Dublin ReportThe Irish market fell 19.68 points yesterday, dragged down by a poor performance of drugmaker Elan. The pharmaceutical company's shares took a battering, losing 83 cent, or 13 per cent of their value, to end the day at €5.47 following a report in the Boston Globe that a fourth patient taking the company's multiple sclerosis drug Tysabri may have contracted a generally fatal brain disease.

Elan halted sales of Tysabri in February after it emerged a patient died of progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML).

The US Food and Drug Administration said yesterday it would investigate the newspaper's report, which comes only a week after Elan's chief executive Kelly Martin told shareholders at the group's annual meeting that he was confident the drug would return to the market.

Jurys Doyle also surrendered some recent gains, closing down 50 cent at €15.50. Dealers said the stock's decline would indicate the Doyle family is not behind the increased €16.25 takeover approach the hotelier received on Wednesday. Dealers said the family is unlikely to support any bid at the current level.

Ryanair added eight cent to close at €6.65 after slipping a little earlier in the day. Following positive results on Tuesday, the airline yesterday reported a 34 per cent increase in passenger numbers in May compared with the same month a year earlier.

Among the financials, Allied Irish Bank gained seven cent to end the day at €17.07, while Bank of Ireland was up six cent at €12.61.

Traders said the banks were continuing to benefit from strong private sector credit numbers released earlier in the week.

Anglo Irish slipped two cent to €9.68.

United Drug closed down one cent at €3.48 after rising earlier in the day. The pharmaceutical distribution company announced the acquisition of a UK contract sales group for about £15 million.

Elsewhere, Fyffes slipped a cent to €2.31 on strong volume.