Biotech Values

[ghmm]

IPF - Roche / FGEN:

Here is some interesting data on patients who have FVC decline of > 10% on Esbriet after 6 months and stay on.

http://www.medpagetoday.com/MeetingCoverage/ATS/51613

Among patients in the pirfenidone groups, 58.8% had no further decline in FVC, compared with 38.2% of those in the placebo groups (P=0.059).

Results in an on-treatment analysis were similar, finding one patient in the pirfenidone group and 15 in the placebo group having a further 10% or more decline or death, for a relative difference of 83.3% (P=0.032), Nathan reported. In this analysis, there were no deaths in the pirfenidone group and 10 in the placebo group during the 6 months after the initial decline, with a relative difference of 100% (P=0.056).
...
"FVC may not be the whole story. This is a very complex disease," he said.

From Roche's Q1 results Esbriet seems to be selling extremely well in the US. There is definitely room for other agents and while FGEN may not have news per-sa I wouldn't rule out a deal here. My one gripe with FGEN is they've moved extremely slow in IPF and while I think they don't need to partner this I wonder if someone could help speed this up.