The biotech sector had a strong run last week thanks mostly to Roche’s agreement to acquire InterMune (ITMN) for a hefty $8.3 billion. The announcement of this deal resulted in a spike in the share price of quite a few mid-cap biotech companies that are considered to be lucrative acquisition targets.
The week’s most important news was the $8.3 billion agreement announced by Roche for the acquisition of InterMune. This deal has raised hopes for several other mid-cap biotech companies which have some lucrative candidates in their pipeline. Companies like Achillion (ACHN) and Puma (PBYI) touched 52-week highs, with both considered attractive takeover targets. With the biotech sector witnessing a lot of M&A activity so far this year, expectations are high that more such deals will follow.
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Kite Pharma’s (KITE) shares shot up 17.7% on positive data from a non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma study on KTE-C19. The data looks good though Kite is still several years from bringing this product to market. The data was from a phase I-IIa study and Kite intends to file an investigation new drug application later this year for a phase I-II single-arm multicenter study. This study will commence in the first half of 2015.
Amicus’ (FOLD) shares jumped 20.4% with the company reporting positive data on its experimental Fabry disease treatment, migalastat. Although treatments for this rare inherited disease are already available, migalastat’s oral dosing regimen could prove to be a more convenient treatment option for patients.
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Last week, Gilead led the major biotechs with its price increasing 4.93%. Celgene was a close second with shares moving up 4.71%. Biogen’s shares were down slightly (0.82%).Overall performance remained strong with the NASDAQ Biotechnology Index gaining 3.15%. Gilead was the biggest gainer over the last six months as well (up 26.8%). Meanwhile, Alexion’s (ALXN) shares were down 5.64% over the last six months.
While nothing specific is lined up later this week, stay tuned for the usual pipeline and regulatory updates.
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