Idenix Pharmaceuticals Shares Popped: What You Need to Know

Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over market movements, we do like to keep an eye on big changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.

What: Shares of biopharmaceutical company Idenix Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: IDIX) jumped as much as 26% earlier in the trading session before paring the majority of its gains despite any company-specific news.

So what: While it might be difficult to tell what's moving Idenix higher today, it's easy to assume that today's nearly 3% move higher in the indexes is having at least some positive effect on the stock. Another possible reason for the move has to do with the stock price eclipsing the $6 level -- something it had trouble doing in both August and September. Then again, one final reason for today's move could just be a bullish carryover in the hepatitis C sector related to Roche's acquisition last week of Anadys Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: ANDS).

Now what: It's pretty clear that companies attempting to find solutions to hepatitis C are in high demand right now, but I'm not exactly sold on Idenix just yet. In its latest quarterly report, the company's pipeline update appeared upbeat. But also consider that the company's lead hepatitis C candidate, IDX184, isn't even out of clinical phase 2b trials yet. Aside from royalty revenue expected from its hepatitis B licensing partnership with Novartis (NYSE: NVS) concerning Tyzeka, it only feels confident that it has enough cash to last through the second quarter of 2012. More dilutive share offerings could be in the works, and that's enough for me to keep my distance.

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