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10:00GMT 19Nov2009-ImmuPharma plummets after trial data
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Shares in Lupus specialist ImmuPharma tumble 19.5 percent after the company reports interim results for its lead drug Lupuzor.
The trial met its key target but failed to meet statistical significance on one measurement, after the company cut recruitment back when it changed the design of the trial.
Panmure Gordon says: "Although the outcomes were promising, statistical significance was not achieved in the primary end point, which necessitates us to change our forecasts with regards to the phasing of milestone payments".
However, the brokerage says it remains a buyer of ImmuPharma's stock as it sees a good probability of success in the late stage trials of Lupuzor.
"If you compromise a certain bit on the size of the study you've got to accept that your statistical analysis as a result of that will also be compromised," says Nomura Code analyst Gary Waanders.
"The fact is the clinical data and the statistical data everywhere else is all good so I think it should only be seen positively," he adds.
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09:34GMT 19Nov2009-Huntsworth up on encouraging outlook
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Shares in public relations company Huntsworth Plc gain 3.9 percent after the firm reports it sees 2009 earnings inline with expectations, prompting KBC Peel Hunt to upgrade to "buy" from "hold".
Huntsworth also says visibility for revenue has improved and the economy in which it is now trading is significantly better than at the turn of the year.
"Today's news is encouraging in tone but the absence of the major client wins suggests that there is as yet no need to upgrade numbers," says the broker in a note.
Meanwhile, Evolution Securities raises its recommendation on Huntsworth to "neutral" from "reduce" and ups its 2009 pretax profit forecasts to 22.1 million pounds from 19.7 million.
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08:00GMT 19Nov2009-UK small caps up 0.1 pct early
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The FTSE Small Cap Index gains 0.1 percent in early trade, outperforming London's blue chip and mid cap indexes, which shed 0.3 percent each.
British insurance consultancy Charles Taylor rises 2.9 percent after announcing it expects to beat full-year forecasts by a significant amount after trading over the last four months was driven by strong performances from its adjusting and insurance run-off units.
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