Pharma Stock Roundup: JNJ's Opioid Lawsuit, Regulatory Nod For LLY, BMY, RHHBY Drugs
Zacks Investment Research | Aug 29, 2019 10:11PM ET
This week, J&J (NYSE:JNJ) received an unfavorable ruling in the litigation related to abuse of its opioid-based drugs. The FDA granted approval to Lilly’s (NYSE:LLY) psoriasis injection for active ankylosing spondylitis (AS) while the European Commission approved Bristol-Myers’ (NYSE:BMY) multiple myeloma drug, Empliciti and Roche’s (OTC:RHHBY) PD-L1 inhibitor, Tecentriq in combination use for an expanded patient population.
Recap of the Week’s Most Important Stories
Oklahoma Judge Rules Against J&J in Opioid Lawsuit: J&J was ordered by a district court in Otezla . Amgen will pay $13.4 billion in cash for the same to Celgene. Back in June, Bristol-Myers had announced plans to divest Otezla to be able to close the acquisition of Celgene on a timely basis in light of concerns expressed by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The sale of Otezla should now make it easier for Bristol-Myers to get FTC’s approval and will also fund a part of its massive $74 billion cost of buying Celgene. So, the deal looks like a win-win for Bristol-Myers, which expects the merger to close by the end of this year.
Novartis MS Candidate Meets Study Endpoints: Novartis’ (NYSE:NVS) multiple sclerosis candidate, ofatumumab met the primary endpoints by reducing the annualized relapse rate compared to Sanofi’s multiple sclerosis drug Aubagio in two phase III head-to-head studies. Ofatumumab is marketed by the company for oncology indications as an intravenous infusion under the brand name, Arzerra. In the studies, the key secondary endpoints of delaying time to confirmed disability progression were also met. Novartis plans to make regulatory submissions to health authorities, seeking approval of ofatumumab for relapsing forms of MS, by the end of this year.
The NYSE ARCA Pharmaceutical Index declined 0.3% in the last five trading sessions.
In the last week, while Glaxo rose the most (1.8%), J&J declined the most (2.3%).
In the past six months, AstraZeneca has been the biggest gainer (8.8%) while Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) lost the most (18.5%).
(See the last pharma stock roundup here: Zacks Investment Research
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