After a month's postponement, Radius Health Inc. scooted through the initial public offering window on its second attempt, pricing, as expected, an offering of 6.5 million shares at $8 apiece for gross proceeds of $52 million.
Elevated glucose levels emerging in roughly one-fourth of lung cancer patients receiving Clovis Oncology Inc.'s next-generation EGFR inhibitor CO-1686 may have overshadowed the promising interim progression-free survival (PFS) rate presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting over the weekend, at least on Wall Street, but analysts say the targeted covalent inhibitor remains a contender against Astrazeneca plc's AZD9291.
While big pharma firms are expected to make the big splash in immuno-oncology at the upcoming American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) meeting, small biotech Armo Biosciences Inc. also will be on hand with a poster on AM0010, a promising interleukin-10 (IL-10)-targeting immunotherapy that helped the Redwood City, Calif.-based firm attract $30 million in series B funding.
Coming as little surprise after an FDA advisory panel backed Entyvio (vedolizumab) for treatment of severe ulcerative colitis and moderate to severe Crohn's disease, Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd.'s drug gained approval on its May 20 PDUFA date, becoming the first integrin inhibitor to hit the market since Biogen Idec Inc.'s Tysabri (natalizumab).
Just ahead of the three-day weekend, the FDA granted approval of antibiotic dalbavancin, a drug that ended its long and winding development road by becoming the first qualified infectious disease product (QIDP) to win approval, getting the nod for use in acute bacterial skin and skin structure infections (ABSSSIs) caused by gram-positive microorganisms, including the dreaded methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.
Agile Therapeutics Inc. updated its S-1 filing this week to propose selling 9.2 million shares at $6 apiece in a $55 million initial public offering (IPO), an amount that, even in the current ticklish market, seems relatively modest for a late-stage firm. But if the current IPO market has shown any trend for biotech, it's that post-pricing stock performance and market cap have little to do with development stage.
Coming as little surprise after an FDA advisory panel backed Entyvio (vedolizumab) for treatment of severe ulcerative colitis and moderate to severe Crohn's disease, Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd.'s drug gained approval on its May 20 PDUFA date, becoming the first integrin inhibitor to hit the market since Biogen Idec Inc.'s Tysabri (natalizumab).
While death rates for most cancers have decreased over the years, the overall survival rate for pancreatic cancer hasn't budged in four decades, a lamentable statistic due in part to the lack of diagnostic biomarkers or procedures capable of detecting the disease in an early, localized stage and leading to better treatment outcomes.
Even before the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) freed thousands of abstracts from embargo late Wednesday afternoon, immunotherapy already was emerging as the biggest story at the upcoming meeting in Chicago and big pharma firms as its major stars.
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