BioSante Pharmaceuticals' Shares Died: 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 specialty pharmaceutical company BioSante Pharmaceuticals (NYS: BPAX) almost died today, falling 78% on about 25 times the average trading volume. That's on top of a 16% drop yesterday for a grand two-day total of minus 81.5%.

So what: Sexual dysfunction drug LibiGel lost out to placebo in two FDA trials. BioSante still has other sexual-health and anti-cancer drugs approved and/or under development, but investors placed a lot of hope and faith in LibiGel -- and that dream is dead now.

Now what: This was supposed to be the female version of Viagra, which has made untold billions for Pfizer (NYS: PFE) , but there's just no point in moving forward when the ladies are better off taking sugar pills -- and the drug appears to increase the risk of breast cancer. The outcome also gave Antares Pharma (ASE: AIS) a 37% haircut, as the company provided the unmedicated gel part of the LibiGel formula and had equally high hopes for its success. But Antares lives to fight another day while BioSante's shares have never been priced lower. From here, it's either a huge rebound or the end of the line for BioSante investors, and the odds don't look good.

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