Category: Today’s Highlights

Ariad Pharmaceuticals: Substantiating Its Solid Scientific Fundamentals and the Value of Its Strategy

Ariad Pharmaceuticals: Substantiating Its Solid Scientific Fundamentals and the Value of Its Strategy

Ariad Pharmaceuticals (ARIA): Good news from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) affirmed that the agency accepted for review Ariad’s New Drug Application (NDA) for its investigational oral anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) inhibitor, brigatinib for patients with metastatic ALK-positive (ALK+) non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who have progressed after being treated with crizotinib. The NDA submission includes clinical data from its Phase 1/2 and …
Gilead’s Positive News Exceeds By-Far Its Negative News. Who Said Gilead Needs Acquisitions to Maintain Its Growth?

Gilead’s Positive News Exceeds By-Far Its Negative News. Who Said Gilead Needs Acquisitions to Maintain Its Growth?

Results from trials were negative in two phase 2 studies for Gilead (GILD) experimental drug GS-4997 (selonsertib) intended to treat pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) and diabetic kidney disease (DKD). But the same drug selonsertib showed it might hit the jackpot when results demonstrated it succeeded in treating nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), which is also known as non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, where, according to Gilead, it showed …
Incyte and Lilly: Conquering Rheumatoid Arthritis

Incyte and Lilly: Conquering Rheumatoid Arthritis

At the Annual European Congress of Rheumatology (EULAR 2016) in London, Eli Lilly and Company (LLY) and Incyte (INCY) presented data from RA-BEYOND study, demonstrating that their drug baricitinib was superior to placebo at inhibiting progressive radiographic joint damage in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). A key goal of rheumatoid arthritis treatment is to impede the structural damage that this disease usually causes to the …
Exelixis: A Sunny Future

Exelixis: A Sunny Future

EXELIXIS APPROVED PRODUCTS 1. CABOMETYX™(CABOZANTINIB) For Exelixis (EXEL) the two approved oncology products cabozantinib and cobimetinib and its pipeline of promising investigational products are considered now by more analysts a wealth that will be reflected in the firm’s future growth. The results emanating from the clinical trials of two approved products should not be underestimated. The latest of the good news emanated from the firm’s …
A Breakthrough Drug for Severe Eczema

A Breakthrough Drug for Severe Eczema

News about investigational drugs, which are expected to make big differences in the lives of people with chronic diseases and deadly diseases does not always materialize. Predicting drugs becoming breakthroughs has proven extremely difficult in the early phases of drugs’ development. Some products keep doing well, going from the preclinical testing into several phases of trials then all of a sudden they unexpectedly fail. They …
Exelixis: What should We Do Now?

Exelixis: What should We Do Now?

EXELIXIS (EXEL) Friends and subscribers are asking the following question for more than two weeks now: Why EXEL stock has rallied? Most of those who asked the question owned the stock and made a lot of profit on it. The truth is that those investors wanted to know whether it was time for them to take their profit and enjoy it elsewhere. In other words; …
Sarepta: Will the Celebration of the Unexpected Approval Be of a Long Duration?

Sarepta: Will the Celebration of the Unexpected Approval Be of a Long Duration?

The FDA approval of Sarepta’s (SRPT) Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) product, Exondys 51 (eteplirsen), surprised many analysts. Nonetheless, it doubled SRPT's price after the stock had already multiplied everal folds since the stock had been cremated. Good for those who dared to bet on SRPT in spite of the FDA’s independent advisory committee’s voting against the approval and the FDA hesitation to listen to the …
Is Prohost Still Cautious About Investing in Clovis Oncology?

Is Prohost Still Cautious About Investing in Clovis Oncology?

The FDA announced what made Clovis Oncology (CLVS) shareholders believe that the bad times might have ended for the firm and a new era is beginning. The announcement was about the FDA decision not to hold an advisory committee meeting to discuss the company’s New Drug Application (NDA) for drug rucaparib aimed at treating advanced ovarian cancer. The regulatory agency had already granted rucaparib a …
Xoma: Why this Firm’s Upcoming Conference Call Is Very Important

Xoma: Why this Firm’s Upcoming Conference Call Is Very Important

Xoma’s (XOMA) webcast and conference call scheduled for September 15, 2016, at 1:30 p.m. PDT (4:30 p.m. EDT) is important and should be interesting to the firm’s shareholders. The conference call will provide an update on what’s going on in the Phase 2 trial of XOMA 358, the firm’s drug, which aims at treating congenital hyperinsulinism (CHI) and hypoglycemia post-bariatric surgery (PBS). The Drug and …
Has the Time Come for Array Biopharma to Start Rallying?

Has the Time Come for Array Biopharma to Start Rallying?

