It appears the tide is finally turning for Gilead Pharmaceuticals. After hitting a 52-week low of $31.76 in late August 2010, it has since rallied 30% to reach $41.30 on news of successful Phase III trials of its integrase inhibitor, though that is still well below the stock’s $48.44 high from March last year. Gilead […]
Seattle Genetics Consolidating Its Strong ADC Position
Today, Seattle Genetics announced a partnership with Abbott to develop a drug against a single target using their antibody-drug-conjugate (ADC) technology. Abbott will pay $8 million upfront and up to $200 million in milestones as well as royalties on worldwide sales, if any. This deal comes quickly after news of the expansion of an ADC […]
Idenix Not Worth The Wait
HCV is a highly lucrative space to be in right now- witness the huge spike in Pharmasset’s share price merely on the presentation of tantalizing Phase 1 data. An entirely new class of treatments are emerging, reshaping the HCV landscape and creating multi-billion dollar opportunities. The rush is on to create a better- no, the […]
Pozen Gets Social To Sell Drugs
Pozen is a small, unconventional drug developer with two approved drugs and another expected to soon follow. The company specializes in devising novel formulations of existing drugs, allowing for an easier path to regulatory approval and lower cost of development. Its migraine drug, Treximet, is a combination of sumatriptan (Imitrex) and naproxen, and arthritis drug […]
Why is Exelixis Shrinking?
Exelixis has skyrocked over 300% from its August lows to its current price of about $12 on positive news for its lead compound, cabozantinib in prostate cancer, giving it a market cap of about $1.3 billioin. It is now positioned to file an NDA for its initial indication of medullary thyroid cancer (MTC) in the […]
Calistoga and Plexxikon: Gone in The Blink Of An Eye
I discussed the merits of these company’s in a short post back in June last year (Calistoga Pharmaceuticals and Plexxikon- Two Biotechs to Keep an Eye On). I had hoped to see them become public companies because I saw promise in their technologies and wanted to participate in their upside. Too late. Both have recently […]
Cubist Pharmaceuticals: Lots of Cash and Low Valuation
This is the kind of company I like- cash rich and undervalued. Cubist Pharmaceuticals had $910 million in cash at the end of 2010 and a current market cap of approximately $1.3 billion. It had 2010 revenue of $636.4 million and anticipates full year 2011 revenue in the range of $680 to $700 million, about […]
Gilead Continues Move Into Oncology With Calistoga Acquisition
What a change a decade makes. Back in 2001, Gilead was a high-flying biotech, in the early legs of its growth projectory. Management at the time was laser focused on the company’s HIV franchise, deciding to sell its oncology assets to a little company called OSI Pharmaceuticals for $200 million. Since then, Gilead has grown […]
Genzyme Sold, Who’s Next?
Now that Genzyme has been acquired by Sanofi-Aventis, money managers have begun asking- where did all that money go? A Dow Jones Newswire article by Steven Russolillo reasoned that arbitrage players who held much of Genzyme shares have been quickly dividing that money between big and small name players for months now. Still, $20 billion […]
GSK Pursues Fabry Disease Drug as Orphan Indications Are All The Rage
Amicus has just signed a deal with GSK giving the large pharma worldwide rights to their Fabry disease drug, Amigal, in return for $60 million in upfront payments and $170 million in milestones. Patients are currently enrolling in a Phase III trial of Amigal, with preliminary results expected by the end of this year. This is fantastic […]
Eli Lilly: Plenty Of Talk, Now Time For Results
Eli Lilly CEO, John Lechleiter, Ph.D., has been making the rounds lately promoting innovation in pharmaceutical research. Most recently, he delivered the keynote speech at The Economist’s 2011 Pharma Summit: Reinventing Pharma for a New Generation this past February 10, in London. In his remarks, Lechleiter highlighted some of the problems facing the innovative drug […]
Alexion Goes From Acquisition Target To Acquirer
Alexion Pharmaceuticals reported revenues and major developments in its 2010 4th quarter report yesterday. Revenue continued climbing at a rapid clip, 2010 net product sales increased 40 percent to $541.0 million, compared to $386.8 million in 2009 and is projected to grow to between $715-$735 million in 2011. 2010 non-GAAP net income increased 54 percent […]
Idenix: Two Steps Forward and One Step Back
It has happened before- just when things were beginning to look up, Idenix has taken another beating. This time, the experimental AIDS drug it had licensed to ViiV Healthcare, an affiliate of GSK, had been placed on clinical hold by the FDA. The compound, IDX899, a non-nucleoside reverse-transcriptase inhibitor (NNRTI) had only begun Phase IIb […]
Ziopharm and Intrexon: Odd Couples
In January, Ziopharm announced a strategic deal with billionaire RJ Kirk’s synthetic biology company, Intrexon. In return for an $11,628,202 million investment in Ziopharm stock, Intrexon was issued 7.5% of Ziopharm stock and will receive an additional 7.5% once their lead candidate DC-IL-12 begins Phase II trials. From time to time, Kirk will also participate […]
Celgene: Is It Time To Buy?
Celgene has been hit again with issues of secondary malignancies arising from prolonged treatment with its key drug, Revlimid. Shares have crumbled in the past month from $60/sh early this year to as low as $49 on February 4. It has now bounced back above $50. News of secondary malignancies has bedeviled the company since […]
Of Billionaires and Biotechs
The biotech industry does not crank out billionaires. The long timelines to an improbable success combined with inevitable dilution of the founder’s stake makes it all but impossible. Consider that the collective market cap of all biotech companies is only about $360 billion, compared to about $320 billion for Apple alone. But a few men […]
Celldex: Can Anything Halt It’s Slide?
Three Phase II trials and still waiting. It’s been a lot of bad news lately for this little biotech. Trial data has been scrutinized, a Phase II/III was downgraded to a Phase II, and big Pharma partner, Pfizer, has left it at the alter. Not surprisingly, the stock has been spiraling downwards since the middle […]
Roche Scores Big With Plexxikon and Immunogen Deals
Roche took a hit in December 2010 when the FDA revoked the breast cancer indication from Avastin, its top selling oncology drug for lack of benefit. Businessweek had estimated this could result in an annual loss of about a billion dollars in sales to the firm. Avastin, while a targeted therapy that shuts down new […]
Big Pharma Is The New Big Biotech
Biotechnology companies used to be distinguished by their ability to produce complex drugs requiring the culture of living organisms- drugs often based on the manipulation of DNA. Genentech and Amgen were pioneers of this field, producing recombinant human proteins and antibody therapeutics. Their success led to the development of the biotechnology industry. Today, the biotech […]
Ardea Keeps On Rolling
Ardea’s stock has appreciated about 36% since mid-December, a couple weeks prior to its release of successful Phase IIb gout data. Gout hasn’t been the most exciting area of research. Until 2009, 40 years went by without a new approved treatment for the arthritic disorder. That year, febuxoxtat, marketed by Takeda in the US became […]
