Amgen (AMGN): Phase 3b results from LIBERTY study assessing the safety and efficacy of Aimovig™(erenumab) 140 mg in patients with an episodic migraine who had experienced two to four previous preventive treatment failures demonstrate that the study met its primary and secondary endpoints.    With regard to meeting the primary endpoint, the results demonstrate that patients on Aimovig experienced at least a 50 percent reduction from baseline in …

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 …

Prohost Letter #416 Part 1 The Year In Review - 2017 Unheard of Programs - AN AWESOME YEAR for the biotech sector regarding its accomplishments. Many of the accomplished programs were unheard of regarding the degree of their positive impact on medical practice. Unfortunately, many of these accomplishments, which included the making of new discoveries, the creation of novel advanced technologies and the design of …

Prohost Letter #415 New Promising Technologies PROTAC - A Technology That Offers a Superior Class of Drugs PROTAC is an approach that created a new class of drugs described as superior and far less toxic than targeted drugs known to block disease-­causing proteins. The technology belongs to a private Company called Arvinas . . . This content is for paid subscribers. Please click here to subscribe …

Amgen (AMGN) and Kirin Holdings (Kirin) announced an agreement upon, which Kirin-Amgen, a joint venture between the two companies, will redeem Kirin’s shares in the joint venture and as a result, Kirin-Amgen will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Amgen. The Kirin-Amgen joint venture was established in 1984 as a 50-50 joint venture between Amgen and Kirin to fund the global development of Epogen® (epoetin alfa). The scope of …

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 #7 A lot more happened in the past week regarding improving the treatment of cancer and of other devastating diseases. This issue contains discoveries that aim at improving breakthrough immuno-­oncology treatment outcomes. Here are some of the breakthrough technologies and treatments that might improve, by-­far, the management of cancer . . . This content is for paid subscribers. Please click here to …

Eli Lilly and Company (LLY) and Incyte (INCY) announced that, after discussions with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in late August, Lilly will resubmit the New Drug Application (NDA) for baricitinib before the end of January 2018. That was fast, we mean the re-submission. To remind you, the firms had submitted Baricitinib for review seeking marketing approval for rheumatoid arthritis in the U.S., the …

The Week in Review #2 The Fairest Upgrades of the Week - Some analysts gave a generous and well measured dose of fairness evaluating biotech firms’ accomplishments. Credit Swiss upgrades Portola Pharmaceuticals (PTLA) from neutral to outperform while maintaining its $70 target . . . This content is for paid subscribers. Please click here to subscribe or here to log in.

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 …

Amgen’s (AMGN) stock outperformed in the past 6 months for significant reasons and these reasons are still there as we observed listening to the firm’s quarterly results. The firm’s results surpassed analysts’ expectations. The stock outperformed because the firm outperformed, never letting its accomplishments emanate from the past successes, but through updating its technologies and products to where the scientific knowledge has reached. That’s the …

Additional Combination Treatment with Vectibix  for Metastatic Colorectal Cancer (mCRC) The Old Drug: VECTIBIX                   The Company: AMGEN Colon cancer is easy to cure when discovered early. Missing the diagnosis of early colon cancer could result in cancer growth, direct spread, distal metastasis and death. In spite of the tremendous improvement of treatments, advanced colon cancer is still …

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 #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 …

Amgen’s (AMGN) and UCB's drug Evenity (romosozumab), which, in long and large 24 months of clinical investigation has demonstrated superior results in reducing new vertebral, non vertebral and clinical bone fractures, has demonstrated a heart-related side effects. At the weekend Amgen announced results from Phase 3 trials demonstrating that its product Evenity (romosozumab) met the primary and secondary endpoints of the trials, which relate to  reducing the …

MIGRAINE Migraine might have a new potent preventive treatment on the market in the near future. The new breakthrough approach towards migraine treatment aims at targeting and inhibiting calcitonin gene–related peptide (CGPR). Four drug developing firms have ongoing clinical trials with drugs targeting CGPR. These are Amgen/Novartis product erenumab (AMG334); Alder Pharmaceuticals’’ product ALD403 and Teva Pharmaceuticals’ product TEV-48125. Each of the monoclonal antibodies has …

Prohost Letter #408 AT A GLANCE - Continued from the Previous Prohost Letter #408 In the Past issue #407, we picked the following firms: NEUROCRINE BIOSCIENCES (NBIX) Treating Tardive Dyskinesia CYTOMX Improving On Cancer Immunotherapy CELYAD SA (CYAD) Bringing Solutions To Immunotherapy Problems Please Read the articles written about these firms in the Issue #407 In This Issue We Add  NEW LINK GENETICS...

Prohost Letter #407 AT A GLANCE - Firms Added to Prohost Portfolio PROHOST IS PICKING NEUROCRINE BIOSCIENCES   On March 27, a few days before the FDA approves Neurocrine’s (NBIX) drug Ingrezza, (valbenazine) capsules for adults with tardive dyskinesia (TD), we posted an article titled “Time for Transformation and Achievements”. In the article, we stated that Neurocrine Sciences Ingrezza will highlight Neurocrine Biosciences and its …

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 …

AMGEN Amgen’s (AMGN) cholesterol lowering drug Repatha is the only drug that has demonstrated protection against heart attack and stroke in high risk patients. Prior to the FOURIER trial, which confirmed the effect of Repatha in lowering cardiovascular events, including heart attack and stroke, other clinical trial data led to the FDA approval of Repatha limited to the following indications: 1) adjunct to diet and …