bluebird bio, Inc. BLUE, Onconova Therapeutics, Inc. ONTX, FSD Pharma Inc. HUGE and Immatics N.V. IMTX are among the biggest biopharma movers in Wednesday's session.
Executive Exodus At Bluebird Bio: Bluebird Bio has seen a couple of high-profile departures recently amid a setback in its gene therapy program for sickle cell disease.
The company revealed in a filing that Chief Medical Officer David Davidson has left as of Tuesday.
Davidson, however, will continue as a consultant for a period of six months to provide guidance and support for the biopharma's late-stage programs in severe genetic disease, the company said.
Earlier this week, Joanne Smith-Farrell, who served as COO and business unit head for oncology at bluebird bio, jumped ship to assume the role of CEO at privately held Be Biopharma.
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Onconova Spikes On Reddit Interest: Shares of clinical-stage biopharma Onconova, which focuses on developing therapies for cancer, are advancing amid a lack of any major company-specific or external catalysts.
The shares are getting a lift from stock pumping by Reddit traders, who have vowed to support undervalued biotech stocks with heavy short interest.
The penny stock jumped sharply in February amid the r/WallStreetBets trading frenzy.
Related Link: The Week Ahead In Biotech (March 14-20): Update On Fibrogen-AstraZeneca's Anemia Drug, Earnings and Presentations
FSD Gains On In-Licensing Deal: FSD Pharma, a specialty pharma company, announced late Tuesday that it has entered into a in-license agreement with Innovet Italia, under which it has been granted by Innovet a license to use ultra-micro PEA to develop Food and Drug Administration-approved veterinary drugs for the treatment of gastrointestinal diseases in dogs and cats.
FSD Pharma also said it had filed its year-end results and provided corporate updates.
Immatics Reacts To Data Readout: Immatics, a clinical-stage biopharma engaged in the development of T cell-redirecting cancer immunotherapies, announced data from the dose escalation cohorts of Phase 1 trials of its product candidates IMA201, IMA202 and IMA203.
The results show the first anti-tumor activity, with nine of the 10 evaluable patients showing disease control.
Tumor shrinkage was observed in eight out of 10 patients, including one partial response, the company said. All of the product candidates showed a manageable safety and tolerability profile.
"While the focus of this readout was to evaluate safety and initial biological activity, these unexpected observations on first anti-tumor activity indicate the therapeutic potential for our ACTengine platform in solid cancer patients with considerable tumor burden," CEO Harpreet Singh said in a statement.
The company said it will complete dose escalation and share first data at target dose in the latter part of this year.
The Biotech Price Action: At last check:
Bluebird Bio shares were down 4.72% to $30.86.
Onconova was rallying 18.69% to $1.27.
FSD Pharma shares were soaring 14.73% to $2.38.
Immatics shares were ripping higher by 35.94% to $15.81.
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