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Aetna said earlier this month it will drop reimbursement for all uses except infantile spasms, but patients currently receiving Acthar gel will be covered so they can complete their treatment. Aetna has said it expects to further review its policy on Acthar next month. Questcor dropped 35 percent, or $10.46, to $19.65 in afternoon trading Monday after falling a 52-week low of $19.52 earlier in the session. The company's stock had started last week trading above $50 but then tumbled 48 percent on Sept. 19, the day Aetna's decision was reported. Questcor shares have fallen more than 50 percent so far this year. Shares of another biopharmaceutical company, Peregrine Pharmaceuticals, also collapsed Monday after it told analysts they should not rely on recently disclosed data about its lead product, the potential lung cancer treatment bavituximab. The Tustin, Calif., company said that it discovered "major discrepancies" between some patient sample test results and treatment code assignments when it reviewed mid-stage trial data. Peregrine said earlier this month patients who were treated with bavituximab in a mid-stage clinical trial lived twice as long as patients who were treated with only a chemotherapy drug. Peregrine shares shed more than 75 percent of their value, dropping to $4.12 to $1.27 in afternoon trading after closing last week at $5.37.
[Associated
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