Exhibition Stands News
Pharmaceuticals viewed as "robust and defensive"
16 Mar 2009
Pharmaceutical companies are traditionally seen as "robust and defensive" stocks as a result of their relative resilience to turbulence in capital markets, it has been asserted.
TD Waterhouse makes its comments as GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) is listed in its top ten table for the first time in a couple of weeks.
Investor interest in the firm may be caused by the wave of consolidation which is currently sweeping the sector, the firm declares.
The company notes Merck''s £29.8 billion buyout of Schering-Plough saw GSK''s share price fall by three per cent on Monday, with speculation increasing that the company was eyeing its rival AstraZeneca.
"GSK denies any plans of a merger, but rumours that it feels threatened by the formation of a triple-barreled giant - Merck-Schering-Plough - have been spreading contagiously across the markets," TD Waterhouse concludes.
Earlier this month, GSK submitted a marketing authorisation application for pazopanib - a therapy for patients with advanced and metastatic renal cell carcinoma - to the European Medicines Agency.
