The Week in Review #47 What A Week For Biotechnology Synopsis In this “Week in Review” there is no complicated scientific and clinical information, leaving the details to the articles that we usually post on the Prohost website. Most of the Prohost picked firms’ Q3 financial results have beaten expectations. Three firms have reached the Prohost 2019 targets, and more firms have outperformed, with some …

News from Nektar Nektar Therapeutics (NKTR) announced that new data from patients with metastatic triple-negative breast cancer, who were enrolled in the PIVOT-02 study, will be presented at the upcoming 5th CRI-CIMT-EATI-AACR Cancer Immunotherapy Conference being held from September 25 to September 28, 2019 in Paris, France. The PIVOT-02 study is evaluating NKTR-214 . . . This content is for paid subscribers. Please click here to subscribe …

Amgen Agreement with Celgene for Otezla® In the News Amgen (AMGN) entered into an agreement with Celgene (CELG) to acquire worldwide rights to Otezla® (apremilast), the only oral, non-biologic treatment for psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis, and certain related assets and liabilities for $13.4 billion in cash. Amgen cited the benefits of this agreement as follows: A strong fit with Amgen’s long-standing expertise in inflammation and …

Nektar Therapeutics Story Everything was going well with Nektar Therapeutics (NKTR) stock during the Conference call regarding the firm’s Q2 financial results. (See the firm's press release under our Impacting News column). Following the Conference call the company unveiled that some of the patients treated in . . . This content is for paid subscribers. Please click here to subscribe or here to log in.

Gilead Sciences Activities There is no doubt that Gilead Sciences (GILD) is doing whatever it takes to expand, improve and upgrade its pipeline products. For the last couple of months, each and every week, we heard news about collaborations with some companies and investment in others as well as licensing products from large, medium-sized and small firms. In less than ten . . . This content is for …

Nektar Announced Results for NKTR-358  During an oral session at the Annual European Congress of Rheumatology (EULAR) 2019, in Madrid, Nektar Therapeutics (NKTR) announced results of the first-in-human Phase 1a study evaluating single-ascending doses of NKTR-358 for the treatment of autoimmune and other chronic inflammatory conditions.  The . . . This content is for paid subscribers. Please click here to subscribe or here to log in.

CRISPR Therapeutics' (CRSP) stock added around $8 today while reporting financial results for the fourth quarter and full year ended December 31, 2018. Here is what Samarth Kulkarni, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of CRISPR Therapeutics, has stated,“This past year was truly transformational for CRISPR Therapeutics as we achieved milestones across our key programs in β-thalassemia, sickle cell disease and immuno-oncology. We’re pleased with the progress we’ve made in …

Keytruda and Cabometyx Are Both Winners Keytruda failed to meet co-primary endpoints in Pivotal Phase 3 trial The pivotal Phase 3 KEYNOTE-240 trial evaluating Keytruda, Merck’s (MRK) checkpoint inhibitor anti-PD-1 therapy plus best supportive care, for the treatment of patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) who were previously treated with systemic therapy, did not meet its co-primary endpoints of overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival …

From the American Society of Clinical Oncology Genitourinary Cancers Symposium (ASCO GU) Prostate Cancer A presentation by Bayer demonstrated improvement in the treatment of non-metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer. Separate presentations by Bristol-Myers and Janssen also demonstrated improvement in metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer. Non-Metastatic Castration Resistant Prostate Cancer Bayer Results from pivotal Phase 3 ARAMIS trial with Bayer’s (BAYRY) and Orion Corporation’s jointly-developed product darolutamide plus …

Today, at the 2019 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Genitourinary Cancers Symposium (GU) held at Moscone West in San Francisco, CA, Nektar (NKTR) will present preliminary efficacy, safety and immune monitoring data from the ongoing metastatic urothelial carcinoma (mUC) patient cohort in the PIVOT-02 study evaluating NKTR-214 in combination with Bristol-Myers immunotherapy product OPDIVO (nivolumab). NKTR-214 is a CD122-biased agonist designed to provide sustained …

Now You See it, Now You Don’t Deliberate Omissions of Real Facts Real facts might be displayed or concealed depending on the news announcers’ or bloggers’ self-interests. The following contains cases of deliberate or unintentional omission of facts that led to the decline of fundamentally sound biotech and biopharmaceutical firms in bullish market during the departed trading week . . . This content is for paid subscribers. Please …

Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY) will acquire Celgene (CELG) in a cash and stock transaction with an equity value of approximately $74 billion. Under the terms of the agreement: Celgene shareholders will receive 1.0 Bristol-Myers Squibb share and $50.00 in cash for each share of Celgene. They will also receive one tradeable Contingent Value Right (CVR) for each share of Celgene, which will entitle the holder to receive a …

The Week in Review #34 Improving on Immunotherapy and preventing one of its serious side effects. Removal of glutamine leads to a substantial reduction in cell growth or induces cell death in certain types of cancer cells, indicating that these cells are dependent on, or "addiected" to, glutamine. Normal cells do not depend much on glutamine . . . This content is for paid subscribers. …

The Week in Review, which we will post soon, is going to provide news that cancer patients, their parents, their oncologists and investors are anxiously waiting to hear.   The news is about studies with products demonstrating huge improvements in immunotherapy efficacy in addition to preventing checkpoint inhibitors such as: Opdivo, Keytruda and others, from causing adverse effects, including autoimmune reactions that are serious and …

Yesterday, the Stock Market skyrocketed and with it a significant number of Prohost Picks that we keep reminding ourselves are undervalued. The outperformance unveiled the interred strength of firms such as: Illumina (ILMN), Amgen (AMGN) and Vertex (VRTX), the gene therapy firms: RegenxBio (RGNX) and Spark (ONCE), and the gene editing firms: Crispr (CRSP), Intellia (NTLA) and Editas (EDIT), as well as others in the Prohost Portfolio. The rebounding in the …

Exelixis (EXEL) provided an update that testified to its solid fundamentals, the growth of its approved products’ sales, the professionalism and seriousness of its management. Revenues: Exelixis’ total quarter revenues were $225.4 million vs. $152.5 million for the comparable period in 2017. Its net product sales revenues were $162.9 million for the quarter compared to $96.4 million for the comparable period in 2017, which represents a 69 percent increase year-over-year. …

A number of biotech or biopharmaceutical companies have succeeded in the past couple of years in changing their statuses from clinical stage to revenues-generating firms. A number of these firms reside in the Prohost Portfolio, picked up before they generated revenues from their newly approved products’ sales. We are following up on these firms’ news as they come out of their new journeys towards marketing …

IMMUNOTHERAPY  The Checkpoint Inhibitors The most revered news was the discovery of the checkpoint proteins on the surface of the immune system cells. The checkpoint proteins’ natural job is to put a break on the immune system cells to prevent them from attacking people’s own body cells. An immune attack on host cells can lead to disabling and life-threatening autoimmune diseases. Long before the scientists …

The Week in Review #32 POSITIVE NEWS PROTEOSTASIS THERAPEUTICS Cystic Fibrosis Two days ago, a clinical-­stage small firm called Proteostasis Therapeutics (PTI) announced positive preliminary results from ongoing Phase 1 cystic fibrosis studies. The trial involved the firm’s proprietary combination therapy doublet, PTI-­808 + PTI-­801...

The Week in Review #31 IN THE DEPARTED WEEK NOVEL MIGRAINE DRUGS ARE APPROVED ELI LILLY AFTER AMGEN AND TEVA In less than five months, the FDA approved three products belonging to four drug developers – all targeting calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) for the prevention of migraine headache. The latest for Eli Lilly (LLY) last week . . . This content is for paid subscribers. …