ADVERTISEMENT

Who Won and Lost at One of the Year's Biggest Medical Meetings

Who Won and Lost at One of the Year's Biggest Medical Meetings

(Bloomberg) -- As the American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting continues in Chicago, here’s a look at which stocks are getting attention on Wall Street:

Winners:

  • Amgen Inc. jumped 4% after early signs of activity with its AMG 510 medicine, which targets one of the most commonly mutated genes in cancer. Mirati Therapeutics Inc., which is developing its own treatment, also surged 34% on the news.
  • Nektar Therapeutics rallied 11% after its experimental melanoma therapy and Bristol-Myers Squibb’s Opdivo helped more patients with advanced skin cancer beat back their disease after more than a year of follow up. The data are “encouraging and could continue to improve,” SVB Leerink’s Daina Graybosch wrote in a note. Doctors will want to see results in a randomized late-stage study before they can tell if Nektar’s drug is really making a difference compared to Opdivo alone, said Tara Mitchell, a Penn Medicine oncologist specializing in melanoma.
  • Results for AstraZeneca Plc’s (+1.1%) Lynparza, partnered with Merck & Co., showed the drug slowed the spread of a rare form of pancreatic cancer. “Astra has had a good ASCO,” said Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Sam Fazeli. Myriad Genetics Inc. makes the companion test for Lynparza and hopes to see an uptick in hereditary cancer testing. Peer Clovis Oncology Inc. also rose 1.8%.
  • Iovance Biotherapeutics Inc. (+7.3%) is a winner because of the durability of responses seen with its tumor infiltrating lymphocyte cell therapy in cervical cancer, Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Asthika Goonewardene said. Results in skin cancer were “a huge first step toward advancing TIL therapies” and making it to more accessible to patients, said Penn’s Mitchell. B. Riley FBR sees “remarkable efficacy” potential for this type of treatment.
  • Genocea Biosciences Inc. drew bullish analyst commentary after highly anticipated data from its Phase 1/2a study for cancer vaccine GEN-009. The stock jumped 58% after briefly doubling.
  • Merck & Co. (+1.3%), a perennial best in show at ASCO, didn’t have as much data as prior years but results for Keytruda boasted impressive efficacy in newly treated lung cancer patients with 23% of patients still alive after five years. “Keytruda continues to impress,” said Credit Suisse analyst Vamil Divan.

Losers:

  • Blueprint Medicines tumbled 7% after results in stomach and intestinal cancers looked “weak,” according to Jones Trading’s Soumit Roy. The company’s BLU-667 also showed a 60% objective response rate in RET-altered non-small cell lung cancer, down from 62% in a prior analysis of fewer patients. Competitor Deciphera Pharmaceuticals Inc. edged 3% higher and is expected announce its own data soon, which should be a key catalyst for shares.
  • Aduro Biotech Inc. fell 23% after disappointing data from partner Novartis in an ongoing Phase 1 trial prompted a downgrade from Oppenheimer. “Given the pretreatment history of these patients, we cannot state with confidence that the responses were dependent on ADU-S100, and the trial data suggests dosing has not yet been fully optimized,” analyst Mark Breidenbach wrote in a note.

To contact the reporters on this story: Cristin Flanagan in New York at cflanagan1@bloomberg.net;Tatiana Darie in New York at tdarie1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Catherine Larkin at clarkin4@bloomberg.net

©2019 Bloomberg L.P.