GlaxoSmithKline is weaker this afternoon after news that the US regulator, the FDA, had sent a warning letter to the company over its Avandia diabetes drug.
The FDA says Glaxo failed to report some studies on Avandia, and has requested corrections to what it called serious violations. Glaxo said the absence of data was inadvertent. Sales of the drug plunged when a study last May linked it to an increase in heart attacks. Glaxo is 37p lower at £11.03.
Also on the way down is Wellstream, the maker of pipelines and systems for the gas and oil industry. It is 83p lower at £12.34 after Credit Suisse placed 13.7m shares - the 13.8% stake held by private equity group Candover Partners - with a number of institutional investors. Credit Suisse, it may be remembered, downgraded Wellstream from outperform to neutral last week after its full year profits.
Overall the UK market is still in negative territory after Wall Street opened lower, hit by poor US housing figures and news that savings and loan company Washington Mutual expected a first quarter loss of $1bn and was cutting its dividend. The FTSE 100 is 66.7 points lower at 5948.1.
