(continue reading the full post for the figures and commentary)
Fourth Quarter and Year-end 2012 earnings season is past now form Ligand Pharma as well as big pharma/biotech players. I assembled the latest (and historical) sales and royalty information for LGND's key product PROMACTA (eltrombopag) and it's sole competitive, NPLATE from Amgen AMGN.
(continue reading the full post for the figures and commentary)
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I am pleased to announce that a BiotechDueDiligence stock research page for Retrophin $RTRX - the newly public biotech company headed by Martin Shkreli - is live.
Retrophin's lead drug, RE-021 for FSGS, is licensed from Ligand Pharma LGND (a long-time BDD favorite) and Bristol Myers Squibb BMY. The drug candidate is a vestige of a Pharmacopeia PCOP - Schering Plough SGP drug discovery alliance. The Retrophin page features a complete slide deck from the company's recent presentation at the 2013 BIO CEO conference, along with extensive notes that I took while listening to the webcast. It all adds up to a great introduction to this new biotech player in the orphan disease arena. RTRX also now has an entry on the Biotech Cash and Valuation page, where you'll find info on shares outstanding, net cash balance, and real-time valuation metrics for dozens of biotech stocks. Eli Lilly (click here for all LLY-related content on BiotechDueDiligence) will present phase 1 data on their BACE inhibitor LY2886721 (in development for Alzheimer's disease) at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Neurology (#AAN13) on March 18, 2013. Continue reading below for the fulltext abstract.
LY2886721 has a number of competitors, including MK-8931 from Merck MRK and Ligand Pharma LGND. As you'll see in the data below, the Lilly drug is inferior to MK-8931 in terms of the reduction of CSF levels of AB1-40 (alpha-beta 1-40) peptide after 14 days of treatment (maximum decline of 74% vs. 94%). Of course we have a long way to go before we have any idea if either drug will be effective in treating Alzheimer's disease. Click here for data from four abstracts on MK-8931 presented at the 2012 AAIC meeting (see where the 94% figure came from...) With 70 partnered development programs, it is a chore to keep tabs on the progress at Ligand Pharma LGND. Continue reading below for a few updates from partner companies disclosed on 3q-2012 earnings conference calls.
Merck today announced details [link] about the new phase 2/3 (200 then 1700 patients) clinical trial in mild-to-moderate Alzheimer’s Disease testing the BACE inhibitor MK-8931. This trial will be yet another test of the “amyloid hypothesis” for AD – investors, patients, and researchers will be hoping it goes better than recent trials from Eli Lilly's $LLY solanezumab, and bapineuzumab from Pfizer $PFE – Johnson & Johnson $JNJ – Elan $ELN.
You can find more details on the program in my highlights from a recent Merck R&D day event [link]. Recall that this program is licensed from Ligand Pharma $LGND (well, it arose two mergers ago in a drug discovery deal between Schering Plough $SGP and Pharmacopeia $PCOP). Check the archive of LGND-related posts to see what MRK has said about the program at other events and webcasts. Continue reading for the complete info and data from four abstracts about the drug presented at the AAIC meeting earlier in 2012. |
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