Great News for Thalassemia patients

Bluebird Bio confirms FDA approval of Zynteglo

bluebird bio (BLUE) announced the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved Zynteglo, also known as beti-cel, a one-time gene therapy custom-designed to treat the underlying genetic cause of beta-thalassemia in adult and pediatric patients who require regular red blood cell transfusions.

“Due to the complex nature of gene therapy, Zynteglo will be available exclusively at Qualified Treatment Centers, which are carefully selected based on their expertise in relevant areas such as stem cell transplantation, cell and gene therapy, and beta-thalassemia; and receive specialized training to administer Zynteglo.

Information on bluebird’s QTC network, as well as personalized support focused on the needs of each patient throughout their treatment journey and information on insurance coverage and access will be available through bluebird’s patient support program,” the company stated.

“The FDA approval of Zynteglo offers people with beta-thalassemia the possibility of freedom from burdensome regular red blood cell transfusions and iron chelation, and unlocks new possibilities in their daily lives.

Current thalassemia treatment

After more than a decade of research and clinical development, and through the perseverance of clinicians, patients, and their families, the approval of Zynteglo marks a watershed moment for the field of gene therapy.

As the first ex-vivo lentiviral vector gene therapy approved in the U.S. for the treatment of people with beta-thalassemia, we are ushering in a new era in which gene therapy has the potential to transform existing treatment paradigms for diseases that currently carry a lifelong burden of care,” said Andrew Obenshain, CEO of bluebird bio.ย 

Expensive Treatment

The lifetime cost of medical care for a patient with transfusion-dependent beta-thalassemia can reach up to $6.4M in the U.S. and the average total health care cost per patient per year is 23 times higher than the general population. bluebird estimates that there are approximately 1,300-1,500 individuals with transfusion-dependent beta-thalassemia in the U.S.

” bluebird has set the wholesale acquisition cost of Zynteglo in the U.S. at $2.8M, in “recognition of its robust and sustained clinical benefit demonstrated in clinical studies and its potential to alleviate a lifetime of health care costs associated with regular RBC transfusions and iron management.” Tom Klima, chief commercial and operating officer of bluebird bio, said.

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Jazz Pharma. provides guidance, shares rise!

Jazz Pharmaceuticals announces $5B revenue target for 2025

Jazz Pharmaceuticals (JAZZ) announced its Vision 2025 to deliver sustainable growth and enhanced value.

Vision 2025 includes the following expectations: 1) generating $5B in revenue in 2025; 2) approval of at least five additional novel products by the end of the decade; and 3) realizing a 5% adjusted operating margin improvement from 2021 to 2025, driven by operational excellence.

The company also confirmed that it expects to meet its previously announced 2021 revenue guidance range of $3.02B-$3.1B and its net product sales guidance for neuroscience and oncology.

Jazz ended 2021 demonstrating executional excellence across its business, including launching five key products in 2020 and 2021, integrating the GW Pharmaceuticals business, making progress towards its deleveraging target and initiating multiple potentially registrational clinical trials.

The company remains on track to deliver revenue diversification, with at least 65% of 2022 net product revenue from newly launched or acquired products, driving sustainable growth and enhanced shareholder value.

“Building on our track record of strong execution and guided by our patient-centric approach, Jazz is setting forth its Vision 2025 to deliver meaningful treatment options to patients, a great place to work for employees and significant value to shareholders,” said Bruce Cozadd, chairman and CEO of Jazz Pharmaceuticals.

“Jazz’s leadership in sleep and rare epilepsy with Xywav and Epidiolex, respectively, coupled with promising new oncology products like Zepzelca and Rylaze, have led to the rapid transformation of our revenue base.

We are further poised to enter new disease areas with serious unmet patient need and substantial market potential, including movement disorders and PTSD, with our mid-to late-stage assets nabiximols, suvecaltamide and JZP150.

We expect our continued operational excellence to drive a five-percentage point improvement in our adjusted operating margin from 2021 to 2025, and we are confident in our ability to continue to leverage strategic capital allocation to grow our business.”

In Monday’s trading shares of JAZZ are up $10.49 to $144.91.

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Prevail Therapeutics sold for $1.04 billion

Eli Lilly to acquire Prevail Therapeutics for up to $26.50 per share in cash

Eli Lilly (LLY) and Prevail Therapeutics (PRVL) announced a definitive agreement for Lilly to acquire Prevail for $22.50 per share in cash payable at closing plus one non-tradable contingent value right, or CVR, worth up to $4.00 per share in cash, for a total consideration of up to $26.50 per share in cash, or or an aggregate of approximately $1.04B.

