Biodel stock is strong out of the blocks

Biodel Inc., a Danbury-based pharmaceutical startup company, raised $75 million on its first day as a publicly traded company May 11, selling 5 million shares of common stock at a price to the public of $15 a share. By the end of the day, shares were up 20 percent to $18 on volume of nearly 1.8 million shares.
“Every company wants to continue to trade higher,” said Carney Noensie of Burns McClellan in Manhattan, Biodel”™s public and investor relations firm. “There”™s no rule of thumb for health care. Companies in the past have priced way over what they expected and stayed there; others dropped below and stayed there.”
Biodel”™s initial spurt to $18, which persisted into the beginning of the following week, indicates “the company is being well received by the investment community,” Noensie said. “It has a solid pipeline and good evaluation, and I think investors are excited about the company.”
Biodel is in Phase 3 of clinical trials for an injectable insulin used at mealtime, a market dominated by pharmaceutical giant Lilly; Phase 1 clinical trials for a tablet formulation of insulin that would be placed under the tongue; and is developing two pre-clinical under-the-tongue products to treat osteoporosis it plans to submit to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration next year.
The company”™s founder, Solomon S. Steiner, could not comment on his company”™s IPO because of a Securities and Exchange Commission mandated 25 day “quiet period” after a company”™s first day of trading.