Merck Updates Merck (MRK) provided updates on two Phase 3 trials, KEYNOTE-867 and KEYNOTE-630, stating that it discontinued Phase 3 KEYNOTE-867 trial evaluating KEYTRUDA in combination with stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) for the treatment of patients with stage I or II non-small cell . . . This content is for paid subscribers. Please click here to subscribe or here to log in.

Merck in the NEWS Merck Pharmaceuticals (MRK), known as Merck, Sharp & Dohme (MSD) outside the United States and Canada, and the Finnish pharmaceutical Company Orion Corporation announced that notice has been provided of the mutual exercise of an option to convert the companies’ ongoing co-development and co-commercialization agreement for the investigational product opevesostat into an exclusive global license . . . This content is …

Merck & Invivyd in the NEWS Our post today comprises a premarket drug rejection. An important new approval for Merck's (MRK) Keytruda product, and exciting promising trial results for the firm Invivyd, Inc. (

Merck and Moderna Inc Announcement Merck (MRK) and Moderna Inc (MRNA . . . This content is for paid subscribers. Please click here to subscribe or here to log in.

Merck and Kintara in the NEWS Treating cancers that have no treatments should be a priority for researchers to create a treatment for them.  Patients who are afflicted with untreatable deadly diseases might not have a single drop of hope in survival  from these untreatable cancers. In yesterday's news, we fell on a treatment by Merck that demonstrated statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvement in …

Merck in the NEWS Merck (MRK) announced that the U.S. FDA has accepted for review a new supplemental Biologics License Application (sBLA) seeking approval for KEYTRUDA (pembrolizumab) in combination with fluoropyrimidine- and platinum-containing chemotherapy, for the first-line treatment of HER2 negative patients with locally advanced unresectable or metastatic gastric or gastroesophageal junction (GEJ) adenocarcinoma. The American Agency's acceptance of . . . This content is …

Merck KEYTRUDA Announcement Merck (MRK) announced today that Phase 3 NRG-GY018 trial evaluating KEYTRUDA in combination with chemotherapy (carboplatin and paclitaxel) met its primary endpoint of progression-free survival (PFS) in patients with stage III-IV or recurrent endometrial carcinoma regardless of mismatch repair status. NRG-GY018 is a randomized, blinded, placebo-controlled Phase 3 trial (ClinicalTrials.gov, 

Seagen, Astellas Pharma & Merck Collaboration Seagen (SGEN) and Astellas Pharma (ALPMY) have entered a clinical collaboration . . . This content is for paid subscribers. Please click here to subscribe or here to log in.

Is Merck to Acquire Seagen? The Wall Street Journal reported that Merck is in advanced talks to buy Seagen in a deal that could be worth $40 billion or more. The report, cited by people familiar with the matter, said that the companies are discussing a price above $200 a share for SGEN. It is said that the acquisition will help Merck boost its products …

Comprehensive Prohost Letter Issues Coronavirus Variant Omicron A lot has happened since the coronavirus variant Omicron was discovered in South Africa. After having been responsible for a severe plummeting of the stock market, Omicron boosted the market after being described by many scientists as fast spreading with different yet milder symptoms when compared to those caused by SARS-CoV-1, SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19) and …

U.S. Government to Purchase More of Merck and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics Molnupiravir for COVID-19 Merck (MRK) and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics announced that the United States government will exercise two of its options to purchase a total of 1.4 million additional courses of molnupiravir - an investigational oral antiviral medicine, if the medicine is granted Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) or . . . This content is for paid …

Merck Stock Soared Great expectations for Merck (MRK) future growth and the future of novel treatments for patients with severe devastating and life-threatening diseases. Keytruda - Merck's cancer immunotherapy drug, has reached a milestone and molnupiravir - its COVID-19 pill, sales revenues are expected to generate $5 billion to $7 billion through 2022, subject to emergency use authorization, at the end of November 2021. The …

Gilead Sciences and Merck Collaboration to Develop Long-Acting HIV Treatment  Gilead Sciences (GILD) and Merck (MRK) announced the start of a Phase 2 clinical study evaluating an investigational, once-weekly oral combination treatment regimen of islatravir and lenacapavir in people living with HIV who are virologically suppressed on antiretroviral therapy. From Gilead Sciences and Merck Jared Baeten, MD, PhD, Vice President, HIV Clinical Development, Gilead Sciences, …

Merck and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics COVID-19 News  Merck (MRK) and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics today announced that molnupiravir (MK-4482, EIDD-2801) - an investigational oral antiviral medicine, has significantly reduced the risk of hospitalization or death at a planned interim analysis of the Phase 3 MOVe-OUT trial in at risk, non-hospitalized . . . This content is for paid subscribers. Please click here to subscribe or here to log in.

