Celgene Corporation (NASDAQ: NASDAQ:CELG)
Celgene, the wonderful biotech company that produces treatment therapies and medications for both cancer and inflammatory diseases in humans, today announced after the closing bell at 4 p.m. that one of their drugs in a phase 3 trial has failed.
Celgene, known for their blockbuster drug known as Revlimid which treats a rare blood cancer, had a phase 3 trial underway which combined two drugs-Revlimid and rituximab-and followed up with maintenance of just rituximab failed to show the results that drug scientists had been hoping for in patients with follicular lymphoma.
Essentially the 2 drug experiment was hoping to show better results for patients that had been using chemotherapy. Revlimid produces roughly $7 billion per year for Celgene. Once the news was announced that shares sold off sharply in the after-hours trading session.
Shares closed the regular session at $108.88 which was down $0.39 on the day. However, in the aftermarket shares closed down 3.6% at $104 even.
Company Comments
Chief Medical Officer Jay Backstrom had this to say publicly after the findings were announced:
“We remain committed to advancing our broad pipeline of novel therapies to establish new standards of care for patients with lymphoma,”.
CELG Chart
The above price chart shows Celgene on 2 time frames. On the left is the regular trading session and on the right is the after-hours session. It is easy to see exactly when the phase 3 trial results were announced to the public and shares sold off immediately.
Shares of the company have been fighting to regain price composure since gapping down on earnings back in October. It will be interesting to see if shares get supported at the lower levels or get sold off fiercely as investors may want to exit this stock before the end of 2017.
In addition there are possibly some mutual fund managers who do not want to have it on their books at the end of the year given its relatively poor performance of late.
Celgene Profile
Celgene Corporation discovers, develops, and commercializes therapies to treat cancer and inflammatory diseases worldwide. It offers REVLIMID, an oral immunomodulatory drug for multiple myeloma, myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS), and mantle cell lymphoma; POMALYST/IMNOVID to treat multiple myeloma; OTEZLA, a small-molecule inhibitor of phosphodiesterase 4 for psoriatic arthritis, psoriasis, and ankylosing spondylitis; and ABRAXANE, a solvent-free chemotherapy product to treat breast, non-small cell lung, pancreatic, and gastric cancers.
The company’s products also include VIDAZA, a pyrimidine nucleoside analog for intermediate-2 and high-risk MDS, chronic myelomonocytic leukemia, and acute myeloid leukemia (AML); THALOMID to treat patients with multiple myeloma and erythema nodosum leprosum; and RITALIN and FOCALIN XR products. Its clinical stage products comprise OTEZLA for use in treating various immune-inflammatory diseases; luspatercept for beta-thalassemia and MDS; CC-486 to treat MDS, AML, and solid tumors; AG-881 for glioma with IDH mutations; LSD1 inhibitor to treat non-hodgkin lymphoma and solid tumors; CC-122 and CC-220 to treat hematological and solid tumor cancers, and inflammation and immunology diseases; and durvalumab, an anti-PDL-1 antibody, for multiple hematological cancers.
The company has a strategic collaboration with BeiGene, Ltd. and Nimbus Therapeutics. It also has collaborative agreements with Acceleron Pharma, Inc.; Agios Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; Sutro Biopharma, Inc.; bluebird bio, Inc.; FORMA Therapeutics Holdings, LLC; OncoMed Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; NantBioScience, Inc.; AstraZeneca PLC; Lycera Corp.; Juno Therapeutics, Inc.; Nurix Inc.; Jounce Therapeutics, Inc.; and Dragonfly Therapeutics, Inc. Celgene Corporation was founded in 1980 and is headquartered in Summit, New Jersey.-