Gilead Sciences Inc. beat the street with second quarter earnings of $2.14 billion, led by HIV drug Atripla revenues of $822 million. Gilead's antiretrovirals bounced back from a weak first quarter, with renewed growth in AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP) purchasing and increased demand in the EU from seasonal government purchasing. Gilead is looking forward to results from its two Phase III QUAD trials in the third quarter, which are expected to add value to the HIV franchise.
The acquisition of rights to vernakalant by Merck and Co. Inc. is being greeted as a vote of confidence by investors of Cardiome Pharma Corp. The price of shares in the Vancouver, British Columbia-based company surged more than 28 percent Tuesday after it announced that it was transferring rights for development and commercialization of the drug in North America from Astellas US LLC, a subsidiary of Astellas Pharma Inc., of Tokyo, to Merck, which already had rights in other parts of the world.
A peptide once thought to be irrelevant and superfluous in Type I diabetes is receiving renewed attention thanks to the efforts of Cebix Inc., a La Jolla, Calif.-based company focused on complications of diabetes.
As a way of getting clinical trials "under way and successfully concluded," BioSante Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Lincolnshire, Ill., has licensed its melanoma vaccine to the John P. Hussman Foundation for $100,000 up front, with up to $39 million in milestones.
Pfizer Inc. will acquire approximately 8.3 million shares in Icagen Inc. at a share price of $6 to become the majority shareholder in the company. Icagen is developing its pipeline of drugs targeted at ion channels for pain disorders, and three of its targets are covered by a 2007 collaboration agreement with Pfizer.
Allergan Inc. will acquire dermatology company Vicept Therapeutics Inc. in a deal worth up to $275 million. Malvern, Pa..-based Vicept's lead product, V-101, is in development for rosacea and has showed positive results in Phase II trials. The acquisition will beef up Allergan's range of dermatology products, which includes Tazorac (tazarotene) and Botox (onabotulinumtoxinA).
Stock in Nabi Biopharmaceuticals Inc. plunged 66.4 percent Monday on news that its smoking cessation vaccine, NicVAX, missed its primary endpoint in a Phase III trial. Participants in the double-blinded, placebo-controlled trial of 1,000 people quit smoking at a similar rate whether they were randomized to the vaccine or placebo group, about 11 percent. The company expressed surprise and disappointment, and is awaiting results of its second Phase III trial.
Two new studies provided the first evidence that daily oral antiretroviral therapy for HIV can decrease the rate of transmission to uninfected partners through heterosexual intercourse.
Amgen Inc. has joined a long list of pharma companies eager to capitalize on Micromet's BiTE antibody platform, which showed unusual promise in recent Phase II studies. The agreement tallies up to $976 million including an up-front payment of €10 million (US$14 million), plus milestones, royalties and development funding.
Tom Hughes, President and CEO of Zafgen Inc., is not concerned about the FDA's upcoming general advisory committee in 2012 to address requirements for cardiovascular assessments for obesity therapeutics. Whereas the announcement has left late-stage obesity companies like Orexigen Therapeutics Inc., Vivus Inc. and Arena Pharmaceuticals Inc. in a sort of limbo, Cambridge, Mass.-based Zafgen is moving forward with confidence.
