The Week Ahead In Biotech: COVID-19 Updates, Tapering Earnings Flow, Eton's Seizure Drug Review

The biopharma space bled along with the rest of the market and COVID-19 levered biotechs weren't spared either.

Biogen Inc BIIB was in the news for all wrong reasons, as an employee conference held by the company in Boston from Feb. 24 to 27 was blamed for 77 of the 95 COVID-19 cases reported by Massachusetts as of March 11. The state subsequently had to declare a state of emergency.

Several medical meetings scheduled for March and April now stand cancelled. The American Association for Cancer Research said Tuesday the association's 2020 annual meeting scheduled for April 24-29, in San Diego, California is cancelled.

Among company-specific developments, Bristol-Myers Squibb Co BMY received FDA nod for the Opdivo-Yervoy combo for liver cancer, while AstraZeneca's AZN combo drug for ovarian cancer stumbled in a mid-stage trial.

Here are some key biotech catalysts that will likely play out in the unfolding week.

Conferences

11th Annual Congress on Pulmonology & Respiratory Medicine: March 18-19 in Amsterdam, Netherlands

The 2020 annual meetings of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology and the American Academy of Dermatology Association scheduled for the week were cancelled due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

See Also: Pence Talks Telemedicine, Co-Pays In Coronavirus Update

PDUFA Dates

The FDA is due to announce its verdict on epilepsy drug candidate EM-105, developed by Acuta Pharma as an adjunctive therapy for partial seizures, primary generalized tonic-clonic seizures, and generalized seizures of Lennox-Gastaut syndrome in patients two years of age and older. Eton Pharmaceuticals Inc ETON has acquired U.S. commercial rights to the drug.

The additional validation study sought by the FDA in mid-February has cast a cloud on the approval coming through by the March 17 PDUFA date.

Clinical Readouts

Blueprint Medicines Corp BPMC is due to release Tuesday updated data from Part 1 of the Phase 2 PIONEER trial of avapritinib in patients with indolent systemic mastocytosis.

Spectrum Pharmaceuticals, Inc. SPPI is due to present Wednesday at the Pulmonology & Respiratory Medicine congress already-released Phase 2 data for Poziotinib in non-small cell lung cancer with exon 20 insertion mutation in EGFR or HER2.

Earnings

Monday

• Stemline Therapeutics Inc STML (before the market open)
• AcelRx Pharmaceuticals Inc ACRX (before the market open)
• Sesen Bio Inc SESN (before the market open)
• Aerpio Pharmaceuticals Inc ARPO (before the market open)
• Athersys, Inc. ATHX (after the close)
• Pulse Biosciences Inc PLSE (after the close)
• Kindred Biosciences Inc KIN (after the close)
• CorMedix Inc. CRMD (after the close)
• CV Sciences Inc CVSI (after the close)
• Oncternal Therapeutics Inc ONCT (after the close)
• Transenterix Inc TRXC (after the close)
• Chiasma Inc CHMA (after the close)

Tuesday

• Catalyst Pharmaceuticals Inc CPRX (before the market open)
• DarioHealth Corp DRIO (before the market open)
• STRATA Skin Sciences Inc SSKN (before the market open)
• Baxter International Inc BAX (before the market open)
• Cue Biopharma Inc CUE (after the close)

Wednesday

• Brickell Biotech Inc BBI (after the close)
• Cumberland Pharmaceuticals, Inc. CPIX (after the close)
• Capricor Therapeutics Inc CAPR (after the close)
• Turning Point Therapeutics Inc TPTX (after the close)
• Osmotica Pharmaceuticals PLC OSMT (after the close)

Thursday

• Vascular Biogenics Ltd VBLT (before the market open)
• Zai Lab Ltd ZLAB (before the market open)
• Hookipa Pharma Inc HOOK (before the market open)
• BIOLASE Inc BIOL (before the market open)
• Auris Medical Holding Ltd EARS (after the close)
• Curis, Inc. CRIS (after the close)
• Viveve Medical Inc VIVE (after the close)