Replies to post #71523 on Biotech Values

[DewDiligence]

Re: Campath article and table from Nature Biotechnology

The table at the end of the article has an error: Cladribine is sponsored by Merck Serono (Germany), not Merck & Co. (NJ, USA) as shown in the table.

(The table in #msg-31519342 has this right; however, it omits the drugs from ACOR, BioMS, and Accentia. The latter is in bankruptcy, so perhaps the omission is warranted!)

Moreover, I have a problem with this assertion from the Nature article:

Still in the game, but just barely, is Basel–based Novartis' S1P1 modulator FTY720 (fingolimod)…

What a crock! FTY720 is more than barely in the game.

[Biowatch]

GENZ buys rights to Campath for MS from Bayer AG

GENZ buys "...commercialization rights to Bayer's cancer drug Campath and two other treatments in a deal potentially worth more than $1.25 billion over the next decade."

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Genzyme-signs-drug-rights-apf-14796274.html

The PR:
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Genzyme-and-Bayer-HealthCare-bw-14793826.html

I wonder if the recent news about a potential treatment for PML had an impact on the purchase decision?

"If PLEX and the malaria drug work against PML, this treatment may also be helpful to patients on at least four other drugs that have been linked to the brain infection, according to Naomi Aoki, a Biogen spokeswoman. Those include Roche’s Cellcept, used to prevent transplant rejections; Biogen and Genentech Inc.’s cancer drug Rituxan; Genentech’s psoriasis drug Raptiva, and Genzyme Corp.’s leukemia treatment Campath."
#msg-36535018

[DewDiligence]

SNY reports mixed phase-3 data for Lemtrada in MS:

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Sanofi-Reports-Positive-bw-4054223937.html?x=0&.v=1

In the CARE-MS I trial, 2 annual cycles of alemtuzumab treatment resulted in a 55 percent reduction in relapse rate compared to Rebif® over the two years of the study (p<0.0001), hence satisfying the first primary endpoint, and therefore meeting the predefined protocol criteria for declaring the study a success. Statistical significance was not achieved for the second primary endpoint, time to six month sustained accumulation of disability, as compared to Rebif®. At the two year time point, 8 percent of alemtuzumab treated patients had a sustained increase in their Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) score (or worsening) as compared to 11 percent of those who received Rebif® (Hazard Ratio=0.70, p=0.22).

CARE-MS I, the trial described above, was in first-line RRMS. A companion phase-3 study called CARE-MS II in second-line RRMS is expected to report results in 4Q11.

Lemtrada (a/k/a Campath) is the drug that created the difference of opinion with respect to valuation in SNY’s acquisition of GENZ that was resolved via contingent-value rights (#msg-59975091). The contingent-value rights trade on Nasdaq under the ticker GCVRZ; it will be interesting to see how this security trades today.