Prevail sold for more than $1 billion

The CVR is payable upon the first regulatory approval of a product from Prevail’s pipeline as set forth in more detail below.

Prevail is a biotechnology company developing potentially disease-modifying AAV9-based gene therapies for patients with neurodegenerative diseases.

The acquisition will establish a new modality for drug discovery and development at Lilly, extending Lilly’s research efforts through the creation of a gene therapy program that will be anchored by Prevail’s portfolio of clinical-stage and preclinical neuroscience assets.

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Eli Lilly bets on Prevail’s Parkinson’s treatment

Prevail’s lead gene therapies in clinical development are PR001 for patients with Parkinson’s disease with GBA1 mutations and neuronopathic Gaucher disease and PR006 for patients with frontotemporal dementia with GRN mutations.

Prevail’s preclinical pipeline includes PR004 for patients with specific synucleinopathies, as well as potential gene therapies for Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and other neurodegenerative disorders.

PROO1 is a promising drug for Parkinson’s

Under the terms of the agreement, Lilly will commence a tender offer to acquire all outstanding shares of Prevail Therapeutics Inc. for a purchase price of $22.50 per share in cash payable at closing plus one non-tradeable CVR.

The CVR entitles Prevail stockholders to up to an additional $4.00 per share in cash payable upon the first regulatory approval for commercial sale of a Prevail product in one of the following countries: United States, Japan, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy or Spain.

To achieve the full value of the CVR, such regulatory approval must occur by December 31, 2024.

If such regulatory approval occurs after December 31, 2024, the value of the CVR will be reduced by approximately 8.3c per month until December 1, 2028.

There can be no assurance any payments will be made with respect to the CVR. The transaction is not subject to any financing condition and is expected to close in Q1 of 2021, subject to customary closing conditions, including receipt of required regulatory approvals and the tender of a majority of the outstanding shares of Prevail’s common stock.

Following the successful closing of the tender offer, Lilly will acquire any shares of Prevail that are not tendered in the tender offer through a second-step merger at the same consideration as paid in the tender offer.

The purchase price payable at closing represents a premium of approximately 117% to the 60-day volume-weighted average trading price of Prevail’s common stock ended on December 14, the last trading day before the announcement of the transaction.

Prevail’s board of directors unanimously recommends that Prevail’s stockholders tender their shares in the tender offer.

Additionally, certain Prevail stockholders, beneficially owning approximately 51% of Prevail’s outstanding common stock, have agreed to tender their shares in the tender offer.

Upon closing, the impact of this transaction will be reflected in Lilly’s 2021 financial results according to Generally Accepted Accounting Principles.

There will be no change required to Lilly’s 2021 financial guidance being issued for research and development expense or non-GAAP earnings per share as a result of this transaction.

Prevail Therapeutics (PRVL) last traded at $22.67, up 81%.

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Aytu BioScience and Neos Therapeutics Merge

Aytu, Neos Therapeutics enter all-stock merger agreement

Aytu BioScience (AYTU) and Neos Therapeutics (NEOS) announced that they have entered into a definitive merger agreement pursuant to which Neos will merge with a wholly owned subsidiary of Aytu in an all-stock transaction.

Upon the effectiveness of the merger, Neos stockholders will be entitled to receive 0.1088 shares of common stock of Aytu for each share of Neos common stock held, after taking into account the one-for-ten reverse split of Aytu’s common stock that was effected on December 8.

The transaction will result in Neos stockholders owning approximately 30% of the fully diluted common shares of Aytu.

The all-stock transaction is valued, on a fully diluted basis, at approximately $44.9M based on the 10-day volume weighted average price of Aytu stock for the period ended December 9.

The combined entity will have an increased footprint in the prescription pediatric market, an established multi-brand ADHD portfolio addressing the $8.5B ADHD market and combined revenue scale.

For the 12-month period ending September 30, Neos generated $57M in revenues. On a combined pro-forma basis for this same period, Aytu and Neos’ aggregate net revenue is over $100M.

In addition, this merger facilitates operational and commercial synergies that can be harnessed to accelerate the path to profitability for the combined entity, with estimated annualized cost synergies of approximately $15M beginning FY22.

The combined company will be led by Josh Disbrow, CEO of Aytu and will be headquartered in Englewood, Colorado.

The board of the combined company will consist of six members designated by Aytu and two members designated by Neos, including Neos CEO and director Jerry McLaughlin and Neos director Beth Hecht.

