The blue-chip Swiss Market Index was down 0.03% on Monday's close, as investors gear up for a busy week of corporate updates, economic data prints and key monetary policy decisions.
Santhera Pharmaceuticals (SANN.SW) secured a positive recommendation from the European Medicines Agency's Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use to expand the approval of its Duchenne muscular dystrophy drug Agamree to include the treatment of children who are at least two years old. The drug is currently approved for use on patients aged four and above. The Swiss specialty pharmaceutical company's shares gained 8.38% at closing.
Meanwhile, RBC Capital Markets reiterated its outperform rating on Lonza Group (LONN.SW), with a price target of 670 francs, amid expectations that the Swiss pharmaceutical manufacturer's upcoming first-quarter update would be "uneventful." At the end of the trading day, the stock was up 1.83%.
"We do not see the Q1 qualitative update on 8 May to be a major catalyst for the stock now that Vacaville-specific commentary will no longer be provided, and any further weakness in Specialized Modalities should not be a surprise. We have also taken the opportunity to refresh and add to our commercial product (Enflonsia) and pipeline trackers. There has been some clinical progress, but consensus forecasts have been pushed out a little (aggregate peak sales estimates are unchanged)," the research firm said, noting that it views Lonza as an "attractive and undervalued compounding investment story."
The local economic news calendar was empty for the day, while the release of the Swiss KOF Economic Barometer and the UBS & CFA Society Switzerland's economic sentiment index for April, as well as the country's March retail sales figures are on the agenda over the coming days. Market watchers are also awaiting the rate decisions of the US Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank, and the Bank of England.