Sutro Biopharma Receives Milestone Payment from Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany Sutro Biopharma (STRO) announced that it has received a milestone payment under its collaboration and license agreement with the healthcare division of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt,Germany. The payment is related to a patient enrollment achievement in the Phase 1 dose-escalation and expansion study of M1231 in adult patients . . . This content is for paid …

Sutro Biopharma Inc Sutro Biopharma (STRO) is a clinical-stage drug discovery, development and manufacturing company. Its expertise is in the application of precise protein engineering and rational design to create next-generation cancer and autoimmune therapeutics. Sutro Biopharma reported its financial results for the first quarter of 2021 and its recent business highlights, in addition to providing a preview of anticipated selected . . . This content …

Inovio Pharmaceuticals Promising Results for INO-4800 for COVID-19 Inovio Pharmaceuticals (INO) announces promising results of a study focusing on the human immune responses induced by Inovio DNA vaccine candidate, INO-4800, against COVID-19, and variants of concern. The results demonstrated that INO-4800 induced a robust T . . . This content is for paid subscribers. Please click here to subscribe or here to log in.

Prohost Letter #445 A Flashback and Future Projections 1. A Follow-Up on Recently Posted News from ProhostBiotech 2. Answering Questions 3. Development-Stage Firms to Outperform 4. Oversold Revenue-Generating Firms 5. Tables with FAIR 2021 Targets for the Prohost Selected Firms In This Issue We Discuss the Following Firms: Anixa Biosciences (

Immutep Ltd and Merck Announce Second Clinical Trial Collaboration Immutep (IMMP) develops novel immunotherapy treatments for cancer, infectious disease and autoimmune diseases. Today, Immutep announced a second clinical trial collaboration and supply agreement with Merck & Co (MRK) subsidiaries, Kenilworth, NJ, USA (known as “MSD” outside the United States and Canada). Immutep will conduct a new Phase IIb clinical trial in 1st line head and …

Gilead Sciences and Merck Announced Agreement for Long-Term HIV Combination Treatment Gilead Sciences (GILD) and Merck (MRK . . . This content is for paid subscribers. Please click here to subscribe or here to log in.

Nektar Therapeutics YoYoing Stock Price Investors who exaggerate their enthusiasm, or their apathy, towards buying and selling biotechnology stocks have sent the Nektar Therapeutics (NKTR) stock price to the Moon but wasted no time bringing it back to Earth. This, of course, after we fell in love with it and selected it for investment purposes. We witnessed the stock reach near $80 only . . …

Merck Discontinues Development of COVID-19 Vaccine Candidates Merck (MRK) known as MSD outside the United States and Canada announced yesterday that the company is discontinuing the development of its SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19 vaccine candidates, V590 and V591. This decision follows Merck’s review of findings from Phase 1 clinical studies for the vaccines. In these studies, both V590 . . . This content is for paid subscribers. Please click here …

Moderna Inc COVID-19 Vaccine Candidate Moderna Inc (MRNA) announced the completion of the case accrual for the first interim analysis of Phase 3 COVE study of mRNA-1273, its COVID-19 vaccine candidate. The firm announced a significant increase in the rate of case identification across sites in the last week. As a result, the Company expects the first interim analysis will include substantially more than 53 …

Compugen Compugen (CGEN) announced the presentation of new research data that further support PVRIG as a potentially promising target for cancer immunotherapy. These data suggest that PVRIG inhibition may enhance T cell priming and infiltration into tumors and provide further evidence supporting the potential advantages of targeting PVRIG alone and in combination with TIGIT and PD-1 inhibitors, in tumors . . . This content is for …

Seattle Genetics Two New Strategic Oncology Collaborations with Merck Seattle Genetics (SGEN) and Merck (

