Welcome to "This Week in Biotech," where we highlight top biotech stories in a fast-hitting style that lets you get back to your weekend. Let's get started.
Human Genome Sciences (Nasdaq: HGSI) and its partner GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE: GSK) probably wish the UK's regulatory body, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, would live up to its NICE acronym when it comes to their breakthrough lupus drug. Fool analyst Brian Orelli believes this is just the beginning of a long courtship. Eventually, Glaxo will make promises to control costs and Benlysta will get covered under the national health-care plan. Either way, Human Genome investors should feel like they are in good hands. This isn't Glaxo's first rodeo with NICE: In 2010, it successfully won backing for its cancer drug Votrient.
Pharmasset (Nasdaq: VRUS) had a good day today, up 6.5% to a four-year high, thanks to positive results in a study of PSI-7977. The oral drug was shown to be effective at fighting hepatitis C, with 10 patients showing no signs of the virus after a month. Sure, 10 patients aren't a lot, and this drug candidate has a long journey ahead of it, but remember this is an all oral treatment. Vertex (Nasdaq: VRTX) investors should monitor this one closely, as its cutting-edge treatment Incivek still requires patients to get a weekly injection.
We had a potentially messy story on our hands with Cubist Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: CBST) announcing the advancement of a drug treating lethal diarrhea. Unfortunately, Cubist already has a deal in place with Optimer Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: OPTR) to sell Dificid, a drug that kills the same bacteria. The deal was signed in April. Awkward. At the time, the team-up made sense, since Cubist's bacteria fighter Cubicin went after different infections, but the products were close enough that Cubist's sales force would have no problems pushing both. Although no announcement was made whether CB-183,315 would be advanced to late-stage testing, I'm sure if the studies go well, Cubist and Optimer will have a lot to talk about.
Finally, Array BioPharma (Nasdaq: ARRY) had a bad day. It seems cancer drug selumetinib works … but not well enough to be statistically significant. Shares were off 5%. Unlike some other small biotechs, all of Array's eggs weren't in one basket, and partner AstraZeneca is still testing the drug against melanomas with a specific mutation. Even though it signed a deal with Genentech, the past five months haven't been kind for the biotech, having lost a third of its value since May. This is a tough way to end the week.
See you next week!
