At the 60th American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting   CAR T is Still a Star With all the pessimistic views critics have sprayed around in the past few years about the cell therapy for cancer, the CAR T approach remained a star of prominent cancer gatherings. This phenomenon confirms the value of the FDA decision of approving the CAR T products, in spite of their …

Prohost Letter #417 Private Lessons - These lessons are overdue and we had to do this homework before we go into further evaluations of our picks and introduction of new companies as we promised in the past issue. We believe that the Prohost readers, the fans and the critics should know how and why we pick our biotech stocks . . . This content is …

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 …

Juno Therapeutics’ (JUNO) stock price orbited the moon after-hours trading yesterday, rising 45%, following a wall street journal report stating that Celgene (CELG) was in discussions to take over Juno and that the negotiations could result in a deal in the coming weeks. Juno was established to create cellular immuno-oncology products- chimeric antigen receptor T cell (CAR T) to treat cancer. Neither Juno nor Celgene would …

Juno Therapeutics (JUNO) is one of the casualties that occurred during the 59th American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting. The stock experienced undeserved selloff except for the fact that it had a deserved rally that we believe will remain as long as the firm is spending effort towards improving its cancer treatment. This cancer treatment is the  living genetically engineered chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell expected …

The Treatment is Not A New Way as Being Stated, It is Only the Target, Which Has Been Changed   Outstanding news announced that leukemia patients who relapsed after being treated with the chimeric receptor antigen T cell (CAR T) targeting CD-19 were saved from imminent death by a CAR T targeting CD-22. The new treatment, which is being presented in some articles as a …

The Week in Review #10 NO CONSPIRACY THEORIES - But this is what’s happening - In the past issue of The Week in Review, we wrote about the irrational pattern of selling the biotech stocks during the announcement of the quarterly results and how some investors are taking advantage of this pattern to sell their stocks before the quarterly results . . . This content …

EXELIXIS For Exelixis’ excellent news, please read our latest article, "Exelixis’ (EXEL) Exceptional Financial Results and Corporate Achievements", under Today’s Highlights NEUROCRINE BIOSCIENCE Prohost Picked this firm on April 24, 2017, at $51 (see the Prohost Portfolio in the Prohost Letter). Today, Thursday, November 2, NBIX closed on  at $72.78 Up $11.85     In its Q3 report, Neurocrine Biosciences (NBIX) announced financial results that beat …

Prohost Letter #414 GIANTS & DWARFS - We believe it’s a useful idea bringing The Week in Review into the Prohost Letter this time. We thought it would be easier for the readers to get last week’s updates and comments together with the Letter’s subjects and its Prohost Portfolio’s observations. In the Week that said au revoir, things happened that are worth citing. New development-stage …

As expected by those who welcome good news from publicly-traded firms, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has given the green light to a second CART immuno-oncology product with the trade name Yescarta.  This drug, which has been developed by Kite Pharma is now belonging to Gilead Sciences (GILD) together with the rest of Kite’s CAR T wealthy pipeline after Gilead acquired Kite less than …

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 …

In the news, the FDA has placed a clinical hold on two phase 1 trials of Cellectis’ (CLLS) off- the-shelf product UCART123 after the death of a 78-year old patient. Cellectis is working with the FDA towards finding ways that help mitigate the risks expected to have caused the fatality. We experienced deaths with other CAR T products with the cytokine release syndrome on the …

Coming Soon... The Week in Review #3 Gilead Acquisition - Rallying by Association - Improving on Cancer Treatments...

When what you predicted, preached, and wished are realized, this is good news. Today’s news is bringing all Prohost predictions into realization, Yes, Kite (KITE) is on its way to be acquired by Gilead (GILD) and yes both stocks have rallied and yes Juno (JUNO) is also rallying on the Kite’s news because both firms are pioneers in the CAR-T Immunotherapy technology and drugs. Rallied …

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 …

A BIG YES for Novartis CAR-T product has come from the  Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advisory committee. The committee recommended FDA approval for Novartis product CTL019 for pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia. The Vote: The panel voted 10-0 in favor of approval. Chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy, (CAR-T- Cell therapy) is an immunotherapy that enables the immune system T cells to seek, reach and attack cancer …

Arena (ARNA) announced positive Phase 2 clinical trial results for its drug ralinepag1 for pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). In the 61-patient study, the primary efficacy analysis demonstrated a statistically significant absolute change from baseline in pulmonary vascular resistance (PVR) compared to placebo. Ralinepag also demonstrated numerical improvement in 6-minute walk distance (6MWD). Additionally, adverse events observed in the study were consistent with other prostacyclin treatments for …

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 …

IMPRESSIVE RESULTS?  Bellicum Pharmaceuticals’ (BLCM) drug BPX-501 is described as a safe and effective product that can offer children with cancer and other serious diseases the opportunity to beat their intractable sicknesses. The drug enables the patients who are in desperate need for a bone marrow stem cell transplant to use unmatched donors’ stem cells through lowering their adverse effects. The most recent clinical trial …

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 …