June 4, 2017 – Stock Market Research, Option Picks, Stock Picks,Financial News,Option Research

June 4, 2017June 4, 2017

Wonder Woman does Wonders at the Box Office

‘Wonder Woman’ wins weekend with $100.5M debut

“Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie,” disappoints with $23.5M debut

#TimeWarner’s ($TWX) “Wonder Woman” earned $100.5M in its U.S. debut over the June 4 weekend, matching expectations for at least $100M. The latest entry in the DC Comics cinematic universe received an A in audience polls from #CinemaScore, holds a critics rating of 93% on #RottenTomatoes — significantly higher than the 27% of its most immediate predecessor, 2016’s “Batman v Superman” — and was produced with a reported budget of $149M. In foreign markets, the Gal Gadot-led film took $122.5M.

BOX OFFICE RUNNERS-UP

“Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie,” distributed by Fox (FOX) and produced by Comcast’s (CMCSA) DreamWorks, opened at $23.5M versus estimates of $28M. The animated children’s film was scored B+ in audience polls and holds an 86% critics rating.

Taking third place, Disney’s (DIS) “Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales” grossed $21.6M, representing a second-weekend drop of more than 65%. Internationally, the fifth installment in the fantasy adventure series continued its strong showing with receipts of $74M.

Rounding out the top five, Disney’s “Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2” added $9.7M for a global cumulative total of $817M while Viacom’s (VIA) “Baywatch” earned $8.5M. Other publicly traded companies in filmmaking include Lionsgate (LGF.A) and Sony (SNE).

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The article does not constitute investment advice. Each reader is encouraged to consult with his or her individual financial professional and any action a reader takes as a result of information presented here is his or her own responsibility.

June 4, 2017June 5, 2017

TG Therapeutics’ Leukemia Drug Proves Effective

Adding TG-1101 to ibrutinib increased the number of patients with bone marrow confirmed CR’s, MRD negativity

The combination was well tolerated; the addition of TG-1101 did not appear to alter the safety profile of ibrutinib monotherapy

American Society of Clinical Oncology’s #ASCO Annual Meeting is taking place June 2 to June 6 in Chicago. Several pharmaceutical firms and biotechnology companies are presenting their new drugs and/or present progress on the status of their drugs under development. TG Therapeutics is one of those companies.

#TG Therapeutics $TGTX announced positive results from its Phase 3 $GENUINE trial of #TG-1101 plus ibrutinib in patients with previously treated high risk Chronic #Lymphocytic #Leukemia.

The trial was powered to show a statistically significant improvement in ORR of 30%, with a minimal absolute detectable difference between the two arms of approximately 20%. The trial met its primary endpoint, demonstrating a statistically significant improvement in Overall Response Rate, as assessed by blinded independent central radiology and hematology review by iwCLL criteria, compared to ibrutinib alone in both the Intent to Treat population and Treated population.

The combination was well tolerated and, apart from infusion related reactions, the addition of TG-1101 did not appear to alter the safety profile of ibrutinib monotherapy.

#Neutropenia, occurring in 9% of patients, was the most commonly reported Grade 3/4 Adverse Event in the combination arm, followed by infusion related reactions and #anemia, each reported in 5% of patients.

Neutropenia or #neutropaenia, is an abnormally low concentration of neutrophils (a type of white blood cell) in the blood.Neutrophils make up the majority of circulating white blood cells and serve as the primary defense against infections by destroying bacteria, bacterial fragments and immunoglobulin-bound viruses in the blood. Patients with neutropenia are more susceptible to bacterial infections and, without prompt medical attention, the condition may become life-threatening.

Notably, the majority of infusion related reactions were Grade 1 or 2 in severity, with only 5% Grade 3/4 IRR observed. Median follow-up for this study was approximately 11.4 months.

In addition to the improvements in ORR, CR and MRD-negativity, a trend in improvement of Progression Free Survival was observed in the combination arm of TG-1101 plus ibrutinib as compared to ibrutinib alone.

“In addition to increasing the overall number of patients that responded to treatment with ibrutinib, adding TG-1101 to ibrutinib increased the number of patients with bone marrow confirmed CR’s, MRD negativity in peripheral blood, deepened nodal responses, and resulted in fewer patients progressing on therapy. Collectively, we see the consistent pattern of enhanced benefit as providing a compelling case for combining TG-1101 with ibrutinib in these hard to treat patients with high-risk CLL. We look forward to sharing these data with the FDA later this year to discuss filing for accelerated approval,” the company noted.

Other stocks to watch in the group: $INCY, $TSRO, $AZN, $AMGN

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June 4, 2017June 4, 2017

Merck’s Breast Cancer Drug Proves Effective

The NYU’s Langone Medical Center announced that Merck’s pembrolizumab has been found to be effective in patients with metastatic triple negative breast cancer

The most common side effects in both patient populations were fatigue and nausea

The New York University’s Langone Medical Center announced that #Merck’s #pembrolizumab has been found to be effective in patients with metastatic triple negative breast cancer, according to an international clinical trial led by the center.

The trial investigated the drug in two separate cohorts of patients: Cohort A, which included 170 patients with heavily pretreated metastatic triple negative breast cancer regardless of PD-L1 expression, and Cohort B, which included 52 patients with PD-L1-positive tumors who received it as first-line therapy.

In #Cohort A, pembrolizumab shrunk tumors by more than 30 percent in eight of 170 patients, or five percent, and stabilized the disease in 35, or 21 percent, of those previously treated for mTNBC. Of the eight who experienced tumor reduction, all of them lived at least another year. The remaining patients in this cohort had a lower chance of survival.

In Cohort B-those who received pembrolizumab as first-line therapy-12 of 52 patients, or 23 percent, saw tumors shrink by more than 30 percent, while the disease was stabilized in nine of them, or 17 percent.

Study presenter Sylvia Adams pointed out that Cohort A is the first phase II study of an immunotherapy for triple negative breast cancer to be reported and represents the largest cohort of patients with mTNBC treated with immunotherapy to date.

“The goals of Cohort B, for which survival data are not yet complete, were, primarily, to prove pembrolizumab’s safety and, secondarily, to explore its efficacy as a first-line treatment. Both goals appear to have been met,” the center said.

Merck $MRK funded this clinical trial.

Pembrolizumab, marketed under the name #Keytruda, was well tolerated by both cohorts at a 200mg dose every three weeks, according to study results.

Only 12 percent of patients in Cohort A experienced severe side effects and only eight percent experienced them in Cohort B.

The most common side effects in both patient populations were fatigue and nausea. Although side effects led to discontinuation of treatment in seven patients from Cohort A, no patients in Cohort B discontinued treatment due to adverse side effects.

Other stocks to watch in the group: $INCY, $TSRO, $PBYI, $AMGN

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