Elan share slide ‘sectoral’

SHAREHOLDERS in pharmaceutical company Elan will face a long wait for news that could reverse the 30% slide in the share price over the last month, analysts warned yesterday.

Goodbody analyst Ian Hunter said Elan shares were suffering from poor investor sentiment towards the pharmaceutical and biotechnology sector. But he said Elan’s falls were in line with the rest of the sector and the company was not being singled out for special punishment by the market.

Mr Hunter said the stock was dependent on positive newsflow to drive the price higher and that there would be little news on Elan’s drug pipeline until November.