The merger is currently expected to close by Q2 of 2021, subject to certain approvals by both Aytu and Neos stockholders and the satisfaction of other customary closing conditions.

As part of the transaction, Aytu has agreed to provide Neos with access to up to $5M cash for working capital needs for the period prior to the closing of the merger.

In addition, upon closing of the merger, $15M in principal of Neos’s existing senior secured debt facility with affiliates of Deerfield Management will be repaid, and Deerfield has agreed to allow the remaining debt under the facility to remain outstanding with the combined company following the merger.

Indebtedness under Neos’s existing ABL agreement with Encina Business Credit will also remain outstanding.

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MyoKardia sold for $13.1B

Bristol-Myers to acquire MyoKardia for $225.00 per share in cash

Bristol-Myers (BMY) will buy MyoKardia (MYOK) for $225 a share in cash, or $13.1B. MyoKardia’s lead pipeline drug, code-named mavacamten, treats a chronic heart condition that can cause irregular heart rhythms in some patients and even death. Bristol plans to ask U.S. health regulators next year to approve the drug, Bristol CEO Giovanni Caforio says.

MYOK sold for $13.1B

The transaction was unanimously approved by both the Bristol Myers Squibb and MyoKardia Boards of Directors and is anticipated to close during the fourth quarter. Bristol Myers Squibb expects to finance the acquisition with a combination of cash and debt.

The transaction is expected to add a significant growth driver during the medium- to long-term.

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It is expected to be minimally dilutive to Bristol Myers Squibb’s non-GAAP EPS in 2021 and 2022 and accretive beginning in 2023. Bristol Myers Squibb reaffirms its existing 2021 non-GAAP EPS guidance range.

MyoKardia, Inc. discovers, develops, and commercializes targeted therapies for the treatment of serious and neglected rare cardiovascular diseases. Its lead product candidate is mavacamten, an orally administered small molecule, which is in Phase III clinical trial that is designed to reduce left ventricular contractility to alleviate the functional consequences and symptoms of obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) and prevent or reverse HCM progression, as well as in Phase II clinical trial for non-obstructive HCM.

The company also develops MYK-491, an orally-administered small molecule, which is in Phase IIa clinical trial that is designed to restore normal cardiac muscle contractility in the diseased dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) heart. Its preclinical programs include MYK-224, a HCM-targeting candidate that is designed to reduce excess cardiac contractility and enhance diastolic function; LUS-1, which is used to counteract a muscle abnormality that results in impaired relaxation of the left ventricle; and ACT-1 targeting genetic DCM due to sarcomeric mutations and impaired calcium regulation.

MYOK closed at $139.60, it last traded at $221.00. BMY closed at $58.72.

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Momenta Pharmaceuticals sold for $6.5B

Johnson & Johnson to acquire Momenta Pharmaceuticals for $52.50/shr

Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Momenta Pharmaceuticals (MNTA) in an all cash transaction for approximately $6.5 billion.

The transaction will include full global rights to nipocalimab (M281), a clinically validated, potentially best-in-class anti-FcRn antibody.

Momenta sold for $6.5B, Stockwinners

Nipocalimab gives Janssen the “opportunity to reach significantly more patients by pursuing indications across many autoimmune diseases with substantial unmet medical need in maternal-fetal disorders, neuro-inflammatory disorders, rheumatology, dermatology and autoimmune hematology.

Nipocalimab recently received a rare pediatric disease designation from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Momenta’s expertise in FcRn mechanisms is especially important for nipocalimab as it supports and accelerates the development of a medicine designed to target a number of autoantibody-driven conditions across several of Janssen’s established therapeutic areas.

Janssen expects nipocalimab to contribute to its goals of achieving above-market growth over the mid and long term.

In addition to Momenta’s employees and lead asset nipocalimab, Janssen will acquire Momenta’s pipeline of clinical and preclinical assets.

Under the terms of the transaction, which was approved by the Boards of Directors of both companies, Vigor Sub, Inc. (Merger Sub), a newly formed wholly-owned subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson (the Company), will commence a tender offer to purchase all outstanding shares of Momenta for $52.50 per share.

The closing of the offer is conditioned on the tender of a majority of the outstanding shares of Momenta’s common stock on a fully diluted basis, as well as clearance under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act and other customary closing conditions.

The merger will be effected as soon as practicable after the closing of the tender offer. The transaction is expected to close in the second half of 2020.

While the closing of the transaction is expected to be modestly dilutive, the Company is maintaining its current 2020 Adjusted EPSi guidance range.

