Alnylam Cancels Conference... What's Brewing? (ALNY)

We just saw a report out of Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: ALNY) that may get traders moving on both sides of the stock.  The company has just announced that management will not be presenting at the Bank of America 2008 Specialty Pharmaceuticals Conference on August 8, 2008, as previously scheduled. The company's planned update on its scientific platform and delivery approaches will be presented at another investor conference in the near future.

Unfortunately, you can take two sides of this.  Sometimes people look at a conference cancellation as a hint that negative data or something bad has hit the company radar.   But the flip-side and a plausible argument that biotech traders might take is that this could mean the company is engaged in some sort of talks with an outside party.

We are in the midst of a biotech consolidation wave, so anything is possible.  Before creating a tempest in a tea kettle, just keep in mind that this could also be nothing more than a scheduling conflict or an extended vacation conflicting with this Friday's presentation.

This closed down 1.6% at $34.81 in regular trading.  After-hours trading has been very thin but we have seen a print up at $36.00 since this release came out.

Jon C. Ogg
August 4, 2008