In this post I will highlight some of the AACR Late-breaker abstracts that I am watching for, mostly related to clinical trial results. The big trials tend to be saved for ASCO in June, but there should be some interesting data nonetheless.Full coverage:
Introduction
Preview Part 1 (SNTA, ASTX, NVS, INFI)
Preview Part 2
Preview Part 3 (ARRY, ASTX)Preview Part 4 (ASTX, ARQL, BPAX)
A couple months back I highlighted the "Practical Fragments" science blog dedicated to fragment-based drug discovery in a post over on the HSP90 Central blog. In this post I have collected a number of links to this informative blog related to companies tracked here at BiotechDueDiligence, most notably Astex Pharmaceuticals $ASTX (but not related to discovery and development of HSP90 inhibitors).(continue reading for full post)
Astex Pharma ASTX has a number of pharmaceutical company partners developing drugs on their behalf. This post will assemble and summarize key updates from this quarter.
DACOGEN: notes from partner and competitor calls can be found in a separate post. Watch for a future post analyzing DACOGEN royalties going forward (Astex guided for a decrease to $55m in 2013 vs $70m in 2012).(continue reading for additional notes)
Astex Pharma ASTX derives all of its royalty revenue from sales of DACOGEN (decitabine) by partners Janssen (JNJ) and Eisai. The key competitor in the ypomethylator space is VIDAZA (azacytidine) from Celgene CELG. The latest updates on the market can be found below.Also note that JNJ, as usual, did not mention DACOGEN on their earnings call, nor did they break out sales in their earnings release.
Continue reading below for a variety of comments from competitors and collaborators of Astex Pharma ASTX from 3q-2012 earnings conference calls
This past spring at EASL, Astex Pharma $ASTX introduced their preclinical, fragment-based drug candidate AT26893 for Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. ASTX has two more abstracts accepted for presentation at AASLD in November 2012 - see full details below.
See comments below from Celgene $CELG 2q-2012 conference call (transcript via SeekingAlpha) related to VIDAZA, the key competitor to DACOGEN, Astex Pharma's myelodysplastic syndome (MDS) drug licensed to Eisai and Johnson & Johnson $JNJ. Note that both ASTX and Celgene are also developing "next-generation" verisions of their drug. See more about SGI-110 here."Compared to the second quarter of 2011, the significant increase in gross margin is partly due to a decrease in VIDAZA royalties after the product's loss of exclusivity in the U.S. in May of 2011."
"Second quarter VIDAZA sales were a record $201 million. Sequential quarterly sales grew 8% with strong year-on-year growth of 24%. In the U.S., sequential quarterly sales increased by 12% to $82 million and 12% year-on-year. Second quarter international VIDAZA sales grew to $119 million, up 6% quarter-on-quarter and 25% year-on-year. We expect new markets and increasing market share, plus duration of treatment in those existing markets, to drive improved international VIDAZA sales."
"We continually work to optimize and leverage our global MDS franchise. Our Phase III registration study for VIDAZA in acute myeloid leukemia is advancing and should serve to expand its approved indication to include all categories of patients with AML. Investigator interest to conduct research with CC-486, or oral azacitidine, is very high with 2 specific strategies under active consideration. The first seeks to develop CC-486 for a subset of low-risk MDS, and the other will test CC-486 as maintenance therapy following transplantation or other induction therapy for AML."
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