Looking ahead, the costs associated with the development of Momenta’s portfolio are expected to be incremental to planned R&D investment levels over the next few years given the value creation potential of our current portfolio, and thus expect this incremental investment in R&D to have an EPS impact worth approximately 10c-15c in 2021.

Shares ofย MNTA are up 69% to $52.14 in morning trading.ย 

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Gilead submits New Drug Application for Covid-19 Treatment

Gilead submits NDA to FDA for Veklury for COVID-19 treatment

Gilead Sciences (GILD) announced that it has submitted a New Drug Application to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for ย Vekluryยฎ (remdesivir), an investigational antiviral for the treatment of patients with COVID-19.

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Gilead files for NDA for Veklury

#Veklury is currently available in the U.S. under an Emergency Use Authorization for the treatment of hospitalized patients with severe COVID-19.

The filing is the final tier of the rolling NDA submission that was initiated on April 8, 2020.

The filing is supported by data from two randomized, open-label, multi-center Phase 3 clinical studies of Veklury conducted by Gilead and the Phase 3 randomized, placebo-controlled study of Veklury conducted by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

These studies demonstrated that treatment with Veklury led to faster time to recovery compared with placebo and that a 5-day or 10-day treatment duration led to similar clinical improvement.

Across studies, Veklury was generally well-tolerated in both the 5-day and 10-day treatment groups, with no new safety signals identified. Veklury has been approved by multiple regulatory authorities around the world, including in the European Union and Japan.

In countries where Veklury has not been approved, including the United States, Veklury is an investigational drug and the safety and efficacy of remdesivir have not been established.

Veklury has not been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for any use.

In the United States, the FDA granted Veklury an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for the treatment of hospitalized patients with severe COVID-19. This authorization is temporary and may be revoked, and it does not take the place of the formal new drug application submission, review and approval process.

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Fulgent Genetics shares soar on Covid-19 testing

Fulgent Genetics surges after ‘record’ Q2 results

Shares of Fulgent Genetics (FLGT) have surged during Wednesday’s session after the company reported second quarter results after the market close last night.

The company noted that it had “record” figures for quarterly revenue, billable tests, adjusted earnings, and adjusted EBITDA, as it has commercially launched several tests for COVID-19 since March 2020.

EARNINGS

In its latest report, Fulgent Genetics reported Q2 adjusted EPS of 17c on revenue of $17.3M, compared to analysts’ estimates of (5c) and $10.05M.

The company delivered 180,513 billable tests in the quarter, an increase of 1003% year-over-year, and gross margin for the quarter improved roughly eight percentage points from the previous quarter and roughly 81% year-over-year.

Commenting on the results, chairman and CEO Ming Hsieh said, “The global COVID-19 pandemic has tested who we are as a company, and now more than ever we have demonstrated that Fulgent is a technology company with a proprietary platform built for massive scale.

Our technology is the cornerstone for all facets of our business, including cloud computing, pipeline services, record management, web portal services, clinical workflow, sequencing as a service and automated lab services.

Covid-19 Test Kit

Our second quarter results illustrate how we quickly applied our technology to the needs of today, organically developing and launching multiple tests to detect COVID-19 with Emergency Use Authorization from the FDA, including an at-home test offered through Picture Genetics, our patient-initiated product.

These offerings have attracted major new customer accounts, resulting in an inflection point in our business and outlook.”

GUIDANCE:

On Fulgent’s quarterly conference call, CFO Paul Kim said that based on the “explosive” demand the company is seeing from the market and the quality of its customers, he continues to see the upward trajectory and transformation of the business continuing for the balance of 2020.

Fulgent now projects test volumes for 2020 to be over 1.3M, which translates to into over $120M in revenues. Kim added that he sees adjusted net income of $25M, or about $1.00 per share in FY20.

Analysts had expected the company to report FY20 EPS of 12c on revenue of $45.02M.

Analysts Comments:

Following the results, Piper Sandler analyst Steven Mah maintained an Overweight rating on Fulgent Genetics and raised his price target on the stock to $68 from $31.

Mah, who continues to believe COVID-19 testing is durable for the coming years, said he is encouraged by Fulgent’s early success in test volume, adding that his higher revenue estimates are due to increased COVID-19 expectations.

PRICE ACTION:

In afternoon trading, Fulgent Genetics shares are up nearly 23%, trading at $36.46.

