part of those funds. On Jan. 9, 2014, the stock nearly quadrupled company’s liver disease treatment proved successful.
That sent shares of the SPDR S&P Biotech ETF (NYSEArca: XBI) up 7% even though that ETF had a mere 1.6% weight to Intercept at the time of that announcement. [The One ETF Benefiting from the Intercept News]
First Trust NYSE Arca Biotechnology Index Fund