The curious case of Xoma.com

Perhaps you've heard of Xoma ($XOMA), a biotech at work on a do-it-all anti-inflammatory antibody now undergoing three Phase III trials. The company took a beating on Wall Street last year when the treatment, gevokizumab, failed a Phase II osteoarthritis study, spurring doubts about its prospects in another 10 or so indications and leading investors to wonder whether the antibody actually works. But if you went to Xoma's website on Thursday, you got a cheery affirmation of gevokizumab's potential. The images, marketing copy, stock charts and stock photos that once adorned Xoma.com were replaced with a single statement in unstylized text: "It works!" Whether that was an unrelated hosting glitch, an internal joke gone awry or, as some suggested on Twitter, a tongue-in-cheek hack job, is up in the air. Xoma didn't respond to email inquiries on the issue, and the site has since returned to its normal layout.