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FDA approves Exact Sciences’ COVID-19 test

Exact Sciences receives revised EUA for COVID-19 test

A letter to Exact Sciences Laboratories (EXAS), dated August 3, posted to the site of the FDA states:

“On May 22, 2020, based on your request, the Food and Drug Administration issued a letter determining that your product met the criteria for issuance under section 564(c) of the Act to be eligible for authorization under the March 31, 2020, Emergency Use Authorization – EUA – for Molecular-based Laboratory Developed Tests for Detection of Nucleic Acid from SARS-CoV-2 for the qualitative detection of nucleic acid from SARS-CoV-2 in respiratory specimens collected from individuals suspected of COVID-19 by their healthcare provider…

On July 17, 2020, FDA received a request from you to revise the Scope of Authorization, and thus the test’s intended use as originally specified by the High Complexity LDT Umbrella EUA, to include self-collection of nasal swab specimens that are self-collected at home or in a healthcare setting by individuals using an authorized home-collection kit specified in this EUA’s authorized labeling when determined to be appropriate by a healthcare provider, and to specify that testing is limited to Exact Sciences Laboratories at two locations..

Having concluded that the criteria for issuance of this authorization under Section 564(c) of the Act are met, I am authorizing the emergency use of your product, as described in the Scope of Authorization of this letter (Section II), subject to the terms of this authorization.”

Exact Sciences is known for it’s Cologuard, colon cancer detection test

The COVID-19 test is offered through US physicians and authorized healthcare providers. The test is intended for use with patients who meet the CDCโ€™s current guidance for evaluation of COVID-19 infection.

EXAS last traded at $92.76.

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IMV shares jump on it’s potential COVID-19 vaccine

IMV Inc. provides update on progress of COVID-19 vaccine program

IMV Inc. (IMV) provided further details on the company’s progress in developing its candidate vaccine to prevent COVID-19 infection in response to the global health threat posed by the novel coronavirus.

The company said, “We are working closely with regulatory agencies and our collaborators to initiate clinical studies as quickly as possible.

IMV updates it’s progress on Covid-19

The design of the phase 1 clinical study, agreed with Health Canada, is a randomized controlled study, assessing the safety and immunogenicity of DPX-COVID-19, in 84 healthy adults across two age cohorts: (1) adults between 18-55 years old inclusive and (2) 56 and above. Two dose levels of DPX-COVID-19 will be tested (25 undefined or 50 undefined).

We are pleased that Health Canada has welcomed the design of a phase 1 trial that includes this vulnerable population.

The rapid progress in target selection, the vaccine formulation, manufacturing and preclinical results so far not only demonstrate the potential of our delivery platform, but also build on our previously reported clinical data from a similarly designed vaccine against RSV, the respiratory syncytial virus.

Clinical results have shown our DPX-based vaccine against RSV demonstrated a unique ability to generate safe and long-lasting immune responses in older adults.

IMV’s candidate vaccine, DPX-COVID-19, is based on IMV’s first-in-class delivery platform that generates targeted and sustained immune response in vivo.

Fully synthetic, the vaccine candidate is designed to focus the immune response on the weaknesses of the virus with the goal to optimize safety and efficacy: DPX-COVID-19 is a formulation of the DPX delivery platform with four complementary peptide antigens that were selected for their high immunogenicity and ability to bind non-overlapping areas on the virus spike and impact its infective function in preclinical studies, Importantly, our selected targets are located outside of the 614 mutation which, according to recent research, has been demonstrated to increase the virus’ ability to infect cells in vitro and suggested to potentially reduce vaccine-induced immunity.

We believe our vaccine candidate would retain its potential efficacy independently from current/future mutations of the virus at this site, Areas on the virus spike identified as potentially responsible for vaccine-enhanced disease4 have been excluded from our target selection to minimize safety risk.

Since the Company announced the selection of its candidate vaccine on May 21st, the Company has made significant progress.

Preclinical studies have demonstrated the capacity of DPX-COVID-19 to induce strong immunogenicity including the binding on target to the spike protein and viral neutralization, The Company has completed the current good manufacturing practice (“cGMP”) formulation and manufacturing process development for DPX-COVID-19, and Multiple batches have been successfully produced at IMV.”

IMV closed at $3.00, last traded at $7.00.

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Pfizer and BioNTech report promising data on Covid-19 vaccine

Pfizer, BioNTech announce early data from Phase 1/2 study of vaccine candidate

Pfizer Inc. (PFE) and BioNTech SE (BNTX) announced preliminary U.S. data from the most advanced of four investigational vaccine candidates from their BNT162 mRNA-based vaccine program, Project Lightspeed, against SARS-CoV-2, the virus causing the current global pandemic.

