Gilead Sciences Inc.'s third-quarter earnings, though deemed satisfactory, brought lukewarm responses from Wall Street, with analysts such as J.P. Morgan's Cory Kasimov writing in a report that "these days the company's quarterly progress seems to take a back seat to how they [will] ultimately deploy their substantial amount of capital. The Galapagos deal notwithstanding, this feels like a long wait that's quite frankly getting a bit stale." Still reverberating is the arrangement this summer with Galapagos NV, of Mechelen, Belgium, which signed a 10-year research and development pact with Gilead under which Galapagos is getting $3.95 billion up front in hard cash plus another $1.1 billion in equity, in return for which Gilead will essentially have an option to ex-European rights on everything emanating from the firm's clinical and preclinical pipeline. Read More
Roughly 40 years after Bio-Response launched the first-ever biotech IPO, three companies priced IPOs on Friday, riding a wave of momentum that has put 2019 into second place for the most IPO money raised in a single year. Only 2018's record $10.7 billion is beyond this year's total: 54 global IPOs raising $7.98 billion. Read More
With Stifel analysts recently setting a $41 price target for Urogen Pharma Ltd. and interim data in hand from the trial in bladder cancer with UGN-102, hopes are high that the drug's approach – having already proved its mettle in UGN-101 against low-grade upper tract urothelial cancer (UTUC) – will yield durable results. Shares (NASDAQ:URGN) have been trading at around $22, closing Friday at $21.97. Read More
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. Read More
Chinese researchers have developed the first green tea-triggered genetic control system for future gene- and cell-based precision medicine applications, and then used it to treat diabetes in mice and monkeys, they reported in the Oct. 23, 2019, issue of Science Translational Medicine. Read More
BEIJING – Sino-U.S. infectious diseases specialist Brii Biosciences Inc., with U.S. offices in Durham, N.C., and San Francisco, and China offices in Beijing and Shanghai, is bringing to greater China three investigational products from anti-infective therapy developer Qpex Biopharma Inc., of San Diego, to treat various multidrug-resistant gram-negative infections. Read More
Regulatory snapshots, including global drug submissions and approvals, clinical trial approvals and other regulatory decisions and designations. Read More
