Both Achillion and Ariad hit 52-week highs today after running up on positive news. While we continue to believe the companies will be successful, we also believe the stocks are getting fairly expensive and think it is a good time to take profits. Since recommending ARIA on November 10th at $10.72, it has gained 31.25% […]
BMY & INHX – Bristol-Myers Squibb Buys Inhibitex for $2.5 Billion
Bristol-Myers Squibb Buys Inhibitex for $2.5 Billion On Saturday, Bristol announced it would acquire Inhibitex for $26 a share, about $2.5 billion dollars, a 163% premium to the companies $9.87 Friday closing price. Inhibitex had been the hot topic of takeover speculation lately for its HCV drug INX-189, a coveted nucleotide polymerase inhibitor. The hepatitis […]
ACHN & INHX: Two HCV Drugmakers In The Spotlight
ACHN v. INHX: Two HCV Drugmakers In The Spotlight Achillion: On Wednesday January 4, Achillion announced it had received Fast-Track designation from the FDA for its experimental HCV drug ACH-1625. A positive development for sure- investors reacted by lifting the stock 1% on a mostly down day for biotechs. Fast Track status is reserved for […]
POZN – Interview With POZN CEO John Plachetka and COO Liz Cermak
Interview With POZN CEO John Plachetka and COO Liz Cermak After seeing its shares slide for much of the year, Pozen stock jumped 46% when it struck a deal to sell the right to its royalties from the migraine drug Treximate to CPPIB Credit Investments Inc. for $75 million. Pozen will now end the year […]
MITI – Initiate Coverage
Micromet: Initiate Coverage Background: Micromet specializes in the development of cancer drugs based on a new class of therapeutics called “bispecific antibodies.” These novel antibodies are capable of recognizing and binding two different antigens and have been termed “bispecific T-cell engagers” or BiTE antibodies. Bispecific antibodies are part of a new generation of more advanced […]
VRUS – Pharmasset Halts Trial- And The Winner Is…
Pharmasset, a leader in the development of next generation HCV treatments, took a stumble today as it announced the halt of all trials involving its drug PSI-938 due to possible liver toxicities. This compound is the second of Pharmasset’s two nucleotide analog polymerase inhibitors (nuc) and further behind in the clinic. The more advanced compound, […]
YMI – ASH 2011 Update
YM Bioscience stock surged in after hours trading following their presentation of results from an ongoing multi-center Phase I/II study of the JAK1/2 inhibitor CYT387 for the treatment of Myelofibrosis (MF) at ASH Monday afternoon. Shares jumped to as high as $2.04 in after-hours trading before settling to $1.69 Tuesday. It has since fallen to […]
INCY – ASH Update: Incyte’s JAK1/2 Inhibitor
ASH Update: Incyte’s JAK1/2 Inhibitor By Patrick Crutcher and Jason Chew On Saturday December 10, we took to the floors of the San Diego Convention Center for the opening rounds of ASH presentations. Today’s focus was mainly on the poster sessions with presenters manning their stations beginning at 5pm. The item we were most interested […]
PCYC – Update- Pharmacyclics Signs Worldwide Development Deal With Janssen Biotech
PCYC: Update- Pharmacyclics Signs Worldwide Development Deal With Janssen Biotech On December 8, 2011, Pharmacyclics announced it had entered into an agreement to jointly develop its lead BTK inhibitor PCI-32765 with Janssen Biotech, a division of Johnson & Johnson. The deal calls for upfront payments of $150 million and up to an additional $825 million […]
ACHN – Initiating Coverage
Achillion: Initiating Coverage Background: Achillion is a small biotech focused on the development of a cure for Hepatitis C. It has several compounds in its pipeline, all unpartnered. The two leading products are next-generation protease inhibitors, ACH-1625 and ACH-2684, followed up by a duo of NS5A inhibitors, ACH-2928 and ACH-3102. There has been considerable M&A […]
GILD – Does Pharmasset Acquisition Make Gilead A Growth Company Again?
Does Acquisition Of Pharmasset Make Gilead A Growth Stock Again? Gilead stock has been stagnant for years as growth in its core HIV franchise has slowed. Acquisitions out designed to diversify the company’s pipeline have met with only modest success. Attempts to move quickly into cardiovascular and pulmonary diseases have been disappointing. More recently, Gilead […]
VRUS – Pharmasset Stock Falling- How To Play It
Pharmasset Stock Falling- How to Play It Pharmasset (VRUS) stock has fallen steadily since November 21st when the company announced it had decided to sell itself to Gilead (GILD) for $137 per share in cash. After hitting a high of $135, the stock has subsequently drifted down to $128.89. This leaves a substantial 6% arbitrage […]
INCY – Stock Running Ahead Of ASH
Incyte Corp: Stock Running Ahead Of ASH Despite today’s slight pull-back, Incyte stock is finally making a comeback. It appears the company’s discussions at the November 29th Piper Jaffray Healthcare Conference have given investors renewed confidence that newly approved Jakafi will indeed have significant sales potential. Patricia S. Andrews, head of commercial operations did most […]
ASH Stock Preview
2011 ASH Stock Preview It’s the end of the year, which can mean only one thing- the American Society of Hematology Convention is coming up! ASH is the year’s largest meeting for researchers and investors interested in hematology, or blood cancers. This year’s convention will be held from December 9th through 12th in sunny San […]
YMI – YM Biosciences- A Quick Take
YM Biosciences- A Quick Take Tuesday, November 22 saw some wild moves in this stock, which plunged close to 38% in early afternoon trading before recovering for a 9.4% loss on the day. An astonishing 7.6 million shares changed hands, more than eight times the average for the previous three months. The action occurred on apparently no relevant news, […]
GILD – Gilead To Acquire Pharmasset For $11 Billion
Gilead To Acquire Pharmasset For $11 Billion Gilead has agreed to buy HCV drug developer Pharmasset Inc. for $11 billion in cash. The deal calls for payment of $137 per share, and represents an 89% premium to its Friday closing price. Gilead, a titan in the HIV space, has seen its shares stagnate in recent […]
INCY – Incyte’s Drug Receives FDA Approval- Update
Incyte Receives Approval For JAK Inhibitor In Myelofibrosis Following a trend begun earlier this year, the FDA skipped ODAC and approved another innovative cancer drug before its PDUFA date. Incyte’s JAK1, JAK2 inhibitor ruxolitinib, now dubbed Jakafi, received marketing authorization today, November 16, two and a half weeks ahead of the original December 3 decision […]
ARIA – Initiate Coverage on Ariad
ARIAD Pharmaceuticals: Initiate Coverage Overview Ariad is a clinical stage biotech company with three compounds in development, ranging from Phase I to NDA submission. The most important of these is ponatinib, a pan BCR-ABL inhibitor for the treatment of Chronic Myeloid Leukemia (CML) and potentially other cancers. The compound is in a global registration study […]
EXEL – Exelixis Update November 2, 2011- FDA Denies SPA
Exelixis Update November 2, 2011- FDA Denies SPA After hours on Halloween, Exelixis announced it could not reach an agreement with the FDA for the design of its pivotal ‘306 trial of cabozantinib in metastatic castrate resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) four months after its initial application. That said, the company has decided to initiate the […]
EXEL – Exelixis Update And Catalyst Report
Exelixis Update and Catalyst Report Overview: Lots going on at Exelixis end of this year. The company gave an overview of top-line data from recently announced successful EXAM medullary thyroid cancer (MTC) trial. As previously mentioned, patients on XL184 (cabozantinib) had progression free survival (PFS) of 11.2 months compared to 4.0 months for placebo. The […]