Why Agenus Stock Rallied Yesterday On September 2, 2020 we posted an article about Agenus (AGEN) under Trick or Trade titled, “

Compugen Compugen (CGEN) cancer immunotherapy’s predictive target computational discovery platforms enabled it to identify two checkpoint proteins, PVRIG and TIGIT, when nobody else could. Compugen’s technological capability has also enabled it to create therapeutic inhibitors of its two discovered targets. The discoveries happened to be important in improving cancer immunotherapy. The lead therapeutic candidate, COM701 . . . This content is for paid subscribers. Please …

Time to Remember Compugen The time has ripened for our readers and biotech investors to remember what we posted in the past years about Compugen (CGEN). The importance of the reminder is that the firm has taken a long time to bring its target discoveries and its targeted treatments into clinical trials whose preliminary results have demonstrated promise. Compugen

Coronavirus On January 7, 2020, a novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) was identified in humans in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China. Additional cases have been found in the United States and in a growing number of countries around the world.    Coronaviruses are a family of viruses that can lead to respiratory illness, including Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-CoV) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS-CoV). Coronaviruses are …

Nektar Therapeutics Presents NKTR-255 at ASH Nektar Therapeutics’ (NKTR) IL-15 agonist investigational candidate NKTR-255 presentations at the 61st American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting & Exposition have been promising. Positive data presented from Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center preclinical studies conducted in collaboration with researchers from the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and more. NKTR-255 is currently . . . This content is for paid subscribers. …

Firstly, Forty-Seven and IVERIC bio  We remind that the two condemned stocks Forty-Seven (FTSV) and  IVERIC bio (

Stock Market Volatility  Stocks can move up and down for various reasons but not all of them have anything to do with the real value of the firms. As a matter of fact, almost all stocks outperform for a while, reverse their course to underperforming, then restart the cycle. The stock market in its entirety does the same thing for reasons that have nothing to …

The Week in Review #42 During the Departed Week The week started with the market losing over 1000 points and ended recuperating a large extent of the losses. Desperate during the market’s plummeting, some investors were happy for the rebound and some were confused and skeptical about what the unpredictable market might bring next. In the latest Prohost Letter #436, the losses in prices of …

News from Nektar Nektar Therapeutics (NKTR) announced that new data from patients with metastatic triple-negative breast cancer, who were enrolled in the PIVOT-02 study, will be presented at the upcoming 5th CRI-CIMT-EATI-AACR Cancer Immunotherapy Conference being held from September 25 to September 28, 2019 in Paris, France. The PIVOT-02 study is evaluating NKTR-214 . . . This content is for paid subscribers. Please click here to subscribe …

AstraZeneca and Merck PARP Inhibitor Lynparza The AstraZeneca (AZN) and Merck (MRK) PARP inhibitor Lynparza (olaparib) has been granted approval in Europe for first-line maintenance monotherapy . . . This content is for paid subscribers. Please click here to subscribe or here to log in.

Prohost Letter #432 The ASCO 2019 Special Edition SPRAYING FEAR The Victims Are The most disturbed victim of the instigated and irrelevant fear against investing in the stock market is the market itself. Indeed, baseless fear campaigns frighten positive investors while encouraging short-selling investors to maximize their selling which intensifies the markets volatility. We have been experiencing this phenomenon since the beginning of 2019. Market …

Incyte's FDA Approval Based on encouraging data from the REACH1 trial the FDA approved a label expansion of the Incyte (INCY) product Jakafi (ruxolitinib) for graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) in people 12 years and older. The FDA previously granted Jakafi Breakthrough therapy designation and orphan drug status for acute GVHD. GVHD is a condition that might occur after an . . . This content is for paid subscribers. Please …

Zolgensma Findings The FDA submission of the gene therapy product Zolgensma was based on positive findings from a trial of 15 babies treated with it. Recently; however, at the Orlando meeting of the Muscular Dystrophy Association Novartis (NVS) presented interim results for 22 babies with Type 1 SMA which is considered the . . . This content is for paid subscribers. Please click here to subscribe …

  Conquering NASH Gilead and Novo Nordisk Conquering NASH What was Gilead Sciences' (GILD) announcement at EASL? What is Gilead doing to find effective treatments for NASH? Why would Novo Nordisk's (