The BNT162 program is evaluating at least four experimental vaccines, each of which represents a unique combination of mRNA format and target antigen.

Pfizer reports preliminary positive data

The manuscript describing the preliminary clinical data for the nucleoside-modified messenger RNA candidate, BNT162b1, which encodes an optimized SARS-CoV-2 receptor binding domain antigen, is available and is concurrently undergoing scientific peer-review for potential publication.

Overall, the preliminary data demonstrated that BNT162b1 could be administered in a dose that was well tolerated and generated dose dependent immunogenicity, as measured by RBD-binding IgG concentrations and SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibody titers.

The ongoing U.S. Phase 1/2 randomized, placebo-controlled, observer-blinded study is evaluating the safety, tolerability, and immunogenicity of escalating dose levels of BNT162b1. The initial part of the study included 45 healthy adults 18 to 55 years of age.

Preliminary data for BNT162b1 was evaluated for 24 subjects who received two injections of 10 microgram and 30 microgram, 12 subjects who received a single injection of 100 microgram, and 9 subjects who received 2 doses of placebo control.

The participants received two doses, 21 days apart, of placebo, 10 microgram or 30 microgram of BNT162b1, or received a single dose of 100 microgram of the vaccine candidate.

Because of a strong vaccine booster effect, the highest neutralizing titers were observed seven days after the second dose of 10 microgram or 30 microgram on day 28 after vaccination.

The neutralizing GMTs were 168 and 267 for the 10 microgram and 30 microgram dose levels, respectively, corresponding to 1.8- and 2.8-times the neutralizing GMT of 94 observed in a panel of 38 sera from subjects who had contracted SARS-CoV-2.

In all 24 subjects who received 2 vaccinations at 10 microgram and 30 microgram dose levels of BNT162b1, elevation of RBD-binding IgG concentrations was observed after the second injection with respective GMCs of 4,813 units/ml and 27,872 units/ml at day 28, seven days after immunization.

These concentrations are 8- and 46.3-times the GMC of 602 units/ml in a panel of 38 sera from subjects who had contracted SARS-CoV-2.

At day 21 after a single injection, the 12 subjects who received 100 microgram of BNT162b1 had an RBD-binding IgG GMC of 1,778 units/ml and a SARS-CoV neutralizing GMT of 33, which are 3-times and 0.35-times, respectively, the GMC and GMT of the convalescent serum panel.

At the 10 microgram or 30 microgram dose levels, adverse reactions, including low grade fever, were more common after the second dose than the first dose.

Following dose 2, 8.3% of participants who received 10 microgram and 75.0% of participants who received 30 microgram BNT162b1 reported fever greater than or equal to 38.0 degrees C.

Local reactions and systemic events after injection with 10 microgram and 30 microgram of BNT162b1 were dose-dependent, generally mild to moderate, and transient.

The most commonly reported local reaction was injection site pain, which was mild to moderate, except in one of 12 subjects who received a 100 microgram dose, which was severe. No serious adverse events were reported.

Given higher numbers of subjects experiencing local reactions and systemic events after a single 100 microgram dose with no significant increases in immunogenicity compared to the 30 microgram dose level, the 12 participants in the 100 microgram group were not administered a second dose.

These preliminary data, together with additional preclinical and clinical data being generated, will be used by the two companies to determine a dose level and select among multiple vaccine candidates to seek to progress to a large, global Phase 2b/3 safety and efficacy trial.

That trial may involve up to 30,000 healthy participants and is anticipated to begin in late July 2020, if regulatory approval to proceed is received.

The preliminary clinical data from this ongoing study has been submitted for potential publication in a peer-reviewed journal and is available on an online preprint manuscript server.

The BNT162b1 candidate remains under clinical study and is not currently approved for distribution anywhere in the world. If the ongoing studies are successful and the vaccine candidate receives regulatory approval, the companies expect to manufacture up to 100 million doses by the end of 2020 and potentially more than 1.2 billion doses by the end of 2021.

In that event, BioNTech and Pfizer would work jointly to distribute the potential COVID-19 vaccine worldwide.

The Canadian company provides lipid nanoparticles or the formulation of various mRNA vaccines.

