Negative News from Ionis Pharmaceuticals  Ionis Pharmaceuticals (IONS) announced that its partner, Roche (RHHBY),

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 …

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Receives EUA from the FDA for REGEN-COV2 Regeneron Pharmaceuticals’ (REGN) antibody cocktail therapy casirivimab and imdevimab, known also REGN-COV2 or REGEN-COV2, received Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The FDA EUA is for the treatment of mild to moderate COVID-19 in adults as well as pediatric patients at least 12 years of age and weighing at least …

PTC Therapeutics Approvals and Achievements PTC Therapeutics (PTCT) has achieved a lot recently. The latest is the August approval from the U.S. FDA of its product Evrysdi (risdiplam), the first orally administered at-home treatment for spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) in adults and children 2 months and older.   Evrysdi has been granted approvals in Brazil, Chile and Ukraine as . . . This content is …

Halozyme and PTC Therapeutics: Near-Term Game-Changing PDUFAS Some of the Prohost Portfolio selected companies are having near term PDUFAS which we believe will have a positive outcome. Indeed the FDA approvals are expected to tremendously boost these firms' values. Today we present two selected Biotech firms from the Prohost Portfolio.   Halozyme Halozyme (HALO) has two upcoming important

Prohost Letter #439 The Coronavirus Outbreak - COVID-19 The news announced that the coronavirus (now known as COVID-19) outbreak would affect not only people’s health and survival but the world’s economy, Wall Street’s performance, and especially the international giant industrial firms that are committed to China. British AstraZeneca (AZN

Exelixis Positive Results from IMspire 150 Exelixis (EXEL) announced positive results from IMspire 150; the phase 3 trial of atezolizumab (TECENTRIQ®), cobimetinib (COTELLIC®) and vemurafenib (ZELBORAF®) in people with previously untreated BRAF V600 mutation-positive advanced melanoma.  The IMspire150 study met its primary endpoint of progression-free survival (PFS). Adding atezolizumab to cobimetinib and vemurafenib helped reduce the risk of disease worsening or death, compared to placebo plus …

Prohost Letter #435 The Value of the Biotech Companies A Continuation of Prohost Letter #434 A Recap The biotech near and long-term values, we insist, must be based on the firms’ scientific capabilities, products’ potentials and financial results. In the past months the stocks evaluations by bloggers, and some assessors, have been tailored to mislead investors into serving the purposes of the manipulators’ weird agendas. …

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 …

Gene Therapy Stocks Experiencing Selloffs  Every investor in the biotech sector must have experienced selloffs of the stocks from companies specialized in gene therapy, gene editing, antisense, RNAi and mRNA therapies. Recently, bluebird bio’s (BLUE) stock was devastated. The selloffs occurred for many reasons, most of . . . This content is for paid subscribers. Please click here to subscribe or here to log in.

Exelixis is Expanding Cohorts for COSMIC-021, the Phase 1b Trial for Cabozantinib  From Exelixis (EXEL) we learned about its decision to expand the two original cohorts, and the addition of four new cohorts, to the protocol for COSMIC-021; the phase 1b trial of cabozantinib (CABOMETYX®) in combination with atezolizumab (TECENTRIQ®) in patients with locally advanced or . . . This content is for paid subscribers. …

We congratulate our subscribers who kept Spark Therapeutics (ONCE) in spite of the stock’s kind of paralysis for no serious reasons. Spark, a fully integrated, commercial gene therapy company, announced today that it has entered into a definitive merger agreement with Roche (RHHBY). The firm is to fully acquire Spark Therapeutics at a price of $114.50 per share, in an all-cash transaction. This move represents  a total equity value …

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 …

Exciting are the Q2 2018 reported results by Exelixis’ (EXEL) including the firm’s revenues and earnings, compared to 2017. Impressive were Cabometyx’ (cabozantinib) revenues, in addition to the milestone payments from collaborating companies and ex-USA marketing agent. Inspiring also are the efforts the firm is spending on research and development with the aim of further boosting its revenues. Of the Results Revenues and Incomes – …

ASTRAZENECA AstraZeneca’s (AZN) Checkpoint Inhibitor Imfinzi significantly improved Overall Survival (OS) for Stage III Non-Small Cell Cancer Imfinzi (durvalumab) achieved positive overall survival (OS) results for the Phase III PACIFIC trial in patients with unresectable Stage III non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) whose cancer did not progress following platinum-based chemotherapy and radiation. An Independent Data Monitoring Committee concluded that the trial met the second of two primary …

Prohost Letter #420 REAL BREAKTHROUGHS - One Has Already Been Used and the Other Has Extraordinary Promises In  the  NEWS - THE POWER OF CHECKPOINT INHIBITOR IMMUNOTHERAPY WOW It is about the checkpoint inhibitors immunotherapy, which is bringing to the world of cancer a stunning revelation of a combination treatment offering an almost cure for a lung cancer...

In spite of their successes, Immuno-oncology products, which we still like to call immunotherapy for several reasons, are a work in progress. The most two highlighted approaches that enable the immune system to clear cancers are the checkpoint inhibition and the chimeric antigen receptor (CAR T) genetically engineered immune system T cells therapies. Therapeutic vaccines had some successes, but the outcome was inferior to the two approaches that have …

Yes, the title is real and correct and the condition is ASD. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted a Breakthrough Therapy Designation for Roche’s (RHHBY) drug balovaptan developed for ASD. Balovaptan has shown the potential to improve social interaction and communication in people with ASD. Balovaptan is an investigational small molecule drug that acts as a vasopressin (V1a) receptor antagonist. Evidence from both human and animal studies implicate …

The Week in Review #13 From the Prohost Portfolio - 1. Betting on the technology - HALOZYME - As expected, the pulse of fat agreements with HALO is accelerating . . . This content is for paid subscribers. Please click here to subscribe or here to log in.

Prohost Letter #413 FROM BIOTECH TO BIOPHARMA - New research, new findings, new discoveries of trustworthy and doubtful biomarkers more understanding of genomics and proteomics, in addition to more breakthrough diagnostic procedures, are all gifts of the life-science revolution. This revolution started with molecular biology, the discovery of the DNA and its functions, which was the prelude to genomic understanding, gene sequencing, and genetic engineering and …