Posts Tagged ‘biotech’

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. (REGN) jumps on OK for eye drug

Wednesday, June 15th, 2011

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. (Nasdaq: REGN) shares rose 8.4% to $59.65 after U.S. regulators had released a report saying its experimental treatment prevents a cause of vision loss. Volume for the stock registered 1.29 million, just outdistancing its all-day average of 1.24 million.

The Food and Drug Administration said the company’s drug, VEGF Trap-Eye, worked as well as Roche (RHHBY.PK)‘s Lucentis in treating an eye condition that is the leading cause of blindness in American seniors.’

On Friday, an outside panel of experts will vote on whether the drug should be approved. The FDA is not required to follow the group’s advice, though it often does.
Analysts have high expectations for Regeneron’s drug because it designed to be injected less frequently than Lucentis: once every two months, versus once a month.

Dr. Michael Aberman, Regeneron’s vice president of strategy and investor relations, was quoted in a Forbes article on June 15 as saying, “It’s a big deal for patients and caregivers if you can get less frequent injections in the eye. It’s a great advancement in quality of life and compliance.”

The FDA said studies of VEGF Trap-Eye showed it worked as well as Lucentis in maintaining patients’ vision after one year of treatment.

If approved, VEGF Trap-Eye will be the first drug to compete with Roche’s Lucentis, which posts sales of about $1.5 billion annually.

Founded on the principle that strong science would lead to important new medicines, according to the company website, the Tarrytown, New York-based Regeneron has become an integrated biopharmaceutical company that discovers, develops, and commercializes medicines for the treatment of serious medical conditions.

OXiGENE Inc. (OXGN) surges on new cancer treatment

Monday, June 6th, 2011

OXiGENE Inc. (Nasdaq: OXGN) shares rose 13.8% to $4.87, after the biotech company on Saturday reported encouraging data on a potential treatment for non-small cell lung cancer. Share volume for the stock tallied 2.3 million shares, already surpassing an all-day high of 1.7 million.

The San Francisco-based company announced Saturday that it presented updated safety and clinical activity data from the FALCON trial, a stratified randomized, controlled Phase 2 study of ZYBRESTAT™ (fosbretabulin tromethamine, or CA4P) in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), at the 2011 Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) in Chicago.

An updated analysis conducted approximately 11 months after the enrollment of the last patient in June 2010 showed that the combination regimen of ZYBRESTAT plus bevacizumab, carboplatin and paclitaxel (ZYBRESTAT Arm) was observed to be well-tolerated with no significant cumulative toxicities when compared with the control arm of the study. In addition, a pre-specified subgroup analysis showed meaningful improvements in median time to progression for patients with poor performance status.

Said Dr. Peter Langecker, CEO of OXiGENE, “With several clinical trials completed in multiple indications, we now have a large body of data showing the excellent combinability potential of ZYBRESTAT.

“In addition,” Langecker continued, “this study provides data in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) suggesting that ZYBRESTAT may benefit patients with more advanced stages of disease…. We believe that designing a development plan based on targeting this subgroup of patients could represent a sensible and achievable clinical strategy and we look forward to discussing further development of ZYBRESTAT with potential pharmaceutical partners.”

OXiGENE is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing novel therapeutics to treat cancer and eye diseases. The Company’s major focus is developing vascular disrupting agents that selectively disrupt abnormal blood vessels associated with solid tumor progression and visual impairment.

Response Genetics Inc. (RGDX) prospers on Q1 results

Thursday, May 12th, 2011

Response Genetics Inc. (Nasdaq: RGDX) saw its shares bolt 21.7% higher Thursday to $2.30, on higher first-quarter financial results. Volume for the stock reached 17,703 shares, or nearly six times its full-day average.

The Los Angeles-based company, focused on the development and sale of molecular diagnostic tests for cancer, reported total revenue increased by 60% to $5.9 million for the first quarter ended March 31, 2011, compared to $3.7 million for the same period last year.

Response Genetics’ net loss for the first quarter was $0.3 million, or $0.01 per share, compared with a net loss of $2.1 million, or a loss of $0.13 per share, for the same period last year.

Kathleen Danenberg, Response Genetics CEO, commented, “We continue to manage the business with operational discipline and ended the first quarter seeing a marked increase in traction for our recently implemented pathology initiative.”

Danenberg continued, “We believe that the pathology initiative, including digital capabilities to integrate pathologists into the ResponseDX™ testing process, increased test offerings to physicians and additional sales representatives will be strong revenue drivers for 2011 as we approach profitability.”

Response Genetics’ technologies enable extraction and analysis of genetic information from genes derived from tumor samples stored as formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded specimens.

OMER gets traction, SIRI gets sued, CREE gets dumped

Wednesday, March 23rd, 2011

Omeros Corp. (Nasdaq: OMER) shares gained 10.6% to $6.69. Volume was 154,491 shares, or 2 and a half times the norm, after the biotechnology company said its potential eye-surgery treatment met key goals in a mid-stage study.

Sirius XM Radio Inc. (Nasdaq: SIRI) traded in 44.7 million shares by noon ET Wednesday, in contrast to a daily average of 55.9 million. Share prices dipped a bit, though, by 2.4% to $1.67, after Howard Stern sued the satellite radio provider and at least one analyst cut his rating on the stock.

Cree Inc. (Nasdaq: CREE) shares fell 11.7% to $43.29, on volume of 14.2 million, towering over its average of 3.3 million, after the LED manufacturer trimmed its third-quarter revenue forecast.

ACTC, CPWEE slide, ADSU skyrockets

Wednesday, December 8th, 2010

Advanced Cell Technology Inc. (OTCBB: ACTC) dropped nearly 7 percent to close Wednesday at 14.8 cents. Extraordinary volume of 142,172,592 easily eclipsed average daily volume of 9,950,280. The Massachusetts-based biotech company announced today that it had strengthened its balance sheet by eliminating approximately $3 million in debt.

Clean power Technologies, Inc. (OTCBB: CPWEE) plummeted 72 percent to 3 cents Wednesday, on volume of 788,477, nearly one thousand times its daily average. The Canadian developer of hybrid fuel technology has been struggling this month with internal management shakeups.

Aden Solutions, Inc. (OTCBB: ADSU) soared 96.72 percent, tacking on 6 cents to close Wednesday at 12 cents. Volume of 15,000 easily surpassed three month daily average volume of 9,000. The Toronto-based ADSU provides travel packages and concierge services to corporate entities.