Healthcare Biz Review: Regeneron Needs More DATA, Idenix’s NEW Deal with Novartis

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:REGN) must provide additional information to the FDA regarding the use of its autoinflammatory drug Arcalyst to treat joint pain caused by gout medicines. The agency is worried about Arcalyst’s links to cancer, although the med is already okayed in the treatment of a rare genetic autoinflammatory disease. If the drug’s use for gout complications is approved, it might add up to $200 million a year in sales.

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Idenix Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IDIX) shares plummet almost 20 percent on the day after the firm initiated a $150 million offering of common stock, which came after the company revised its partnership contract with Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) on Tuesday. The modification will cause Idenix to no longer receiving royalty or milestone payments from Novartis for the hepatitis B drug Tyzeka.

Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings (NYSE:LH) shares shot up in early trading on reports that it might receive a takeover offer from a private equity consortium of TGP and Bain that could bring between $3 billion and $4 billion. However the company later said that “it has no knowledge of any rumored buyout plans and is not in current discussions with any firms to effect such a transaction.”

Shares of Array Biopharma Inc. (NASDAQ:ARRY) crater on the news that its ARRY-797 drug failed to reduce pain more effectively than an existing standard treatment, Oxycodone, in a Phase II trial of osteoarthritis patients. On the upside, ARRY-797 did meet its primary endpoints, and decreased pain much more than did a placebo.

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