Lilly's Pain Is Amgen, Regeneron And Esperion's Gain

Shares of Esperion Therapeutics Inc. surged 4.4%, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. climbed 3.2% and Amgen Inc. ran up 1.9% in morning trade Monday, after RBC Capital analyst Michael Yee said the companies could benefit from Eli Lilly & Co.'s discontinuation of development of its heart disease treatment, evacetrapib. Yee said he believed cholesteryl ester transfer protein (CETP) class drugs, such as evacetrapib, were the primary competitive threats to proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 (PCSK-9) class drugs from Amgen and Regeneron that have been approved, and Esperion's ETC-1002 drug in late-stage trials. Shares of Medicines Co. , which Yee said has a PCSK-9 drug in Phase II development, tacked on 0.4%. Merck & Co.'s stock slumped 1.8%, as Yee said they have a similar drug, but in studies with different risk profile patients. Lilly's stock tumbled 7.3%.