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 …