At the European Society of Cardiology Congress 2016 in Rome, Italy, Array Biopharma (ARRY) presented good results from a Phase 2 study of its drug ARRY-797 - an oral, selective p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase inhibitor for patients with a rare degenerative cardiovascular disease. The disease, is known as lamin A/C-related dilated cardiomyopathy (LMNA-related DCM) and is caused by mutations in the LMNA gene and is …
About Nymox Pharmaceutical Drug Fexapotide for the Prevention of Prostate Cancer

About Nymox Pharmaceutical Drug Fexapotide for the Prevention of Prostate Cancer

Benign Prostate Hypertrophy (BPH) Is Fexapotide the Safest and Effective Prostate Cancer Preventative? That’s what Nymox Pharmaceutical (NYMX) announced in its recent press release stating that results from from 7-year prospective placebo controlled double blind studies of treatment of 995 U.S. men with its lead drug fexapotide were positive. According to the press release, men who received fexapotide showed a major reduction in the incidence …
Learning from Pfizer Acquisition. Regeneron to Fight Zika and More

Learning from Pfizer Acquisition. Regeneron to Fight Zika and More

Pfizer accepted to pay $14 billion in cash to acquire Medivation. It is important for investors to know what Pfizer is after with regard to this acquisition so that investors could sense the current deep-pocketed biopharmaceutical firms’ preferences in selecting their takeover targets. Recognizing the facts behind Pfizer’s decision could also protect investors from being mislead by negative bloggers who, while serving their own agendas, …
Radius Health: A New Osteoporosis Drug That Might Prevent Bone Fracture?

Radius Health: A New Osteoporosis Drug That Might Prevent Bone Fracture?

JAMA Publishes Positive Phase 3 Data for Abaloparatide in Postmenopausal Women with Osteoporosis The Company is Radius Health (RDUS) and the new expected to be soon approved drug, abaloparatide, is an investigational therapy for the potential treatment of women with postmenopausal osteoporosis who are at an increased risk for a fracture. It is a novel synthetic peptide that engages the parathyroid hormone receptor (PTH1 receptor) …
Why Portola Is Still Favorite

Why Portola Is Still Favorite

What’s Going on the Morning of Thursday, August 18, 2016? PORTOLA Portola Pharmaceuticals (PTLA) announced the receipt of a Complete Response Letter (CRL) from the FDA regarding its Biologics License Application (BLA) for AndexXa™ (andexanet alfa). An FDA-designated Breakthrough Therapy, AndexXa is in development for patients treated with a direct (apixaban, rivaroxaban, or edoxaban) or indirect (enoxaparin) Factor Xa inhibitor when reversal of anticoagulation is …
Gilead and Genmab Agreement. A Quick Look at Moderna

Gilead and Genmab Agreement. A Quick Look at Moderna

GILEAD & GENMAB To Access Genmab’s (GEN) bispecific antibody technology, Gilead (GILD) signed a new agreement with Genmab. The King of HIV treatment objective is to use its exclusive license from Genmab to produce an HIV bispecific monoclonal antibody therapeutic. Gilead is paying around $5 million in upfront payment and up to $277 million in milestones. Genmab will also be entitled to one-digit royalty of …
Editas, Adverum and Spark: Novel Gene Editing and Viral Vectors Make Gene Therapy Achievable

Editas, Adverum and Spark: Novel Gene Editing and Viral Vectors Make Gene Therapy Achievable

Gene Editing EDITAS MEDICINE CRISPR gene editing firm Editas Medicine (EDIT) signed a collaboration agreement with a   small cap gene therapy firm called Adverum Biotechnologies (ADVM). The collaboration aims at exploring the delivery of Editas’ genome editing approach with Adverum’s next-generation adeno-associated viral (AAV) vectors to treat up to five inherited retinal diseases that have yet to find treatments or have poor existing remedies. According …
Sequenom: The Meaning of Becoming Part of LabCorp Holding

Sequenom: The Meaning of Becoming Part of LabCorp Holding

Sequenom (SQNM) is no more there as a separate biotech company, as it is on its way to becoming part of Laboratory Corporation of America® Holdings (LH), which might help it create breakthrough diagnostics without the pain of struggling to survive. LabCorp Holding (LH) announced the commencement of its cash tender offer for all outstanding shares of the common stock of Sequenom for $2.40 per …
Array: Selumetinib Negative Results Are No Match to Its Binimetinib Positive Results

Array: Selumetinib Negative Results Are No Match to Its Binimetinib Positive Results

We do expect some selling of Array today after AstraZeneca’s announced negative results from Phase 3 SELECT-1 trial of the MEK inhibitor, selumetinib, in combination with docetaxel chemotherapy as 2nd-line treatment for KRAS mutation-positive (KRASm) locally-advanced or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The results did not meet the trial’s primary endpoint of progression-free survival (PFS), and did not demonstrate overall survival (OS). These results, …
Plummeted Firms That Offer Good Investment Opportunities Are Filling the Place

Plummeted Firms That Offer Good Investment Opportunities Are Filling the Place

Investors in the stock market know that stocks yo-yo all the time. Sometimes, the yo-yoing becomes so severe it could trigger the soaring of some stocks and the tumbling of others. This article is about the plummeting of the biotech stocks.  Small development-stage biotech stocks, more than stocks belonging to other industries are subjected to a shredding of their values. Some would lose more than …
Answering Readers Questions About the Possible Outcome of Valeant Pharmaceuticals’ Psoriasis Drug

Answering Readers Questions About the Possible Outcome of Valeant Pharmaceuticals’ Psoriasis Drug

The FDA advisory committee members’ inability to rule for or against the approval of Valeant (VRX) anti plaque psoriasis drug brodalumab was not unexpected. However, more outside observers were expecting the committee to flatly reject the skin disease drug that would subject people to commit suicide or to cardiovascular side effects, including death. Indeed, the discussions were mostly about the drug’s side effects specifically the …