Biotech Indices Can’t Break Through Triple Top

IBB at $365, XBI at $239

Red and green day

Biotech stocks were mixed today with the major indices holding the flat line. However with all of the clinical data coming out of ASCO (American Society for Clinical Oncology) 2015 in Chicago, IL many “immuno-oncology” stocks were movers.

First look at Rayno Biopharmaceutical Portfolio stocks:

Our big mover today was Ignyta, Inc. (RXDX) up 65.9% on Two Phase 1 clinical trials for Ignyta (RXDX)for entrectinib, an oral tyrosine kinase inhibitor that targeting tumors that harbor activating alterations to NTRK 1/2/3 encoding Trk, ROS1 or ALK. The drug had a 91% response rate in patients meeting expected Phase 2 eligibility criteria. The drug was well tolerated with no drug-relaed adverse events. Rayno Life Science -Ignyta (RXDX) was started on April 7 at about $10/share.

Clovis Oncology, Inc (CLVS) was down 5.88% selling off near an all time high of $100 hit in mid-May. Clovis presented data on two drugs Rociletinib Phase 2 Results for NSCLC and Rucaparib Phase 2 Studies for Ovarian Cancer. Rucaparib  a PARP inhibitor for a genetically defined segment of previously treated ovarian cancers yielded a response rate of 82%. However rociletinib proved inferior to an Astra Zeneca (AZ) drug with a response rate of 60% but with a progression free survival of only 8 months compared to 13.5 months for the Astra Zeneca AZD9291 drug. We added Clovis Oncology to Rayno Life Science (CLVS) to our portfolio on 1/13/15 at a price of $60.

Roche ADR (RHHBY) was down 3.8% to $37 .

Other Rayno Life Science Movers: Array Biopharma (ARRY) up 1.2%, Fibrocell Science (FCSC) up 3%, Gilead Sciences(GILD) up 1.61% and Seattle Genetics (SGEN) up 0.7%. Celldex (CLDX) was down 1.28%. ARRY was recently added last week and presented Phase1/2data on BRAF/MEK combination therapy for BRAF mutant melanoma. Raf and MEK are protein kinase pathways shown to occur in many cancers.

Here are a few well-known immuno-oncology stocks to watch this week:

Aduro Biotech (ADRO), bluebird bio (BLUE), Bristol Myers (BMY) Combination Drug, Exelixis (EXEL), Juno (JUNO), Medivation (MDVN) and Puma Biotechnology (PBYI).

One major concern for the future that came out of ASCO ’15 was the Soaring costs of cancer drugs and need for biomarkers and how to predict who will respond through testing and biomarkers.

The High Prices for Cancer Drugs was a story on page B1 of the Wall Street Journal. This story resulted from a speech by Dr. Leonard Salz of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center at the ASCO Plenary Session.

 

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