On Tuesday, Shares of Celgene Corporation (NASDAQ:CELG), gained 1.65% to $121.07.
Celgene International Sàrl, a wholly-owned partner of Celgene Corporation (CELG) recently declared that REVLIMID® (lenalidomide), a cancer medicine that is administered orally, has been granted full marketing authorization by Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW) for use in combination with dexamethasone as a treatment for patients newly diagnosed with multiple myeloma. This marketing authorization expands upon the approval of REVLIMID in 2010 for the treatment of patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma.
“The approval of REVLIMID as an option for use in newly diagnosed patients with multiple myeloma represents an important step forward in the interest of patients, health care and society,” said Joe Melillo, VP and General Manager, Celgene Japan.
The approval was based on safety and efficacy results from an international phase III study, the FIRST trial (MM-020/IFM 07-01) as the pivotal study, in addition to a confirmatory Japanese phase II study (MM-025).
Celgene Corporation, a biopharmaceutical company, discovers, develops, and commercializes therapies to treat cancer and inflammatory diseases in the United States and Internationally. It markets REVLIMID, an oral immunomodulatory drug for multiple myeloma, myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS), and mantle cell lymphoma; ABRAXANE, a solvent-free chemotherapy product to treat breast, non-small cell lung, pancreatic, and gastric cancers; POMALYST/IMNOVID to treat multiple myeloma; and VIDAZA, a pyrimidine nucleoside analog to treat intermediate-2 and high-risk MDS, and chronic myelomonocytic leukemia, in addition to acute myeloid leukemia (AML).
Shares of Opko Health, Inc. (NYSE:OPK), inclined 1.88% to $10.32, during its current trading session.
OPKO Health, Inc. (OPK) through its subsidiary GeneDx, today announced results from the largest published study to date of patients who received hereditary genetic testing with Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) cancer panels. The study, “Pathogenic and Likely Pathogenic Variant Prevalence among the First 10,000 Patients Referred for Next Generation Cancer Panel Testing,” was published in the December 2015 issue of Genetics in Medicine. GeneDx’s analysis of the data generated from the first 10,030 patients highlights the clinical utility of testing for multiple cancer genes to identify variants that would not have been identified through previously used testing methods. The patients, who were referred for testing between August, 2013 and October, 2014, underwent genetic testing for panels of genes associated with hereditary cancer.
While many patients were found to carry pathogenic or likely pathogenic variants in well-established, high-risk cancer genes, about half of the pathogenic variants identified were in genes with moderate risk and in recently identified cancer genes. Notably, among women with breast cancer, 50% of positive findings were in genes other than BRCA1 or BRCA2. Additionally, several individuals had pathogenic variants in high-risk genes that were somewhat unpredictable, so clinical presentation alone might not have prompted testing for these genes.
OPKO Health, Inc., a biopharmaceutical and diagnostics company, engages in the discovery, development, and commercialization of novel and proprietary technologies in the United States and internationally. It operates through two segments, Pharmaceuticals and Diagnostics.
Finally, Shares of XOMA Corporation (NASDAQ:XOMA) are trading flat.
Analysts are predicting $-0.12 per share in earnings next quarter and $-0.54 for the current year. In comparing the current price level of the equity to their moving averages, the shares are trading -0.00 off of the 50-day average of $1.37 and -0.29 away from the 200-day moving average of $1.66.
XOMA Corporation discovers and develops antibody-based therapeutics in the United States, Europe, and the Asia Pacific. The company’s lead product candidate comprises gevokizumab, a proprietary humanized allosteric-modulating monoclonal antibody that binds to the inflammatory cytokine interleukin-1 beta, which is in Phase III clinical trial for NIU and Behçets disease uveitis, pyoderma gangrenosum, active non-infectious anterior scleritis, autoimmune inner ear disease, and cardiovascular diseases, in addition to diseases under the neutrophilic dermatoses designation, Schnitzler syndrome, and other diseases; and various proof-of-concept studies comprising polymyositis/dermatomyositis, Schnitzler syndrome, and giant cell arteritis.
