October 17 and 18, 2012 saw back-to-back meetings of the FDA Endocrine and Metabolic Drugs Advisory Committee (EMDAC) to review pending new drug applications (NDAs) for two drugs for homozygous familial hypercholesterolemia (HoFH): lomitapide from Aegerion Pharma (NASDAQ: AEGR) and mipomersen/Kynamro from Sanofi/Genzyme and Isis Pharma (NASDAQ: ISIS). As Chimera predicted, both drugs received positive […]
ALNY IDIX ISIS LXRX – Dispatches from the Morgan Stanley and UBS conferences
The annual Morgan Stanley Global Healthcare conference and the UBS Global Life Sciences conference were held September 10-12 and 19-20, 2012, respectively. The MS presentations were moderated by the analyst host, while the UBS presentations were webcast without a Q&A session. We will highlight timeline projections and other notes for a few biotech companies. Isis […]
SNMX – Senomyx shareholders need a bitter-blocker
Senomyx $SNMX is a company that uses biotechnology to develop novel flavor ingredients for the global food and beverage industry [see our initiation report for a detailed profile, and see the 2q-2012 news release for current status of each program]. We thought shares were attractively valued then, but SNMX has continued it’s steady downward slide ever since, […]
INFI – A Summer of Transition at Infinity Pharma
So much for July and August being dead months in the biopharma sector. Infinity Pharma (NASDAQ: INFI) has released a string of updates that promise to completely alter the trajectory of the company compared to just a couple quarters ago. Entering 2012, Infinity’s lead program was the hedgehog inhibitor saridegib (IPI-926, background info here). Unfortunately the company […]
ALNY ISIS – Updates from the JMP Healthcare Conference
If you aren’t a long-time BiotechDueDiligence blog reader or Chimera Research Group subscriber, you may wonder what one of our updates from biotech investor conferences and quarterly earnings conference calls looks like. These reports are not a detailed thesis about the company, nor do they purport to summarize everything the company said on the webcast. […]
SNTA SPPI – Updates from JMP Securities Healthcare Conference
Next up in our dispatches from the JMP Securities Healthcare conference is a pair of oncology companies, Spectrum Pharma SPPI and Synta Pharma SNTA, that always seem to generate strong opinions among biotech investors. Spectrum Pharma $SPPI presentation by Shiv Kapoor, VP of Strategic Planning and Investor Relations This year we have already made […]
LGND – Updates from the JMP Securities
The JMP Securities Healthcare Conference was held July 12-13, a rare biotech investor event during the summer doldrums [webcast link and check back at BiotechDueDiligence where I will archive select slides]. We will follow up with reports on Synta Pharma SNTA, Biosante Pharma BPAX, Spectrum Pharma SPPI, Alnylam ALNY and Isis Pharma ISIS, but for now […]
OGXI – Oncogenex and Teva finally chart a path forward in NSCLC
The collaboration between Teva Pharma $TEVA and Oncogenex $OGXI for the development of custirsen (aka OGX-011, an antisense against clusterin, licensed from Isis Pharma $ISIS) was always envisioned to include three phase 3 trials, two in prostate cancer and one in non-small cell lung cancer. As I have been chronicling, there have been many false starts […]
ATRS AIS – Antares Pharma’s Overactive Bladder drug: shoulda been named “Can’t-urol”
Antares Pharma $ATRS (formerly $AIS) developed Anturol, a proprietary drug-device combination for overactive bladder (OAB) consisting of a metered-dose pump that dispenses a gel containing the active ingredient oxybutynin. The product was licensed to Watson Pharma $WPI in July 2011, received FDA approval in December 2011, and launched in April 2012 with the brand name […]
ALNY TKMR – Updates on Alnylam and Tekmira
This post will provide a few updates from a number of recent presentations by Alnylam $ALNY (First Quarter 2012 earnings call and conference call regarding ALN-RSV data) and Tekmira $TKMR (First Quarter 2012 earnings), two developers of RNAi technology and therapeutics that are simultaneously partners and bitter opponents in a series of legal battles. My […]