Keytruda and Cabometyx Are Both Winners Keytruda failed to meet co-primary endpoints in Pivotal Phase 3 trial The pivotal Phase 3 KEYNOTE-240 trial evaluating Keytruda, Merck’s (MRK) checkpoint inhibitor anti-PD-1 therapy plus best supportive care, for the treatment of patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) who were previously treated with systemic therapy, did not meet its co-primary endpoints of overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival …

From the American Society of Clinical Oncology Genitourinary Cancers Symposium (ASCO GU) Prostate Cancer A presentation by Bayer demonstrated improvement in the treatment of non-metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer. Separate presentations by Bristol-Myers and Janssen also demonstrated improvement in metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer. Non-Metastatic Castration Resistant Prostate Cancer Bayer Results from pivotal Phase 3 ARAMIS trial with Bayer’s (BAYRY) and Orion Corporation’s jointly-developed product darolutamide plus …

Merck (MRK) announced its Q4 2018 financial results. The firm outperformed itself and delighted us with regard to picking its stock on time. Merck compensated those who bet on it the day it was added to the Prohost Portfolio that comprises only the biotech and bio-pharmaceutical companies with solid scientific fundamentals. The press release issued regarding Merck's financial results started with Kenneth C. Frazier, Chairman and …

Yesterday, the Stock Market skyrocketed and with it a significant number of Prohost Picks that we keep reminding ourselves are undervalued. The outperformance unveiled the interred strength of firms such as: Illumina (ILMN), Amgen (AMGN) and Vertex (VRTX), the gene therapy firms: RegenxBio (RGNX) and Spark (ONCE), and the gene editing firms: Crispr (CRSP), Intellia (NTLA) and Editas (EDIT), as well as others in the Prohost Portfolio. The rebounding in the …

A number of biotech or biopharmaceutical companies have succeeded in the past couple of years in changing their statuses from clinical stage to revenues-generating firms. A number of these firms reside in the Prohost Portfolio, picked up before they generated revenues from their newly approved products’ sales. We are following up on these firms’ news as they come out of their new journeys towards marketing …

The Week in Review #32 POSITIVE NEWS PROTEOSTASIS THERAPEUTICS Cystic Fibrosis Two days ago, a clinical-­stage small firm called Proteostasis Therapeutics (PTI) announced positive preliminary results from ongoing Phase 1 cystic fibrosis studies. The trial involved the firm’s proprietary combination therapy doublet, PTI-­808 + PTI-­801...

The Week in Review #31 IN THE DEPARTED WEEK NOVEL MIGRAINE DRUGS ARE APPROVED ELI LILLY AFTER AMGEN AND TEVA In less than five months, the FDA approved three products belonging to four drug developers – all targeting calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) for the prevention of migraine headache. The latest for Eli Lilly (LLY) last week . . . This content is for paid subscribers. …

The Week in Review #29 PROHOST AGGRESSIVE PORTFOLIO  - The aggressive portfolio hosts biotech firms with solid scientific fundamentals and prominent scientists whose stocks have plummeted following some setbacks. A setback could be a failure of an investigational product to meet the endpoints of its clinical trial or that the small biotech firm has taken long to achieve its goals . . . This content …

The Week in Review #28 The approval of revolutionary products created by biotech firms with solid scientific fundamentals, superior scientists and advanced technologies is what motivates us to pick for investment biotech and biopharmaceutical firms. So, let’s see what has been approved in the parting week  from firms that we picked for investment.       IMPORTANT APPROVALS       Prohost Picked Firm     …

The FDA Approves Regeneron’s Product EyLea® (aflibercept) sBLA in Wet Age-Related Macular Degeneration Regeneron (REGN) has two good news. The first is from one of its approved products, EYLEA® announcing that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration(FDA) has approved a supplemental Biologics License Application (sBLA) for EYLEA® (aflibercept) Injection in patients with wet age-related macular degeneration (wet AMD). The sBLA was based on second-year data from the …

Exciting are the Q2 2018 reported results by Exelixis’ (EXEL) including the firm’s revenues and earnings, compared to 2017. Impressive were Cabometyx’ (cabozantinib) revenues, in addition to the milestone payments from collaborating companies and ex-USA marketing agent. Inspiring also are the efforts the firm is spending on research and development with the aim of further boosting its revenues. Of the Results Revenues and Incomes – …

The Week in Review #23  ASCO  2018 - Small  publicly-­traded  oncology  biotech  firms,  large  oncology  biotech  firms,  and  giant  biopharmaceutical  firms,  in  addition  to  some  private  biotech  companies,  all  presented  results  and  observations  about  their  cancer  drugs  at  the  2018  American  Society  of  Clinical  Oncology  (ASCO)   meeting.  Most  presentations  were  useful,...

