Halozyme Therapeutics Inc (HALO)

[Fred Kadiddlehopper]

Getting some love from Marketwatch
http://blogs.marketwatch.com/health-exchange/2013/05/16/little-noticed-firm-makes-a-splash-with-pancreatic-cancer-treatment/

Little-noticed firm makes a splash with pancreatic cancer treatment
May 16, 2013, 2:25 PM
By Russ Britt

A little-noticed biotechnology firm made a splash in the markets Thursday. Halozyme Therapeutics Inc. shares soared on positive tests for a drug to treat pancreatic cancer.

Halozyme HALO +17.51% shares jumped as much as 18%. They were still up more than 14% in recent action at $7.71. The company put out a release late Wednesday saying it would discuss full results from a Phase 1 study on the drug, now dubbed PEGPH20, used in combination with gemcitabine, an existing chemotherapy drug.

Tests showed a 42% response rate among patients with stage 4 metastatic pancreatic cancer who were treated with the substance. Further, the drug was “well tolerated,” the company said in a press release, and the number of adverse events were consistent with that of gemcitabine by itself.

Pancreatic cancer is particularly deadly because it usually is detected long after the patient has contracted it, and in this form it often is surrounded by a protective matrix that makes it difficult to combat. It is the fourth deadliest cancer, Halozyme says, with a less than 6% chance patients will survive after five years. Roughly 38,000 patients die each year from pancreatic cancer.

San Diego-based Halozyme started Phase 2 testing on the drug in April.

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