What a week. The iShares NASDAQ Biotechnology (IBB) made new all-time highs and is drastically outpacing the S&P 500, as well as the NASDAQ composite, for the year. March and April, when the biotech was in dire straits, is a distant memory.
Monday started off with a big collaboration in immune-oncology: Newlink Genetics Corp. (NLNK) pairing off with Roche’s (RHHBY) Genentech for the development of NLG919, NewLink’s IDO pathway inhibitor. NLNK and its IDO inhibitor were already divisive on the street – nearly 20% of the company’s stock was sold short at the end of September – and this deal only complicates the bull/bear debate. Roche now has exclusive access to NLG919 worldwide, and will collaborate with NewLink on the discovery of next generation IDO/TDO compounds. In exchange, Roche coughed up $150 million in cash, is on the hook for up to $1 billion in development and regulatory milestones, and escalating double-digit royalty payments on potential commercial sales of NLG919, or any subsequent IDO/TDO inhibitors. The deal comes on the heels early this year of both Astrazeneca (AZN) and Merck (MRK)pairing mid-stage immunotherapies with Incyte Therapeutics’ (INCY) IDO inhibitor, INCB24360.
More recently, NewLink receives attention for its early Ebola vaccine. But this week it was European drug developer Bavarian Nordic (BAVA.CO) and Tekmira Pharmaceuticals (TKMR) getting attention with announcements that their two distinct approaches to Ebola, a vaccine and therapeutic respectively, are that much closer to deployment in Western Africa. Bavarian Nordic A/S (BAVA.CO) (BVNRY) announced a license and supply agreement for its MVA-BN Filovirus vaccine candidate with Crucell Holland, a segment of Johnson & Johnson (JNJ). A combination of Bavarian’s Filovirus vaccine and J&J’s AdVac technology demonstrated complete protection against Ebola in recent preclinical studies. J&J plans to move into the clinic early next year and expects to have 250,000 doses ready to be released for broad application in clinical trials by May of 2015.
Meanwhile, Tekmira announced that it has commenced limited manufacturing of a new Ebola therapeutic, TKM-Ebola Guinea, specifically targeting the strain responsible for the ongoing Ebola outbreak in West Africa. Tekmira said that supply of the therapeutic will be available in early December for use by various collaborators. It’s an important development for the TKM-Ebola program, and RNAi therapeutics in general, for a number of reasons. The ability for Tekmira to rapidly develop, manufacture, and deploy a sequence-specific RNAi therapeutic matching the outbreak’s demonstrates the power of an RNAi platform. Additionally, the development demonstrates Tekmira’s commitment to an efficacious Ebola therapeutic for use in the ongoing outbreak, positioning themselves to potentially realize monetary benefits from this program, which we’ve written about in the past. Click here to read more – why Zack Fink believes Tekmira’s RNAi approach has real promise.
On Monday, Illumina (ILMN) blew out consensus expectations for the third quarter and increased yet again its full year 2014 guidance: earnings of $2.63 to $2.65 per share. The stock jumped 10% in after-hours trading on Monday and ended the week at new all-time highs.
It was another great quarter for Illumina, furthering our longstanding view that paying up for this company’s growth has been worthwhile for more than two years. PropThink reiterated this stance to our Premium subscribers just last month. Monday’s beat and raise should serve to solidify this view: Illumina’s not going anywhere. (Continue reading)
The stock is up almost 300% since Mr. Deryugin first called it a buy almost two years ago.
With the potential to deliver one-time cures for genetic disorders, bluebird bio (BLUE) is challenging the entire therapeutic and pharmaceutical paradigm. The company develops gene therapy products for diseases with significant unmet needs and has three core clinical programs with a number of significant data points in the next 9 months. Wall Street attributes little value to a number of these programs, which is why, despite a lofty valuation for a primarily phase I/II pipeline, the story is so interesting. Our latest research report on bluebird bio (BLUE) was sent to PropThink Premium readers at mid-week.
The upcoming American Society of Hematology (ASH) Meeting in early December offers the next glimpse at BLUE’s clinical data to date: the company is expected to present results for the gene therapy product LentiGlobin in ß-thalassemia; early results have been encouraging. In the report, we outline upcoming events for BLUE and what investors should be looking for (and looking OUT for) with upcoming events. Get the story (50% off your first month) by clicking here.
