Vivus’ Qnexa: Better for Diabetes, or Better for Weight Loss? (VVUS)
Vivus Inc. (NASDAQ: VVUS) issued its awaited results on its mid-stage trial of its experimental drug Qnexa, showing that it lowered blood sugar levels and led to weight loss in patients with Type II diabetes.
The results are from its 28-week trial involving 206 subjects, and Vivus said that patients on Qnexa achieved a 1.2% reduction in the key blood sugar measurement hemoglobin A1c compared to a drop of -0.6% for those who received only the placebo.
Qnexa is also being developed for obesity, and the disclosed amount was a loss of approximately 8% of the patients’ starting body weigh. The placebo group reported a loss of 1.2% of their starting body weight.
Vivus also reported that Qnexa trial patients also had significant improvement in cardiovascular risk factors including blood pressure, triglyceride levels and waist circumference.
Qnexa is potentially not going to go entirely unchallenged or at least might not escape without at least some controversy, particularly considering the history of the company and the history of the compounds. It is a combination of phentermine from “fen-phen” and an epilepsy drug Topamax (generic as topiramate).
Shares have been mixed today despite this being reported as and being perceived as positive news. Shares are up less than 1% at $7.05 after 90 minutes of being open, although shares have traded in a $6.81 to $7.22 trading range today alone.
Jon Ogg
June 10, 2008
Analyst Research Calls Impacting Biotechs (ALXN, OSCI, SGMO, VVUS, CRA)
There were some research calls that are affecting many shares of biotech stocks this morning, as follows:
- Alexion Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: ALXN) started as Buy at Piper Jaffray, shares up almost 2%.
- Oscient Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: OSCI) started as Neutral at Piper Jaffray; shares flat as a thin volume stock.
- Sangamo Biosciences (NASDAQ: SGMO) Started as Sell at Brean Murray; shares down 11%
- Vivus (NASDAQ: VVUS) Cut to Market Perform from Outperform at Wachovia; shares down some 4%.
Elsewhere, Celera Genomics (NYSE: CRA) was started with a “Perform” rating at Oppenheimer. While Celera is a molecular diagnostic company, they are involved in the identification and validation of diagnostic markers using their own proprietary genomics and proteomics discovery platforms.
Jon Ogg
May 29, 2008