AMAG Fights Back (AMAG)
AMAG Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMAG) has had a very tough week, whether it was a market with a bad trading tape or not. The stock’s weakness was after an analyst from a relatively unknown firm called Summer Street downgraded the stock to Neutral from Buy over concerns that Feraheme patients are being hospitalized with severe allergic reaction events. Shares were above $45.00 on Wednesday, yet the stock went as low as $35 today before word that a rebuttal was coming. Then after the close, the company is out defending itself showing that the risks here are very low and may not be any different than previously thought.
After the close of trading today, the maker of treatments for anemia and imaging agents provided a safety update on Feraheme®. The company noted, “Since the commercial launch of Feraheme in July 2009, serious adverse events have been reported at a rate consistent with that contained in the U.S. package insert. Of the estimated 35,000 patient exposures to date, 40 serious adverse events have been reported, an approximate rate of 0.1 percent. No mortality signal has been observed. A single reported death occurred in a patient two days post-Feraheme treatment, which the Company does not believe was the result of Feraheme.”
Shares closed down 0.9% at $37.77 today, and shares are now up 5% at $39.75 in the after-hours trading session. Including the after-hours trading this one has traded 4.6 million shares today versus an average volume of 630,000 shares.
The drop today was not with as much volume as the stock traded over 8.5 million shares on Thursday. The 52-week range is $22.20 to $58.23 and the market cap here is $647 million as of the closing price.
JON C. OGG
AMAG Pharm (AMAG) Up On Earnings
AMAG Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:AMAG) provided an update on the commercial launch of Feraheme (ferumoxytol) Injection for intravenous (IV) use, including preliminary fourth quarter 2009 Feraheme net product revenues estimates, as well as an update on the Company’s international and label expansion efforts.
According to the AP, the figures exceeded Wall St. forecasts. Shares rose 19% to $48.17
Douglas A. McIntyre
Biotech Stocks On the Move Early Wednesday (AMAG, MYGN, SPPI, NVAX)
AMAG Pharmaceuticals:
AMAG Pharmaceuticals Inc. (Nasdaq: AMAG) are up about 6 percent with more than 17,000 shares traded as of 8 a.m. Eastern this morning, after the FDA approved the company’s Feraheme drug as an iron replacement therapy for patients with chronic kidney disease.
The approval removes an overhang for the company. It first sought FDA approval for the drug in December 2007, and twice received requests for more information on it last year.
Myriad Genetics:
Myriad Genetics (Nasdaq: MYGN) shares are down more than 15 percent on very strong premarket trading volume early this morning. The company last night said it expects fiscal Q4 revenue of $86 million, shy of the $91.6 million analysts had anticipated, citing high unemployment and patients cancelling or delaying doctor visits.
Several analysis firms including Oppenheimer and RBC Capital have downgraded the company’s shares this morning, with several citing worries about revenue growth rates.
Spectrum Pharmaceuticals:
Spectrum Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: SPPI) Inc. shares are down roughly 8 percent on nearly 60,000 shares traded as of 8:15 a.m. Eastern. The company announced early this morning that it will raise $21 million from institutional investors at $7.15 a share. The stock had been trading near $7.65 a share.
Novavax:
Shares of vaccine maker Novavax Inc. (Nasdaq: NVAX) are up very slightly in premarket trading, seeing some continued buying a day after Spanish health authorities licensed its technologies to make pandemic and seasonal flu vaccines.
The stock had risen more than 30 percent yesterday on the news.
Boutique research firm Rodman and Renshaw raised its target on Novavax shares to $5 from $4 this morning, suggesting Spain is providing additional validation fo the company’s technology and it may be a foothold for Novavax to register its vaccine in other countries. — Mike Tarsala
Bill Gates, Small Biotech's New Biggest Investor (ALTH, AMAG, RDEA, ARYX, AUXL, BMRN, ETRM, INCY, ITMN, MAPP, OREX, VRUS, REGN, SGEN, VRTX, XNPT)
Late yesterday came the 13-F quarterly filing from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust. Bill and Melinda have invested in drugs and research before, as well as dug companies, but there was a slew of biotech stocks in their quarterly holdings. Some of these are cancer winners, while others may seem random. Below we have broken these out by company and size of the position in dollars (M for million; K for thousand) as well as the number of shares.
ALLOS THERAPEUTICS INC. (NASDAQ: ALTH) $3.090M; 500,000 shares
AMAG PHARMACEUTICALS INC. (NASDAQ: AMAG) $1.839M; 50,000 shares
ARDEA BIOSCIENCES INC. (NASDAQ: RDEA) $2.165M; 210,386 shares
ARYX THERAPEUTICS INC. (NASDAQ: ARYX) $1.635M; 480,799 shares
AUXILIUM PHARMACEUTICALS INC. (NASDAQ: AUXL) $2.062M; 74,400 shares
BIOMARIN PHARMACEUTICAL INC. (NASDAQ: BMRN) $1.295M; 104,856 shares
ENTEROMEDICS INC. (NASDAQ: ETRM) $81K; 59,700 shares
INCYTE CORP. (NASDAQ: INCY) $1.02M; 435,700 shares
INTERMUNE INC. (NASDAQ: ITMN) $1.807M; 109,900 shares
MAP PHARMACEUTICALS INC. (NASDAQ: MAPP) $98K; 46,524 shares
OREXIGEN THERAPEUTICS INC. (NASDAQ: OREX) $36K; 13,900 shares
PHARMASSET INC. (NASDAQ: VRUS) $821K; 83,641 shares
REGENERON PHARMACEUTICALS (NASDAQ: REGN) $492K; 35,500 shares
SEATTLE GENETICS INC. (NASDAQ: SGEN) $34.718M; 3,521,088 shares
VERTEX PHARMACEUTICALS INC. (NASDAQ: VRTX) $2.729M; 95,000 shares
XENOPORT INC. (NASDAQ: XNPT) $2.517M; 130,000 shares