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Agilent Technologies’ (NYSE: A) Dako PD-L1 IHC 22C3 pharmDx assay for an expanded use. The expended use is expected to help physicians to identify cervical cancer patients who are most likely to benefit from treatment with Merck’s (MRK) checkpoint inhibitor lmmuno-oncology product Keytruda PD-L1 IHC 22C3 pharmDx assay was FDA approved for non-small cell lung cancer and subsequently expanded approval for gastric …

– Keytruda becomes the first anti-PD-1 therapy to be approved for PMBCL   – This is the 2nd indication for Keytruda for a hematologic malignancy. – The approval is based on tumor response rate and durability of response. The FDA granted Merck (MRK) approval for its immuno-oncology checkpoint inhibitor Keytruda® for adult and pediatric patients with refractory primary mediastinal large B-cell lymphoma (PMBCL), or for those who relapsed after two …

Prohost Letter #420 REAL BREAKTHROUGHS - One Has Already Been Used and the Other Has Extraordinary Promises In  the  NEWS - THE POWER OF CHECKPOINT INHIBITOR IMMUNOTHERAPY WOW It is about the checkpoint inhibitors immunotherapy, which is bringing to the world of cancer a stunning revelation of a combination treatment offering an almost cure for a lung cancer...

In today’s news, Incyte’s (INCY) immuno-oncology IDO1 inhibitor product Epacadostat in combination with Merck’s immuno-oncology product Keytruda® did not meet the endpoints of the trial in patients with unresectable or metastatic melanoma. The stock was subjected to a selloff – a market’s reaction pattern that occurs whenever negative news comes out of experimentation without consideration of the extent of their impact. A serious question to ask now would …

Acorda (ACOR) stock was up around 10% reaching over $28 in premarket trading. The stock is trading now around $27 with its gains oscillating between $2 – $2.20. The enthusiasm for ACOR seems to be about rumors that Biogen (BIIB) or possibly other Asian drug makers might have demonstrated the interest in Acorda. What’s going on with Acorda? In June 2017, the stock rallied on news about positive clinical trial …

Checkpoint inhibitors approved for a few firms as immunotherapy for cancer are increasingly demonstrating their superiority in extending the lives of patients when given as first-line treatments. In the news, Merck’s (MRK) anti-PD-1 therapy, pembrolizumab (Keytruda®) in combination with pemetrexed (Alimta®) and cisplatin or carboplatin, for the first-line treatment of patients with metastatic non-squamous non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), met its dual primary endpoints of overall survival …

The Week in Review #9 KNOCKING DOWN THE BIOTECH STOCKS - Knocking down the biotech companies’ stocks during the announcement of the quarterly reports is no news. Most investors in the stock market, especially those who invest in the biotech sector have become familiar with this pattern . . . This content is for paid subscribers. Please click here to subscribe or here to log in.

The Week in Review #8 Potential biotech winners inspired through COLLABORATION - When successful top-­tier drug developing firms such as Amgen (AMGN) or Merck (MRK) sign strategic collaborating agreements with small development-­stage biotech firms,...   &nbsp . . . This content is for paid subscribers. Please click here to subscribe or here to log in.

