The biotechnology industry is proving to be the most innovative and the most growing among Wall Street industries. Individual biotech companies’ achievements complement each other. Some are evolving the sequencing of genes and genetic analysis, while others are excelling in designing drugs based on the tremendous amount of facts they are getting on root causes of the diseases and the interaction of proteins. The biotech …

– The second approval of a cancer drug for Exelixis – The approval of Exelixis/Roche drugs combination will save lives. – The melanoma the combination drugs treat is a killer with bad prognosis  – The terms of Exelixis/Roche agreement are favorable Reiterating our enthusiastic feeling about the future of Exelixis (EXEL), our feeling has transformed into reality and here we are, Swissmedic, the Swiss licensing …

A Letter From Prohost The Stock Market Selloff What’s Going On and What Do We Do Now? We have lived through selloffs in the previous years and recently. We also read what experts and top economists have written to date trying to explain the selloff, drawing their conclusions. We expected them to speculate on the market’s next moves, indicating how or when the selloff would …

but first: Here is some good news from  SAREPTA Yesterday we wrote about BioMarin (BMRN) being granted FDA “Rare Pediatric Disease Designation for its Duchenne potential muscular dystrophy (DMD) drug drisapersen.Today, Sarepta Therapeutics (SRPT) also a developer of RNA-targeted therapeutics has been granted the same for its drug eteplirsen, also a potential treatment for DMD patients who are amenable to skipping exon 51. The Rare …

Kite Pharma (Kite) stock was sliding, raising concern about the firm and all the biotech firms that are designing and developing CAR T Cell immunotherapy treatments for cancer. Many investors are wondering about the plummeting of the stock and obviously others have learned about one death that occurred during clinical trial, which caused Kite selloff. Finally, Kite provided an update from its ongoing Phase 1/2 clinical …

INOVIO Inovio Pharmaceuticals (INO) is much worth looking at now than 6 months ago. The deal signed between MedImmune, AstraZeneca’s development arm, and Inovio Pharmaceuticals says something. The DEAL MedImmune acquired exclusive rights to Inovio’s INO-3112 immunotherapy against cancers caused by human papillomavirus (HPV) types 16 and 18, which account for more than 70 percent of cervical pre-cancers and cancers. INO-3112 is in Phase 1/2 clinical …

In The NEWS IMMUNOTHERAPY MIRATI THERAPEUTICS Mirati Therapeutics (MRTX) is an oncology company focusing on genetic and epigenetic drivers of cancer. The firm’s clinical stage product candidates include MGCD265, a multi-targeted kinase inhibitor that is in Phase 1b clinical development trials for the treatment of solid tumors, including lung, head and neck, and gastric cancers; MGCD516, a kinase inhibitor, which is in Phase 1 clinical …

The moment the new IPO NantKwest (NK) landed in the town of publicly traded firms, some called it the “New Golden Boy”. During the IPO, investors who knew about this firm and were waiting for that day seemed confident that the stock would surge. As a matter of fact, the stock did surge. On July 27, NantKwest, Inc. (formerly Conkwest, Inc.), Issued a press release …

Prohost Letter #381 QUARTERLY FINANCIAL RESULTS IN THE BIOTECH SECTOR Investors Concerns, Excitement and Expectations (Part 3) For the past quarter of a century we spent focusing on the biotech sector, observing it from all angles and weighing the possible outcomes of its individual member companies. We conclude that: Regardless of what the firms quarterly financial results might point to success or failure, the market …

Prohost Letter #380 Investors Concerns, Excitments and Expectations PART 2  REGENERON On Friday, July 24, Regeneron (REGN) stock closed at $541.l85 DOWN $14.76. The reason for loss was good news announcing that the FDA approved its cholesterol-lowering drug Praluent! Before the unreasonable sell on good news phenomenon, Regeneron had scored a new all time high on proven accomplishments (Read articles posted in past Prohost Letters). …

Why the financing through a secondary public offering was a must for Exelixis. The outcome of the public offering is putting in Exelixis’ (EXEL) coffers around $128 million, which we know the firm will definitely need for the development of its programs, but more important, is for the firm to be able to meet its obligations in case the FDA approves its drug cobimetinib combination with …

The European Commission Approves Amgen’s New Cholesterol-Lowering Medication Repatha™ (evolocumab). The First PCSK9 Inhibitor to Be Approved in the World for Treatment of High Cholesterol. A Critical Milestone for Patients with Uncontrolled Cholesterol Who Require Additional Intensive LDL-C Reduction. Amgen (AMGN): The European Commission (EC) has granted marketing authorization for Repatha™ (evolocumab), the first proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 (PCSK9) inhibitor to be approved in …

An Effective Non-Steroid Atopic Dermatitis Ointment Anacor Pharmaceuticals (ANAC) Announces Positive Top-Line Results From Two Phase 3 Pivotal Studies of Crisaborole Topical Ointment, 2% in Patients With Mild-to-Moderate Atopic Dermatitis Crisaborole is a novel non-steroidal topical anti-inflammatory phosphodiesterase-4 (PDE-4) inhibitor in development for the potential treatment of mild-to-moderate atopic dermatitis in children and adults. In both Phase 3 studies, crisaborole achieved statistically significant results on …

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 …

After decades of attempting, but failing, to harness the immune system power to treat cancer (Cancer immunotherapy), novel approaches based on new discoveries have finally demonstrated they can do the hard job. These treatments, however, are facing challenges which must be dealt with. Will TrovaGene (TROV) succeed in dealing with the challenges? Indeed, using the body’s own immune system to fight cancer is working by …

Today it is Greece. What About Tomorrow? Can Greece’s crisis devastate the biotech sector? No sane individual would think so and the hysteria cannot be called other than what it is. The biotech sector is not overvalued and its value must not be insulted by unfairly downgrading great biotech revolutionary firms, while they are obviously undervalued. Those who invest their money against biotech stocks regardless …

On Thursday June 18, 2015, we posted an article under “Today’s Highlights” at the Prohost website about an important agreement Biocryst Pharmaceuticals (BCRX) signed with CSL We expect the agreement to contribute a great deal into bringing effective treatments of disabling chronic progressive diseases and life-threatening acute diseases to the global market The  news that appealed to us and the market came in the announcement by …

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 …

– Immunogen’s recurrent ovarian cancer drug Mirvetuximab soravtansine (IMGN853) has demonstrated promising results. – The firm succeeded in developing and owning the drug. –  ImmunoGen is doing whatever it takes to get the drug to the patients as quickly as possible and to explore the possibility of treating other cancers with the same drug. – The market showed extreme enthusiasm for the news. ImmunoGen’s (IMGN) …

VASCULAR BIOGENICS OPERATING AS VBL THERAPEUTICS Vascular Biogenics Ltd., operating as VBL Therapeutics (VBLT) is a late-stage clinical bio-pharmaceutical company focused on oncology and inflammatory diseases. Founded in 2000 and based in Tel Aviv, Israel, VBL’s has built its clinical pipeline based on two proprietary platform technologies that leverage the body’s natural physiologic and genetic regulatory elements: The proprietary Vascular Targeting System™ (VTS) platform technology, …