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Monopar files for patent for Covid-19 treatment

Monopar, NorthStar file provisional patent for development, use of RITs

Monopar Therapeutics (MNPR) and NorthStar Medical Radioisotopes announced that a provisional patent application entitled “Precision Radioimmunotherapeutic Targeting of the Urokinase Plasminogen Activator Receptor for Treatment of Severe COVID-19 Disease” has been filed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

The patent application offers hope for Covid-19 patients, Stockwinners

This application covers novel compositions and uses of cytotoxic radioisotopes attached to antibodies that bind to uPAR, thereby creating precision targeted radiotherapeutics for the treatment of severe COVID-19 and other respiratory diseases.

Advanced COVID-19 patients frequently develop severe, life-threatening, pulmonary inflammation as a result of a viral induced cytokine storm.

The development of this cytokine storm is associated with a high rate of mortality in severe COVID-19 patients, even with oxygen support and mechanical ventilation.

A severe immune reaction in which the body releases too many cytokines into the blood too quickly. Cytokines play an important role in normal immune responses, but having a large amount of them released in the body all at once can be harmful. A cytokine storm can occur as a result of an infection, autoimmune condition, or other disease. It may also occur after treatment with some types of immunotherapy.

Signs and symptoms include high fever, inflammation (redness and swelling), and severe fatigue and nausea. Sometimes, a cytokine storm may be severe or life threatening and lead to multiple organ failure. Also called hypercytokinemia.

uPRITs have been designed with the goal of selectively destroying the aberrantly activated white blood cells responsible for causing the cytokine storm.

If successful, healthy tissue would be spared in the process as the uPAR target is primarily only present on this unique class of white blood cells and not in healthy tissue.

The co-inventors of the provisional patent application are James Harvey, Chief Scientific Officer of NorthStar, and Andrew P. Mazar, Chief Scientific Officer of Monopar.

If granted, the patent would offer exclusivity to Monopar and NorthStar for the development and potential use of uPRITs in the treatment of severe COVID-19 and other respiratory diseases.

This provisional patent application leverages the therapeutic radioisotope expertise of NorthStar and the translational expertise of Monopar to create a novel, targeted radioimmunotherapeutic.

Radioimmunotherapy uses an antibody labeled with a radionuclide to deliver cytotoxic radiation to a target cell. In cancer therapy, an antibody with specificity for a tumor-associated antigen is used to deliver a lethal dose of radiation to the tumor cells.

On June 16, 2020, Monopar and NorthStar announced a 50/50 collaboration to couple Monopar’s MNPR-101 uPAR targeting monoclonal antibody to a therapeutic radioisotope provided by NorthStar.

MNPR closed at $6.91.

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White House selects vaccine finalists

Novavax sinks after White House omits as COVID vaccine finalist

The New York Times reports that Moderna (MRNA) is among the five finalists selected by the Trump administration as the most likely to produce a vaccine for the coronavirus.

Moderna (MRNA) is one of the finalists

By narrowing the field, the White House is betting it can identify the most promising vaccines at an early stage, speed along the process of determining which will work and ensure that the winner or winners can be quickly manufactured in large quanities, the Times said.

Pfizer is also one of the finalists

The announcement of the decision will be made at the White House in the next few weeks, government officials said.

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AstraZeneca is one of the five companies.

Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the federal governmentโ€™s top epidemiologist and director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, hinted at the coming action on Tuesday when he told a medical seminar that โ€œby the beginning of 2021 we hope to have a couple of hundred million doses.โ€

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Johnson & Johnson is also a finalist for Covid 19 vaccine

Finalists

A White House announcement is expected in the new few weeks. In addition to Moderna, the winners are AstraZeneca (AZN), Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), Merck (MRK) and Pfizer (PFE), according the Times.

Merck presents results from Phase 3 KEYNOTE-426 study, Stockwinners
Merck is the final company on the list.

B. Riley FBR

B. Riley FBR analyst Mayank Mamtani views the selloff today in shares of Novavax on the New York Times report that the company was not selected as a finalist for the White House’s “Operation Warp Speed” as overdone.

Mamtani reiterates a Buy rating on Novavax. NVAX closed down 11% to $44.25.

Novax did not make the final cut, shares tumble

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Arena Pharmaceuticals higher on ulcerative colitis data

Bristol Myers Squibb (BMY) reported positive ulcerative colitis treatment data. The report sent shares of Arena Pharmaceuticals (ARNA) higher.

Arena shares jump of Bristol Myers data, Stockwinners

The study tested Bristol Myers’ Zeposia in patients with moderate to severe ulcerative colitis. At weeks 10 and 52, the experimental ulcerative colitis treatment induced clinical remission and maintained remission, respectively.