–The Agreement Covers the Development of Investigational Plasma Kallikrein Inhibitors for Diabetic Macular Edema (DME) – Upfront Fee ($37 Million).  Potential Milestone Payments. Royalties On Sales. The deal could be worth $750 million – Merck Acquires 9.9% Stake in KalVista in Private Placement.    -Phase 2 Clinical Trial for the Investigational Intravitreal DME Candidate KVD001 Still Planned to Initiate in 2017. Surprise? Indeed, it is. KalVista Pharmaceuticals …

Prohost Letter #413 FROM BIOTECH TO BIOPHARMA - New research, new findings, new discoveries of trustworthy and doubtful biomarkers more understanding of genomics and proteomics, in addition to more breakthrough diagnostic procedures, are all gifts of the life-science revolution. This revolution started with molecular biology, the discovery of the DNA and its functions, which was the prelude to genomic understanding, gene sequencing, and genetic engineering and …

The Week in Review #4 AMAZING STOCK REBOUNDING - We have already witnessed and wrote about the fierce rebounding of some of our selected stocks comprising: Exelixis (EXEL), Sangamo (SGMO), Array (ARRY), ImmunoGen (IMGN) and others . . . This content is for paid subscribers. Please click here to subscribe or here to log in.

Indeed, updated data from the ongoing Phase 2 NLG2103 study of NewLink Genetics (NLNK) IDO inhibitor immunotherapy product indoximod in combination with the PD-1 pathway inhibitor, KEYTRUDA (pembrolizumab) demonstrate positive results in advanced melanoma. The news rallied the stock that has been cremated following news that the same drug Indoximoll has failed to meet the endpoint in mid-phase trials on breast cancer in combination with …

Prohost Letter #412 Part 3 GLIOBLASTOMA - Is There Hope? Senator John McCain was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor, glioblastoma – the most common and aggressive form of brain cancer. The cancer is so aggressive that most surgeries did not provide survival. This brain cancer affects around 3 people out of 100,000 in the U.S., with men more than women and whites more than other …

FROM ARRAY Array’s Drug Binimetinib in Combination Therapy with Merck’s Drug Keytruda for METASTATIC FOR COLORECTAL CANCER   On May 8, 2017, Array BioPharma and Merck announced entering into a clinical trial collaboration to investigate the safety and efficacy of Array's MEK inhibitor, binimetinib, with Merck's anti-PD-1 therapy, Keytruda® (pembrolizumab), in metastatic colorectal cancer patients with microsatellite stable tumors (MSS CRC). The decision on this …

Merck’s (MRK) anti-PD-1 drug Keytruda® (pembrolizumab) is approved for many, many cancers. Yet, it is fair to say that this checkpoint inhibitor drug will not be effective in all cancers. This is especially true now that yesterday, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has placed a clinical hold on KEYNOTE-183, KEYNOTE-185 and KEYNOTE-023, three combination studies of Keytruda® with Celgene’s products Pomalyst Pomalidomide and …

Prohost Letter #411 SOME STOCK RALLYING NEWS - Under normal conditions, some good news should rally the stocks of the firms that the news belong to them. During the past six months, Amgen (AMGN) announced a series of good news that seem to have fallen on deaf ears. Yesterday Amgen announced some positive results from three approved and one experimental products – all the news …

Prohost Letter #410 JUNE PDUFA DAYS This month, the FDA will decide on the approvals of drugs belonging to companies that Prohost has picked for investment. Usually, granting approvals rallies the stocks of the drugs’ developing firms. Sending Complete Response Letters for demands that might delay approvals would cut a substantial percentage of the stocks’ values, while rejections would cause the stocks to falter. Let’s …

As we wrote in Prohost Letter #409, a transformation in this year’s American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting (ASCO) is further elaborating on Checkpoint inhibition and chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR-T) approaches’ limitations. Both are attempts towards making Immunotherapy for cancer a successful treatment. Checkpoint inhibitors have reached the market at the hands of Merck, Bristo-Myers Squibb and Roche, with other firms coming forward with products …

Prohost Letter #409 ASCO The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) meeting is around the corner. The Meeting, which will begin on Friday June 2, 2017 and will end on Monday 5, 2017 will be different than the past years for many reasons, including the following: -­ Checkpoint inhibition as Immunotherapy for cancer treatment moved from wishful thinking a decade ago, to promising cancer treatments …

GENE EDITING Sangamo Biosciences: Is it a Comeback? Genome editing allows the creation of therapeutics that can modify the genome in a living cell, providing unprecedented reach that would help the creation of treatments for genetic diseases. The dream about emerging solutions through genome editing techniques, which could correct genetic mutations causing diseases seems to be turning into reality. Among the innovative firms in this …