INFI – Update on Infinity Pharmaceuticals
For the second time this year, on June 18th, 2012 Infinity Pharma held a conference call to discuss their hedgehog pathway inhibitor drug candidate saridegib (IPI-926). Unfortunately, as in January, the news was not good. After the data monitoring committee stopped the saridegib plus gemcitabine trial in January, Infinity decided to proceed with additional trials in […]
Updates from the Jefferies Global Healthcare Conference
The 2012 Jefferies Global Healthcare Conference was held June 4-7, 2012. You can access the full schedule and webcasts here. I’ll provide brief updates on the presentations by several companies in this post. Keep your eye on the Chimera Proprietary Calendar for all upcoming investor meetings, with links to the webcasts and schedules. Note that […]
Heat Shock Protein 90 (HSP90) inhibitors: Back in the spotlight – Part 1
Heat Shock Protein 90 (HSP90) was originally proposed as a cancer drug target in the 1990s, though no drug in this class have ever successfully completed a randomized clinical trial, let alone achieve regulatory approval. Despite repeated setbacks, HSP90 inhibitors are poised to find a significant niche in the evolving cancer treatment landscape. We will […]
AMRN – Update on Amarin’s AMR101 as PDUFA date draws closer
Amarin Corp (NASDAQ: AMRN) released first quarter 2012 financial results and held a conference call on May 8, 2012. It is often hard to distinguish the signal from the noise when it comes to chatter about AMRN on Twitter and other venues, so we will try to objectively update where things stand as the July […]
Updates from the Needham Healthcare Conference
The Needham Healthcare conference was held April 3-4, 2012, and as usual, find my notes below. The webcasts can be accessed at this link with the username “needham” and password “healthcare.” Remember that you can always search with a ticker symbol or keyword in the upper right corner of the Chimera site to bring up all articles […]
CRIS – Updates from Curis 2011 year-end conference call
Curis (NASDAQ: CRIS) currently trades with an enterprise valuation slightly over $300m. The company’s best known asset is the Hedgehog inhibitor vismodegib (ERIVEDGE) which was recently approved for advanced basal cell carcinoma (BCC) and launched by Roche/Genentech ($5.5m in sales were booked in 1q-2012 representing about the first 6 weeks on the market). This article […]
Updates from the Roth Captial Partners Growth Conference
The annual Roth Capital Partners Growth Conference was held March 11-14, 2012. Find the complete presentation schedule and links to webcasts here. Isis Pharma (NASDAQ: ISIS) KYNAMRO (mipomersen) NDA will be filed in the next few weeks before end of quarter (missing this guidance would destroy the last shred of credibility ISIS management has […]
Updates from the Cowen & Co. Healthcare Conference
The early spring biotech investor conference calendar continued with the annual Cowen & Co. Healthcare Conference held March 5-7, 2012 in Boston, MA. As always, my webcast notes below contain only key updates, changes, or new information, and do not represent a complete reprise of any presentation. Additional details on many of these companies can […]
Updates from the Citi Global Healthcare Conference
The annual Citi Global Healthcare Conference was held February 27-29, 2012, and as always we listened in on the webcasts to identify key takeaways for Chimera Research Group shareholders. These write-ups may be brief due to overlap with comments at other recent investor conferences – see links below. Amarin $AMRN (Leerink Swann notes – company overview) “We […]
Updates from the Leerink Swann Global Healthcare Conference
The annual Leerink Swann Global Healthcare Conference was held February 15-16th, 2012. Several companies that I follow for BiotechDueDiligence and Chimera Research Group presented, and I will summarize the highlights below. Isis Pharmaceutical $ISIS (Archived Chimera content – Pipeline Notes) KYNAMRO (mipomersen) Genzyme/Sanofi are preparing for launch this year. EU application was filed July 2011. […]
