ARIA – Quick take on Ariad’s upcoming FDA panel

Glancing at the catalyst calendar, we see that ARIAD Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: ARIA) Ridaforolimus is scheduled to go before a FDA Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee on March 20th(Monday)[link] to review their NDA. (The proposed tradename for Ridaforolimus is Taltorvic.) The briefing documents should be available for this meeting tomorrow morning. ARIAD has gone to great lengths […]

POZN – Focusing on PA32540

POZN: Focusing on PA32540 In Pozen’s last earnings call on February 28, CEO John R. Plachetka told analysts top-line results originally projected for the first half of this year, are now expected in mid-March. Refresher: PA32540 is Pozen’s aspirin/omeprazole co-formulation for the prevention of NSAID-associated upper gastrointestinal (UGI) toxicity. It contains 325 mg aspirin and […]

TZYM – Pivotal Results Approaching

TZYM: Pivotal Results Approaching Durham, North Carolina’s Tranzyme Pharma is a small biotechnology company focused on the development of novel treatments for Gastrointestinal (GI) disorders. Its main product is Ulimorelin for post-operative ileus (POI), a Ghrelin agonist designed to aid the recovery of GI function after bowel surgery. It is set to report results from […]

Updates from the Citi Global Healthcare Conference

The annual Citi Global Healthcare Conference was held February 27-29, 2012, and as always we listened in on the webcasts to identify key takeaways for Chimera Research Group shareholders. These write-ups may be brief due to overlap with comments at other recent investor conferences – see links below.   Amarin $AMRN (Leerink Swann notes – company overview) “We […]

ANTH – A look at Anthera’s VISTA-16 and PEARL-SC studies

The recent corporate update[link] from Anthera Pharmaceuticals(NASDAQ: ANTH) warrants further input on our part. Antera revealed more detail about 2 important upcoming catalysts with respect to their lead programs, Varespladib methyl (A-002) for acute coronary syndrome  and Blisibimod (A-623) for systemic lupus erythematosus (lupus). Notably, Varespladib’s VISTA-16 ACS study has a Data and Safety Monitoring […]

Could Medivir Be The Next HCV Buyout Target?

Could Medivir Be The Next HCV Buyout Target? Medivir is a small, but highly productive Swedish biotech with a deep pipeline consisting mostly of anti-viral candidates. The most prominent of these is TMC435, an NS3/4 protease inhibitor the company is developing in partnership with Tibotec, a unit of Johnson & Johnson, for the treatment of hepatitis […]

Galapagos JAK1 Inhibitor Is One To Contend With

Galapagos’ JAK1 Inhibitor Is One To Contend With Just today, Galapagos announced a major partnership with Abbott to develop its JAK1 specific inhibitor for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. This Belgium based biotech snagged a lucrative deal with $150 million in upfront payments. Upon the completion of Phase II studies, Abbott has the option to […]

Updates from the Leerink Swann Global Healthcare Conference

The annual Leerink Swann Global Healthcare Conference was held February 15-16th, 2012. Several companies that I follow for BiotechDueDiligence and Chimera Research Group presented, and I will summarize the highlights below. Isis Pharmaceutical $ISIS (Archived Chimera content – Pipeline Notes) KYNAMRO (mipomersen) Genzyme/Sanofi are preparing for launch this year. EU application was filed July 2011. […]

ARIA – Update on Ariad Pharmaceuticals

Below we have an update on ARIAD Pharmaceuticals(NASDAQ: ARIA) that includes our take on the Ponatinib data at ASH 2011, Ridaforolimus PDUFA thoughts, fourth quarter and full year 2011 updates. Ponatinib At ASH 2011, one of the main presentations to be at was ARIAD’s Ponatinib update,“Initial Findings from the PACE Trial:A Pivotal Phase 2 Study […]