Shares of European pharmaceutical companies mostly traded higher Tuesday afternoon, with the top gainers including GlaxoSmithKline PLC and AstraZeneca PLC.
The broader markets wavered late in the session, but both European and U.S. drug makers gained ground. Shares of Irish drug maker Elan Corp. PLC rose after an analyst for Cowen and Co. began covering the stock with a "Neutral" rating, and said Wall Street's expectations for Elan's Alzheimer's disease treatment bapineuzumab may be conservative _ but the stock has limited potential because late stage trial results are years away.
American Depositary Receipts of Elan added 80 cents, or 2.4 percent, to $35.04. ADRs are securities that allow U.S. investors to trade shares of companies based overseas.
Shares of GlaxoSmithKline PLC of Britain rose $1.52, or 3.4 percent, to $47.37.
ADRs of AstraZeneca PLC picked up a dollar, or 2.2 percent, to $46.93.
French drug maker Sanofi-Aventis gained 94 cents, or 2.7 percent, to $35.87
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder drug maker Shire Ltd., based in the U.K., rose 93 cents, or 2 percent, to $47.05.
Shares of Novartis AG declined $1.46, or 2.6 percent, to $57.41. The Swiss company said Tuesday that it has completed the first stage of its buyout of eye-care products maker Alcon Inc., taking 25 percent ownership of the company from Switzerland's Nestle for $10.4 billion.
Novartis has an exclusive option to buy another 52 percent of Texas-based Alcon.
On the down side, ADRs of Denmark's Novo Nordisk A/S lost 73 cents to $62.50.
The Bank of New York Mellon Europe ADR index dipped 0.52 points to 157.24.
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