Roche Group and Spark Therapeutics Gene Therapy Showing Promising Results Looking for gene therapy treatments for chronic debilitating life-threatening diseases we fell on news from Spark Therapeutics, a member of the Roche Group (RHHBY); the firm announced preliminary data from part one of the ongoing Phase 1/2 open-label, non-randomized, dose-finding study of the investigational SPK-8016 . . . This content is for paid subscribers. Please click here …

Regenxbio Regenxbio (RGNX) announced that it is selling a portion of its royalty rights from the net sales of Zolgensma® by Novartis to entities managed by Healthcare Royalty Management, LLC (HCR) for $200 million. This transaction provides immediate, non-dilutive capital to Regenxbio in order continue the development of its gene therapy pipeline products and complete its internal manufacturing capabilities. Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC served …

Prohost Letter #443 The Biotechnology Industry The Biotechnology Industry revolutionized the arts of life sciences with accomplishments promising a tremendous improvement in the treatment of chronic, debilitating, progressive and life-threatening diseases. The improved approaches have been game changers in the treatment of cancers and genetic-derived hereditary and non-hereditary chronic diseases. The out-performance was made possible through the biotech industry’s creativity, innovation and remarkable productivity. The …

Regenxbio Dosed First Patient with RGX-111 for MPS I Regenxbio (RGNX) has dosed the first patient with RGX-111 in the Phase I/II trial for the treatment of Mucopolysaccharidosis Type I (MPS I). About Regenxbio Product RGX-111 RGX-111 is an investigational one-time gene therapy designed to deliver the α-l-iduronidase (IDUA) gene directly to the central nervous system (CNS) using the NAV AAV9 vector. RGX-111 is a …

Regenxbio Conference Call Information Regenxbio will host a conference call today, at 4:30 pm est today, November 4, 2020, to discuss its financial results for the quarter, ended September 30, 2020, and recent operational highlights. To access the live call by phone dial (855) 422-8964 (domestic) or (210) 229-8819 (international) and enter the passcode 4107819. To access a live or recorded webcast of the call …

Compugen Compugen (CGEN) announced the presentation of new research data that further support PVRIG as a potentially promising target for cancer immunotherapy. These data suggest that PVRIG inhibition may enhance T cell priming and infiltration into tumors and provide further evidence supporting the potential advantages of targeting PVRIG alone and in combination with TIGIT and PD-1 inhibitors, in tumors . . . This content is for …

President Trump, the First Lady and COVID-19 Indeed, the complicated, nasty SARS-CoV-2 virus managed to infect President Trump and the First Lady when we were expecting a vaccine to soon be ready to protect the country and the world from COVID-19. The president’s physicians did not treat the him with any of the investigational vaccines in late-phase trials; vaccines being developed by: Moderna (MRNA), Novavax (NVAX) and …

Recent Gene Therapy News On August 20, 2020 Audentes Therapeutics, which was taken over by Astellas (ALPMY) for over $3 billion, announced that a third patient has passed away in a clinical trial evaluating its gene therapy product AT132 for the treatment of the life-threatening neuromuscular X-linked Myotubular Myopathy (XLMTM). The neuromuscular disease is characterized by extreme muscle weakness, respiratory failure and early death. Preliminary …

Regenxbio Positive Data for RGX-314 Regenxbio (RGNX) reported positive one-year data from patients in Cohorts 4 and 5 from Phase I/IIa trial of RGX-314 for wet age-related macular degeneration (wet AMD). Regenxbio plans to initiate a pivotal program for the subretinal delivery of the gene therapy RGX-314 in patients . . . This content is for paid subscribers. Please click here to subscribe or here to log …

Beyond the firms that are speeding towards bringing prophylactic vaccines against the COVID-19 infection into the clinic we have to consider the other firms that have been negatively affected by the virus pandemic; we expect them to rebound and surge when the virus loses its ability to kill. We decided to start with gene therapy companies that we believe have suffered from the delays of …

Exelixis, Takeda and Japanese RCC Patients Today we learned from Exelixis (EXEL) that Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited, which is responsible for the clinical development and commercialization of Exelixis' oncology drug  CABOMETYX® (cabozantinib . . . This content is for paid subscribers. Please click here to subscribe or here to log in.

Regenxbio, Moderna and Others Regenxbio (RGNX) announced several poster presentations including interim data from its Phase I/II trial of RGX-121 for the treatment of Mucopolysaccharidosis Type II (MPS II

Regenxbio Results from RGX-121 for MPSII Regenxbio (RGNX) announced interim data from Phase I/II trial of RGX-121 for Mucopolysaccharidosis Type II (MPS II). RGX-121 is designed to deliver the gene that encodes iduronate-2-sulfatase (I2S) enzyme directly to the central nervous system (CNS) using the AAV9 vector. About Mucopolysaccharidosis Type . . . This content is for paid subscribers. Please click here to subscribe or here to log in.

The Market May be Plummeting But Prohost Picks are Not Biotech stocks had a strong start, but the gains disappeared in many stocks as the market demonstrated bearishness following a long-lasting rally. Currently, during the strong economic conditions, commentators attribute the reasons for the market’s upside and downside moves to China’s positive, or negative ongoing negotiations rather than to fair correction of overbought or oversold …

Regenxbio Misleading Selloff A selloff of Regenxbio (RGNX) stock, following the FDA’s partial hold on the intrathecal administration of AVXS-101, is unwarranted and totally misleading.   Why? Because the selloff of RGNX gave the impression that the gene therapy Zolgensma, using the adeno-associated virus (AAV) vector , developed by Regenxbio, has failed, which is not true. The partial hold was put only on the product …

RegenxBio Rebounding RegenxBio (RGNX) has the viral vectors which could safely deliver genes into the cells. The firm has improved the adeno-associated viruses making them safe and effective gene delivery vehicles. One of the three currently approved gene therapy products, Zolgensma® for pediatric spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), marketed by Novartis, used RegenxBio’s adeno-associated . . . This content is for paid subscribers. Please click here to …

RegenxBio Interim Data from Phase I/IIa Trial of RGX-314 for Wet AMD RegenxBio (RGNX) announced interim data from the ongoing Phase I/IIa trial of RGX-314 for the treatment of wet age-related macular degeneration (wet AMD). Here are the results as presented by the Company. The results were presented by Jeffrey S. Heier, M.D., Co-President and Director . . . This content is for paid subscribers. Please …

Prohost Letter #436 What Are We Experiencing Now? The bizarre market underperformance progressing rather than regressing and the good economy and the employment gains are the least utilized factors after being the most influential on the stock market performance. We are witnessing the most bullish analysts being confused, hesitating to give their followers a crystal clear explanation about the market’s skepticism, anger and volatility. The …

Migraine's Really Effective Treatments The years 2018 and 2019 could be called the years of migraine’s really effective treatments. Three Calcitonin-gene-related peptide (CGRP) monoclonal antibody drugs have been approved in 2018 and 2019. They are: Aimovig for Amgen (AMGN . . . This content is for paid subscribers. Please click here to subscribe or here to log in.

Diseases of the Back of the Eye Diseases of the back of the eye, such as: age-related wet macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy and diabetic macular edema, are currently managed with injections of anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (anti-VEGF) drugs into the gel-like substance (the vitreous humor) that fills the eye between the lens and the retina. The currently used age-related wet macular degeneration injections are: Lucentis, which belongs …