The S&P Select Biotech Index recently uncoupled form the inverse trading relationship with the 10-year treasury yield with both moving down in tandem this past week.
Index rebalancing and a few negative clinical data readouts have been cited as possible explanations. Investors are starting to look forward to improved positioning for the sector potentially with the election in the rearview mirror and a clear line of sight to lower rates. In the meantime, attention will be directed towards the many clinical, regulatory and strategic events that might drive single stock upside in the coming months
M&A:
Abbvie (ABBV) and FutureGen Biopharmaceutical (Beijing) announced an agreement to develop FG-M701, a next-gen TL1A mAb for IBD that is currently in preclinical development for $150 million in upfront and near-term milestone payments, up to $1.56 billion in additional milestones, and tiered royalties up to low-double digits on net sales
Clinical:
Mirum Pharmaceuticals (MIRM) rallied 25% on positive data for volixibat, an oral ileal bile acid transporter (IBAT) inhibitor in patients with PBC and PSC
Aerovate Therapeutics (AVTE) announced the Phase 2b IMPAHCT trial of inhaled imatinib failed to meet the primary or secondary endpoints in pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) patients. The company is halting the Phase 3 and long term extension portions of the trial. The stock crashed >90% on the news
Ovid Therapeutics (OVID) crashed >75% on news Takeda-partnered soticlestat missed in both of its Ph3 studies, one in Dravet Syndrome (DS) and the other in Lennox-Gastaux Syndrome (LGS)
Cabaletta Bio (CABA) announced positive initial clinical data for n=2 patients dosed with CART therapy CABA-201 at EULAR. The data showed expected B-cell depletion and good safety (no CRA or ICANS) as investors debate the path forward as a potentially curative option in various autoimmune indications
Urogen Pharma (URGN) announced favorable duration data for UGN-102 in non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) where 82.3% of initial CRs continued to demonstrate CR at 12 months. Shares rallied ~40% possibly aided by ~20% short interest
Pfizer (PFE) announced their gene therapy program for DMD failed in the Ph3 (CIFFREO) trial for ambulatory boys
Capital Markets:
Telix Pharmaceuticals (private) last Friday announced a voluntarily withdraw of a planned >$200 million initial public offering, shortly before it was set to debut on the Nasdaq citing “current market conditions”. Radiopharmaceuticals have been in vogue lately showing the contrast to 2022-2021 where seemingly any management team and a slide deck were doing IPOs
Corporate Updates & Earnings:
Incyte Pharmaceuticals (INCY) announced a $2B share buy back at $60 per share
Cara Therapeutics (CARA) said it is discounting a clinical program to treat patients with notalgia paresthetica following data from the dose-finding part A of its Kourage-1 study
Perspective Therapeutics' (CATX) CEO disclosed the purchase of 100k shares with the stock off ~40% from recent highs. Shares subsequently underwent a 10:1 reverse split
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