Anyone following the biotechnology sector will have noticed the sharp rise in the share price of Prana Biotechnology since January this year. From trading around $1 in December and January, the price soared to a high of $2.50 in mid-March, before slipping back to $1.60.

Prana is one of the more interesting of Australia's biotechnology companies because of its convention-defying research into Alzheimer's disease. The big price rise in recent months is in anticipation of the April release of results from the first large human trials of its key drug, clioqinol, in the treatment of Alzheimer's disease.