MERCK Merck (MRK) has beaten analysts’ expectations generating $9.4 billion for revenues in the first quarter of 2017. Its GAAP EPS was $0.56 for the first quarter of 2017 and the Non-GAAP EPS $0.88 for the first quarter of 2017. The outperformance occurred in spite of the declining sales of some aging drugs, which is a normal recurrent phenomenon especially with the increase in break-through …

Eli Lilly (LLY) and Incyte (INCY) announced that the FDA has issued a complete response letter for the New Drug Application (NDA) of baricitinib for moderate-to-severe rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The FDA letter indicated that additional clinical data are required to determine the most appropriate doses. The FDA also stated that additional data are necessary for further characterization of safety concerns across treatment arms. The timing …

CANCER IMMUNOTHERAPY Nonstop Improvements and Nonstop Discoveries Checkpoint inhibitors and CAR-T immunotherapy are created to stay and succeed and change the way cancer has been treated for decades. The reason is that the successful results from some early attempts to enable the immune system to attack and fight cancers through these new immunotherapy approaches were unmatched in the history of cancer treatments. These successes, though, …

Prohost Letter #405 Synthetic Biology (3) We have already decided upon becoming shareholders the day synthetic biology firm called Synthetic Genomics turns public. We reiterate that firms specialized in synthetic biology are numerous private and publicly traded. Some are promising, others are walking in place and a few have plummeted. With the general underperformance of synthetic biology stocks, many shareholders abandoned ship. Investors felt that …

Vertex (VRTX) entered into a licensing agreement with Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany for the worldwide development and commercialization of four research and development programs that the firm believes represent novel approaches to cancer treatment Merck KGaA will license two clinical-stage programs targeting DNA damage and repair, along with two additional novel pre-clinical programs. Upon the agreement Vertex will receive an upfront payment of $230 million, …

Prohost Letter #402 Antisense Proof of Concept and Feasibility EYE ON INVIVA (INVA) Sales of The Ellipta Inhalers Started to Pick up AND ON THERAVANCE BIOPHARMA (TBPH) See Below AND WE WILL NOT LOSE FOCUS ON ARIAD (ARIA), EXELIXIS (EXEL), ARRAY (ARRY), PORTOLA (PTLA), NEKTAR (NKTR), THERAVANCE BIOPHARMA (TBPH), INVIVA (INVA), MERCK (MRK) AND SEE THE TABLES IONIS (IONS) The . . . This content is for paid …

GILEAD & GENMAB To Access Genmab’s (GEN) bispecific antibody technology, Gilead (GILD) signed a new agreement with Genmab. The King of HIV treatment objective is to use its exclusive license from Genmab to produce an HIV bispecific monoclonal antibody therapeutic. Gilead is paying around $5 million in upfront payment and up to $277 million in milestones. Genmab will also be entitled to one-digit royalty of …

ANOTHER MISLEADING STORY  This article was corrected after being posted. Read our apology at the end of the article. Forecasting exaggerated impact of negative-looking news has stricken GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) shareholders today, while enchanting Merck’s (MRK) shareholders. GSK said that: “Used as a single therapy”, its checkpoint immunotherapy drug Opdivo has failed a trial for newly diagnosed lung cancer patients. GSK said that the Checkmate-026 study has not met its primary …

Le CompaGnon Part 2 Wednesday June 22, 2016 From the  American Society of  Clinical  Oncology (ASCO)               Checkpoint inhibitors the CAR T Approach Adoptive cell therapy Oncolytic virus therapy Therapeutic vaccines Cytokines. Le CompaGnon Part 1 dealt with: - The two firms, MERK and BMY, who were the first to get approvals of their checkpoint inhibitors. These two . . . This content is for paid …

Le CompaGnon Part 1 TUESDAY June 14, 2016 The Eternal Market Games Unfortunately, the fabrication and misrepresentation of reality in media articles about member firms of the biotech sector succeeded in devastating promising companies having exceptional technologies and products. The damages went far beyond investors unwarranted losses. The damages were grave as to ruin of many firms. Indeed, many promising firms were forced to declare …

