The Daily Biotech Pulse: Novartis Psoriasis Drug Found Superior, Ascendis Offering, Adamas Earnings

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

Scaling The Peaks

(Biotech stocks hitting 52-week highs on March 4)

• Abbott Laboratories ABT
• Ascendis Pharma A/S ASND(announced positive results for a Phase 3 trial evaluating its TransCon Growth Hormone)
• MeiraGTx Holdings PLC MGTX
• Millendo Therapeutics Inc MLND
• Reata Pharmaceuticals Inc RETA
• Zoetis Inc ZTS

Down In The Dumps

(Biotech stocks hitting 52-week lows on March 4)

• Aptose Biosciences Inc APTO (announced Australian patent win for its CG-806, an oral small molecule being developed for acute myeloid leukemia)
• Cellectar Biosciences Inc CLRB
• CytomX Therapeutics Inc CTMX
• DelMar Pharmaceuticals Inc DMPI
• Evoke Pharma Inc EVOK(announced receipt of a multi-disciplinary review letter from the FDA for its NDA for Gimoti, its treatment candidate for Gastroparesis)
• Novavax, Inc. NVAX
• OncoSec Medical Inc ONCS
• Pernix Therapeutics Holdings Inc PTX
• Seelos Therapeutics Inc SEEL
• Synergy Pharmaceuticals Inc SGYP

Stock In Focus

Novartis Psoriasis Drug Found Superior To J&J's

Novartis AG NVS released additional results from the head-to-head CLARITY study of its Cosentyx versus Johnson & Johnson JNJ's Janssen unit's Stelara, which established the former's superiority in delivering specific quality of life, or QoL, aspects in adults with moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis at 16 weeks.

About 68.4 percent of Cosentyx-treated patients reported no impact of skin disease on their QoL at week 16 compared to 55.9 percent for Stelara-treated patients, Novartis said.

Pfizer Prices Debt Offering

Pfizer Inc. PFE priced its debt offering consisting of five tranches of notes, aggregating $5 billion and maturing 2022, 2024, 2029, 2039 and 2049. Pfizer said it intends to use the net proceeds for general corporate purposes, including to refinance, redeem or repurchase existing debt and to repay a portion of its outstanding commercial paper.

The offering is expected to close March 11, 2019.

See Also: Biogen Bets On Gene Therapy, Agrees To Acquire Nightstar For $800M

Offerings

Ascendis said it has commenced an underwritten public offering of $400 million of ADSs, each representing one ordinary share of Ascendis. All ADSs are being offered by the company.

The stock slipped 1.21 percent to $27.67 in after-hours trading.

Horizon Pharma PLC HZNP announced an offering to sell $300 million shares of its common stock. The company said it intends to use the net proceeds from the offering, to repay its debt.

Earnings

Adamas Pharmaceuticals Inc ADMS reported total fourth-quarter revenues of $13.315 million compared to $568,000 in the year-ago quarter. The net loss per share narrowed from $1.27 to $1.06, while the consensus estimate had called for a loss of $1.34 per share.

Gocovri, its treatment option for dyskinesia in patients with Parkinson's disease receiving levodopa-based therapy, with or without concomitant dopaminergic medications, raked in the entire revenues of $13.3 million.

Gocovri was made commercially available in Oct. 2017, although the full commercial launch occurred only in Jan. 2018.

The stock slumped 9.55 percent to $10.99 in after-hours trading.

La Jolla Pharmaceutical Company LJPC reported fourth-quarter net sales of $4.2 million, up 20 percent year-over-year. The company reported a net loss of $1.73 compared to the consensus as well as the year-ago quarter's loss of $1.74.

For 2019, the company expects net sales of $24 million to $28 million, below the consensus estimate of $40.28 million.

The stock fell 2.84 percent to $6.15 in after-hours trading.

Otonomy Inc OTIC reported fourth-quarter net product sales of $208,000 compared to $270,000 million last year. The net loss per share narrowed from 42 cents to 62 cents. The consensus had called for a loss of 48 cents per share.

The stock rose 3.8 percent to $2.46 in after-hours trading.

On The Radar

Earnings

Aerpio Pharmaceuticals Inc ARPO (before the market open)
Dova Pharmaceuticals Inc DOVA
Chimerix Inc CMRX (before the market open)
Obseva SA OBSV (before the market open)
Neuronetics Inc STIM (before the market open)
Fate Therapeutics Inc FATE (after the market close)
BIOLASE Inc BIOL (after the market close)
Kura Oncology Inc KURA (after the market close)
ZIOPHARM Oncology Inc. ZIOP (after the market close)