Day: January 7, 2018

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Celgene is acquiring Impact Biomedicines for $7B

Celgene to acquire Impact Biomedicines, adds Fedratinib to pipeline

Celgene tumbles
Celgene to acquire Impact Biomedicines, adds Fedratinib to pipeline

Celgene (CELG) and privately held Impact Biomedicines announced the signing of a definitive agreement in which Celgene will acquire Impact Biomedicines, which is developing fedratinib for myelofibrosis and polycythemia vera.

Under the terms of the agreement, Celgene will pay approximately $1.1B upfront and up to $1.25B in contingent payments based on regulatory approval milestones for myelofibrosis.

Additional future payments for regulatory approvals in additional indications and sales-based milestones are also possible.

#Fedratinib, a highly selective JAK2 kinase inhibitor, was evaluated in 877 patients across 18 clinical trials.

Celgene to acquire Impact Biomedicines, adds Fedratinib to pipeline, Stockwinners.com
Celgene to acquire Impact Biomedicines, adds Fedratinib to pipeline

In a randomized, placebo-controlled, phase III pivotal trial for patients with treatment-naive myelofibrosis, fedratinib demonstrated statistically significant improvements in the primary and secondary endpoints of splenic response and total symptom score, respectively.

In an exploratory subgroup analysis, these improvements were observed regardless of a patient’s baseline platelet count. A multi-center, single-arm phase II trial evaluated fedratinib in myelofibrosis patients who were found to be resistant or intolerant to ruxolitinib, a JAK1/JAK2 inhibitor. In this second-line setting, fedratinib demonstrated clinically meaningful improvements in splenic response and total symptom score.

#JAKARTA-2 was stopped prematurely due to a clinical hold placed on the fedratinib program by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration after potential cases of Wernicke’s encephalopathy were reported in eight out of 877 patients receiving one or more doses. The FDA removed the clinical hold in August 2017.

Based on the reported benefit risk profile of fedratinib from the JAKARTA-1 and JAKARTA-2 clinical trials, regulatory applications in #myelofibrosis are planned beginning in the middle of 2018.

Myelofibrosis is a serious bone marrow disorder that disrupts body’s normal production of blood cells. The result is extensive scarring in one’s bone marrow, leading to severe anemia, weakness, fatigue and often an enlarged spleen.

Myelofibrosis is an uncommon type of chronic #leukemia — a cancer that affects the blood-forming tissues in the body. Myelofibrosis belongs to a group of diseases called myeloproliferative disorders.

 Many people with myelofibrosis get progressively worse, and some may eventually develop a more serious form of leukemia. Yet it’s also possible to have myelofibrosis and live symptom-free for years.
CELG closed at $104.99.

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Barron’s is bullish on Gold and FedEx, bearish on Caterpillar

Barron’s, the weekly publication owned by the Wall Street Journal, in its latest issue mentions several names: 

Stockwinners offers Barron's review of Stockwinners offers stocks to buy, stocks to watch, upgrades, downgrades, earnings, Stocks to Buy On Margin
Stockwinners offers Barron’s review of stocks to buy, stocks to watch

BULLISH  MENTIONS:

FedEx EPS (FDX) growth should more than triple next year – U.S. postal rates look likely to rise, pinching Amazon (AMZN) and benefiting FedEx and UPS (UPS), Jack Hough writes in this week’s edition of Barron’s. While for now UPS enjoys higher profit margins, investors should favor FedEx as years-long investment in automating and expanding its hubs has given the company a speed and efficiency advantage over the former, he adds. Earnings per share growth for FedEx should more than triple next year as tax cuts kick in, the report notes.

Deal makers now ‘on the clock.’  – Deal makers may be on the clock, especially if one believes that the bull market is in its waning stages and the Federal Reserve is serious about interest rate hikes, Alex Eule writes in this week’s edition of Barron’s. 2018 merger speculation already kicked off in a big way, with headlines that Amazon (AMZN) could buy Target (TGT) and Apple could acquire Netflix (NFLX), he notes, adding that M&A may be necessary to grow and even to survive.

Valero, Home Depot among companies expected to raise dividend – Charles Schwab (SCHW), Home Depot (HD), Valero Energy (VLO), NextEra Energy (NEE), Allstate (ALL) and Cisco Systems (CSCO) are among the large companies expected to announce healthy dividend increases soon, Lawrence Strauss writes in this week’s edition of Barron’s. These projected boosts come amid a solid outlook for dividend growth in the U.S. and globally, he adds.

Intel not to be blamed for failures of computer security – Intel (INTC) came under fire for the revelation that its chips were vulnerable, but the nature of technology and how the industry approaches computer security are the real problem, not Intel chips, Tiernan Ray writes in this week’s edition of Barron’s. There may be things Intel can do, and in fact AMD (AMD), whose chips run the same software, said its products are less vulnerable than Intel’s, he notes, but difference here are just relative as hackers’ inventiveness will continue.

Kohl’s making right moves to grow earnings. – Until recently, Kohl’s (KSS) was largely written off as a casualty of Amazon’s (AMZN) domination of the retail sector, but the stock has become one of the hottest plays in retail as investors increasingly believe that the e-Commerce giant could acquire the company, Steven Sears writes in this week’s edition of Barron’s. Even without Amazon, Kohl’s seems to be making the right moves to grow earnings, he adds.

Gold rally may be ‘just the start.’  – Gold’s recent rally could be just the start, and investors betting on a new bull market in gold can buy physical gold, mining stocks or funds that track the metal and mining shares, with junior miners typically outperforming big-caps in a gold bull market, John Kimelman writes in this week’s edition of Barron’s. Publicly traded companies in the sector include Newmont Mining (NEM), Barrick Gold (ABX), Goldcorp (GG) and Agnico Eagle (AEM).

BEARISH  MENTIONS:

Bank earnings could ‘be messy.’ – The backdrop for banks could not be much better but earnings season is about to begin – with JPMorgan (JPM), Wells Fargo (WFC) and PNC Financial (PNC) expected to report on Friday – and it could “be messy,” Ben Levisohn writes in this week’s edition of Barron’s. While tax reform should be a boon for banks, it will also produce one-time charges and gains that will need to be accounted for, he adds.

Time to sell Caterpillar – In a follow-up story, Barron’s says that with Caterpillar (CAT) soaring, it is time to sell. Investors should not expect the stock to move quickly from here, as cyclical companies like Caterpillar tend to trade at high multiples of earnings at the bottom of the cycle and low multiples at the top, it adds.

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