The Daily Biotech Pulse: Adverum Gets New CFO, Flexion's Osteoarthritis Trial, Bristol-Myers Earnings

Here's a roundup of top developments in the biotech space over the last 24 hours.

None of the biotech stocks hit 52-week highs Wednesday.

Down In The Dumps

(Biotech stocks hitting 52-week lows on April 24)

• Achaogen Inc AKAO
• Aptevo Therapeutics Inc APVO
• Arbutus Biopharma Corp ABUS
• Outlook Therapeutics, Inc. OTLK
• Proteostasis Therapeutics Inc PTI
• Psychemedics Corp. PMD
• Retrophin Inc RTRX
• Xenetic Biosciences Inc XBIO
• Zafgen Inc ZFGN

Stock In Focus

Gritstone Prices Offering

Gritstone Oncology Inc GRTS priced its underwritten public offering of 6.5 million shares at $11.50 per share. All the shares are to be offered by the company.

The company expects gross proceeds of $74.8 million from the offering. The offering is expected to close on April 29.

After ending Wednesday's session down 5.02 percent in reaction to the announcement of the offering, Gritstone fell an incremental 0.98 percent in after-hours trading.

Flexion's Zilretta Found Effective In Unilateral Osteoarthritis

Flexion Therapeutics Inc FLXN announced publication of results from a post-hoc analysis of data from the pivotal Phase 3 trial of Zilretta, chemically triamcinolone acetonide extended-release injectable suspension, which showed patients with unilateral osteoarthritis knee pain experienced significant and durable pain relief with a single intra-articular injection compared to immediate-release triamcinolone acetonide in crystalline suspension. The efficacy was measured by the Average Daily Pain, or ADP, intensity scores.

The analysis also indicated that Zilretta patients in the subgroup experienced improvements on OA-specific measured of pain, stiffness, function and quality of life scores that lasted up to six months.

See Also: Analysts Shrug Off Softness In Edwards Lifesciences' Heart Value Replacement System

Varian Q2 EPS Trails Estimate

Varian Medical Systems, Inc. VAR reported second-quarter non-GAAP EPS of $1.05, below the consensus estimate of $1.15 per share. Revenues grew 7 percent to $779.4 million, exceeding the Street estimate of $776.28 million. The company raised its 2019 revenue guidance to $3.09 billion to $3.18 billion and maintained its non-GAAP EPS guidance at $4.60-$4.75. Analysts, on average, estimate EPS of $4.74 per share on revenues of $3.13 billion.

Adverum Appoints New CFO

Adverum Biotechnologies Inc ADVM, a clinical-stage gene therapy company, announced the appointment of Thomas Leung as its CFO.

"I am honored and thrilled to join the Adverum team. ADVM-022, a unique intravitreally delivered gene therapy for wet AMD, and other assets in the pipeline represent great opportunities to help improve health outcomes for patients," said Leung.

On The Radar

Clinical Trial Readouts

Concert Pharmaceuticals Inc CNCE is due to present Phase 2a data for CTP-543, which is being evaluated for Alopecia areata, at the 11th World Congress For Hair Research. Alopecia areata is an autoimmune disorder that invariably results in complete hair loss.

Earnings

• AbbVie Inc ABBV (before the market open)
• Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. ALXN (before the market open)
• Alkermes Plc ALKS (before the market open)
• Bristol-Myers Squibb Co BMY (before the market open)
• Baxter International Inc BAX (before the market open)
• The Medicines Company NASDAQ: MDCO) (before the market open)
• AtriCure Inc. ATRC (after the market close)
• BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc. BMRN (after the market close)
• Seattle Genetics, Inc. SGEN (after the market close)
• Illumina, Inc. ILMN (after the market close)
• Natus Medical Inc BABY (after the market close)