Zeposia belongs to a class of oral drugs known as sphingosine-1-phosphate receptor modules, or S1P. This is the first time an S1P drug has shown strong effectiveness in ulcerative colitis treatment, suggesting these drugs could beat out another class called janus kinase inhibitors, or JAKs.

Arena is also testing out an S1P drug, etrasimod.

Etrasimod is a next-generation, once-daily, oral, highly selective sphingosine 1-phosphate (S1P) receptor modulator discovered by Arena, and designed for optimized pharmacology and engagement of S1P receptor 1, 4 and 5 which may lead to an improved efficacy and safety profile.

Etrasimod provides systemic and local effects on specific immune cell types and has the potential to treat multiple immune-mediated inflammatory diseases including ulcerative colitis, Crohnโ€™s disease, and atopic dermatitis.

Etrasimod is an investigational compound that is not approved for any use in any country.

Canter Comments

Cantor Fitzgerald analyst Alethia Young raised the firm’s price target on Arena Pharmaceuticals (ARNA) to $88 from $68 and reiterates an Overweight rating on the shares.

Bristol Meyers’ (BMY) positive topline data this morning from the pivotal study of its sphingosine-1-phosphate ozanimod in ulcerative colitis is a “positive readthrough” to Arena’s etrasimod ulcerative colitis program, Young tells investors in a research note.

The analyst increased her probability of success to 80% from 75% and is now “very confident” in the Phase 3 success of etrasimod.

#Young also thinks that #S1P1 as a class is shaping up to be a “big commercial opportunity” and increased her peak sales to $3B.

She thinks Arena shares will be up at least 10% today on Bristol’s news given that ozanimod and etrasimod are both S1P1s and this is the first positive Phase 3 readout for the class in ulcerative colitis, says the analyst.

Credit Suisse

Credit Suisse analyst Martin Auster raised the firm’s price target on Arena Pharmaceuticals (ARNA) to $87 from $77 and keeps an Outperform rating on the shares after Bristol-Myers (BMY) announced that S1P modulator ozanimod met its primary endpoint of clinical remission in the Phase 3 “True North” study of adults with moderate to severe ulcerative colitis.

Auster views ozanimod’s topline success as de-risking for the S1P class and sees positive read-through for Arena’s etrasimod, he tells investors. He has increased his view on the odds of success for etrasimod in ulcerative colitis following Bristol’s report, the analyst added.

ARNA is up 16% to $68.04

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Iterum Therapeutics drug fails, shares cut in half

Iterum says Phase 3 trial of sulopenem did not meet primary endpoint

Iterum Therapeutics (ITRM) announced that sulopenem did not achieve statistical non-inferiority relative to ertapenem in its SUlopenem for Resistant Enterobacteriaceae 2 clinical trial in complicated urinary tract infection.

Iterum shares collapse following it’s drug failure

The primary U.S. Food and Drug Administration endpoint was overall clinical and microbiologic response on Day 21 in the micro-MITT population as evaluated using a 10% non-inferiority margin.

The randomized, multi-center, double-blind SURE 2 clinical trial enrolled 1,395 patients to measure the efficacy, tolerability, and safety of IV and oral sulopenem for the treatment of cUTI in adults.

Patients were randomized to receive either IV sulopenem once daily for a minimum of five days followed by oral sulopenem twice daily to complete seven to ten days of treatment, or IV ertapenem once daily for a minimum of five days followed by either oral ciprofloxacin or, for quinolone resistant isolates, amoxicillin-clavulanate twice daily.

Responder rates at the test of cure visit for sulopenem were 67.8% and for ertapenem were 73.9% with a difference of -6.1%.

The difference in response rates was driven almost entirely by higher rates of asymptomatic bacteriuria on sulopenem relative to ertapenem, only evident at the test of cure visit; the rates of patients receiving additional antibiotics or with residual cUTI symptoms was similar.

Clinical response at the test of cure in the Modified Intent to Treat patient population and Clinically Evaluable patient population sulopenem vs ertapenem: 0.4% was similar.

The outcome at other secondary endpoints was also similar, including the overall response at the end of therapy visit at Day 10.

Strategic Alternatives

Based on the trial results, Iterum Therapeutics is evaluating its corporate, strategic and financial alternatives with the goal of maximizing value for its stakeholders while prudently managing its remaining resources.

These alternatives could potentially include the licensing, sale or divestiture of the company’s assets or proprietary technologies, a sale of the company, a merger or other business combination, another strategic transaction involving the company, restructuring activities, winding down of operations, dissolving and liquidating assets or seeking protection under bankruptcy laws.

ITRM shares are down 54% to $1.95.

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