Prohost Letter #395 On the Road TO DEFEATING CANCER - Results of cancer treatment with novel immunotherapy drugs suggest that the hope of conquering cancer has improved from doubtful to conceivable. Immunotherapy treatments are scoring unprecedented successes against a wide variety of malignancies, including liquid cancers, solid cancers, cancers with DNA mutations caused by viruses and other cancer-causing agents. The two Immunotherapy approaches are currently occupying …

Biotech NEWS   AGENUS Agenus’ First Checkpoint Inhibitor to reach Clinical Trial The first patient has been dosed in Agenus (AGEN) Phase 1 clinical trial of its checkpoint inhibitor product AGEN1884. The open-label, multicenter trial in patients with advanced or refractory cancer is designed to evaluate the safety of AGEN1884 and determine the estimated maximum tolerated dose. AGEN1884 is an anti-CTLA-4 (cytotoxic T-lymphocyte antigen-4) checkpoint …

Prohost Letter #393 IMMUNOTHERAPY - PROHOST PORTFOLIO - NEW PICKS? - A Brief Reminder of the CAR T –TCR Immunotherapy Approaches In this issue we continue our journey inside the territory of cancer immunotherapy. We remind that in the Prohost Letter issue #391, we dealt with the immunotherapy based on genetically engineered T Cells, enabling them to seek out, attack and neutralize cancer cells. The immune system’s T …

Agenus (AGEN) is a project in the making since the firm has decided to play an integral part in immuno-oncology, doing everything possible towards building checkpoint modulator antibodies, in addition to its protective and therapeutic vaccines. Missing analysts’ expectation by one cent, which leads to stocks’ punishment has become an accepted routine, satisfying daily traders and other investors. The substance, however, which  interests us, is in …

Gilead Sciences Gilead (GILD) Shareholders wouldn’t expect to watch short investors make billions of dollars going against Gilead during this firm’s most glorious times. We never imagined negative analysts could have the capability of persuading millions of shareholders to sell and cause a selloff of the most productive, most growing, most achieving and extremely well run biotech company. Gilead reported quarterly earnings and revenue on …

Prohost Letter #388 TOPICS - 1. AN INDISPENSABLE SHORT INTRODUCTION 2. GENE EDITING 3. GENE THERAPY 4. CANCER IMMUNOTHERAPY 1. GENE EDITING Exon Skipping: Biomarin (BMRN); Sarepta (SRPT); These firms are waiting FDA approvals for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) Gene Editing Technology Competitors: Cellectis S.A. (CLLS); CRISPR; PTC Therapeutics (PTCT) Firms Using Different Approaches For DMD Treatment (see Below) Zink Finger Tech: Sangamo (SGMO); RNAi …

Incyte (INCY) and Merck (MRK) announced the expansion of their ongoing clinical collaboration to include a Phase 3 study evaluating the combination of epacadostat,Incyte’s investigational selective IDO1 inhibitor, with Keytruda® (pembrolizumab), Merck’s anti-PD-1 therapy. The trial is for the use of the combination as first-line treatment for advanced or metastatic melanoma. The Phase 3 study, which is expected to begin in the first half of 2016, …

Prohost Letter #379 Investors Concerns, Excitments and Expectations It is understandable the fact that bullish and bearish analysts have opposite opinions (opposite wishes too) on biotech firms’ pipelines products and clinical trial results. They differ in assessing important news and in applying different criteria in their evaluation in order to establish proof of concept of their personal views. Articles are filling the media with contradicting …

Prohost Letter #378 Part 2 2015 ASCO ANNUAL MEETING What a Big Revolution in Oncology! The ASCO meeting projected the huge advancement in the understanding, diagnosing and treating cancer. What looked as if a sudden explosion has brought in the big change, the change was, in fact a slow, deep-rooted evolution, built up over a long period of trial and error with the failures constituting …

Prohost Letter #375 Part 1 BIOTECHNOLOGY: THE BEGINNING OF A NEW ERA STATE- OF-THE-ART APPROACHES FOR THE MANAGEMENT OF CHRONIC AND DEADLY DISEASES ARE IN HUMAN CLINICAL TRIALS We are encouraged by some novel treatments for chronic diseases and cancer and we are optimistic about results coming from their early- and late-phase trials. Picking advanced therapeutics is the magic word Sesame in the formula “Open Sesame”, which, …