Pfizer to Acquire Array Pfizer (PFE) announced that it has agreed to acquire Array Biopharma (ARRY) in a deal valued at $11.4 billion.  The Terms of the Agreement Under the terms of the agreement, Pfizer will pay $48 in cash for each Array share. That is around 62% above the $29.59 stock price as it closed on Friday. The price paid represents around $10.64 billion …

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 …

Great News for Array BioPharma  Array BioPharma (ARRY) announced positive results from the interim analysis of the Phase 3 BEACON CRC trial. The trial evaluates the combination of: Braftovi® (encorafenib), a BRAF inhibitor, Mektovi® (binimetinib), an MEK inhibitor, and Erbitux® (cetuximab), an anti-EGFR antibody (BRAFTOVI Triplet), in patients with 

The Week in Review #39 During the Departed Week Three Prohost Portfolio Picks Hit Their 52-Week Highs The three picks referred to in the above title are, Novartis (NVS), Array (AARY) and Ionis (IONS). Previous Prohost Letters discussed Novartis and Array and continued to remind that they are Prohost favorites. The time has come to take a deeper look at Ionis; starting with the reasons …

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 #30 FROM THE DEPARTED WEEK In the past week, we came across a lot of news announcing research, clinical trial results, collaborations, product approvals and acquisitions. Much of the departed week’s news though, does not represent complete stories, especially the ones related to research. They represented early works in progress offering no concrete results that we can evaluate. Important news for …

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (VRTX) announced that the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee’s (PBAC) in Australia recommendation the listing of Orkambi® (lumacaftor/ivacaftor) on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS). The recommendation is for cystic fibrosis people ages six and over who have two copies of the F508del mutation in the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) gene. Many thousands of patients worldwide are already receiving lumacaftor/ivacaftor in countries where it is reimbursed …

The Week in Review #25 When Stocks Plummet for No Relevant Reasons Sometimes investors need to know why some of their stocks plummet when no bad news is broadcast anywhere and when firms announce terrific news promising progressive growth. Yesterday was one of those days where reasons for stocks’ deviant, and probably unwarranted, negative performances must be identified. Let’s have a look at what happened during …

The FDA approved Array BioPharma’s (ARRY) products Braftovi™ capsules in combination with Mektovi® tablets for unresectable or metastatic skin cancer melanoma with a BRAF or BRAFV mutation, as detected by an FDA-approved test. BRAFTOVI is not indicated for the treatment of patients with wild-type BRAF melanoma. The products, which represent a new standard of care for BRAF-mutant melanoma are now available to order through select specialty pharmacies in the U.S. market.  The …

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,...

Array BioPharma (ARRY) announced updated results from the Phase 3 COLUMBUS trial in BRAF-mutant advanced melanoma. The results showed that the median overall survival (mOS) was 33.6 months for patients treated with the combination of encorafenib and binimetinib compared to 16.9 months for patients treated with vemurafenib as a monotherapy. The combination reduced the risk of death compared to treatment with vemurafenib alone. The results, which was presented at the American Society …

The Week in Review #20 THE MARKET - My friend asked: “Are  you  scared?” “Of  what?” I asked “The  market?” The  market? No,” I  said.  We are afraid of those who are rendering the market nervous and  temporarily confused, as we observed while monitoring its volatility.  The market has never been chronically confused . . . This content is for paid subscribers. Please click here to …

Exelixis: Delightful Overseas Cabozantinib News Ipsen (EPA:IPN) announced that the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP), the scientific committee of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) provided a positive opinion for Exelixis’ (EXEL) product Cabometyx® (cabozantinib) 20, 40, 60 mg regarding the first-line treatment of adults with intermediate- or poor- risk advanced renal cell carcinoma (aRCC). The CHMP positive opinion will be reviewed by the European Commission (EC), which has the …

Prohost Letter #418 Observing Queer Stories  PORTOLA - Portola (PTLA) has been granted approval of an important factor Xa inhibitor Bevyxxa (betrixa-­ban for extended prophylaxis of venous thromboembolism (VTE) in acute medically ill patients with risk factors for a life-­threatening VTE . . . This content is for paid subscribers. Please click here to subscribe or here to log in.

Celgene (CELG) and Juno (JUNO) announced the signing of a definitive merger agreement upon which Celgene has agreed to acquire Juno. Celgene will pay $87 per share in cash, or a total of approximately $9 billion, net of cash and marketable securities acquired and Juno shares already owned by Celgene (approximately 9.7% of outstanding shares). The transaction was approved by the boards of directors of both companies. Juno …

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.

THE WEEK IN REVIEW Wall Street As we said in yesterday’s article posted under Today’s Highlights, stocks can plummet at any time, regardless of whether they have the best or the worst grades for their financial or accomplishments reports. Stocks can falter (yet quickly recover) for various reasons, as their prices are decided by thousands of stocks exchanging hands between sellers who need to sell …

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 …

As we wrote yesterday, immunotherapy checkpoint inhibitors represent a great advancement and big changes in the management of cancer. It is pertinent, though, to keep in mind that these immuno-oncology products will not be successful with all cancers. Immune checkpoint inhibitors Keytruda (Merck) and Obdivo, Bristol-Myers Squibb and others are already approved around the world for several cancers. We also know that these immunotherapy products …