Madison, Wis.-based Exact Sciences Corp., which provided an update on promising research in a collaboration with the Mayo Clinic, saw a jump in revenue during its third quarter, with 12,000 providers ordering their initial Cologuard test during the period. The company posted impressive numbers, with revenue increasing 85% to $219 million on Cologuard volume growth. The revenue came in $3 million above consensus, and the operational update was as expected, noted Sean Lavin, BTIG analyst. Even though management was upbeat, "with investor sentiment fairly weak, an in-line result was simply not good enough, and we guessed that a $5 [million]-$10 [million] beat was probably needed to nudge shares," Lavin added.
It was a standout quarter for San Diego-based Resmed Inc., which saw revenues jump to $681.1 million, with the U.S., Canada and Latin America serving as bright spots. "We have started fiscal year 2020 right where we left off with 2019," Michael Farrell, Resmed's CEO, said during a call on the results. "Our team achieved another quarter of the balanced growth across the portfolio, driven by continued strong performance in the mask category."
Significant progress is being made in the development of next-generation treatments for multiple myeloma. For that reason, investors and industry analysts alike will be anxiously awaiting the abstracts for the upcoming American Society of Hematology (ASH) annual meeting.
There has been a flurry of news flowing from companies developing new antibiotics during the month and the BioWorld Infectious Diseases index, after languishing for the past several months, is tracking up 5% for October. The activity comes against the backdrop of the completion of the AMR Challenge.
"We believe there is a large patient population that is underserved right now. T cell-targeting therapies, to be honest, are great. Look at the clinical data with PD-1s. They're fantastic for patients, but T-cell infiltration in all human cancer is only 25 percent."
The FDA released final guidance to help sponsors develop systemic drugs for HIV-1 pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP). The guidance provides nonclinical and clinical recommendations, with a focus on long-acting systemic drugs intended to prevent sexually acquired infections.