American multinational Biogen Inc. stock Performs Better

Biogen Inc. shares rose 1.19% to $272.55 Thursday, on what proved to be an all-around grim trading session for the stock market, with the S&P 500 Index SPX falling 0.36% to 4,192.85 and Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA falling 0.07% to 34,577.04.Biogen Inc. closed $91.37 below its 52-week high ($363.92), which the company achieved on November 4th. The stock outperformed some of its competitors Thursday, as Johnson & Johnson JNJ fell 0.10% to $166.04, Pfizer Inc. PFE rose 0.46% to $38.97, and AbbVie Inc. ABBV rose 0.73% to $112.21.

Biogen Inc trading volume (1.3 M) eclipsed its 50-day average volume of 968,302. This was the stock’s second consecutive day of gains. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s decision on Biogen Inc.’s much-anticipated Alzheimer’s drug, the biotech world is holding its breath for what has been described as a make-or-break product for the Cambridge company.

The still-investigational therapy is viewed as promising because it would be the first new Alzheimer’s treatment in more than two decades after a string of high-profile failures in the category. It is also considered controversial given the conflicting clinical data shared by the company over the years and the ensuing mixed perspectives of Wall Street analysts and physicians. It could be a reprieve from revenue pressure for Biogen, which is on the hunt for a new flagship product now that its blockbuster multiple-sclerosis drug Tecfidera has lost patent protection.

The stock hit a three-year low of $216.71 on March 22, 2019, around the time the company said it would stop developing aducanumab, before rebounding with the news that the company had resurrected the drug. It closed out 2019 at $296.73. Shares closed at $267.15 on Tuesday.