Healthcare Business Recap: PhotoMedex’ MILESTONE Payment, Rosetta Genomics’ New CHANGES

These were Monday’s top stories:

Pharmacyclics, Inc.’s (NASDAQ:PCYC) Phase II trial of its ibrutinib drug in patients suffering from mantle cell lymphoma, which is a rare type of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, has enrolled its fifth patient, which triggers a second milestone payment of $50 million from the Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) division Janssen Biotech. If further steps are successful, more $50 million payments could be forthcoming, up to a total of $250 million.

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Shares of the skin-health company PhotoMedex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PHMD) move up Monday following word that over the weekend that its board approved the buyback of $25 million worth of shares over the next year.

Rosetta Genomics (NASDAQ:ROSG) has recruited an executive vice president of corporate development and a director of marketing & reimbursement, and also is increasing its commercial operations in anticipation of a boom in sales of its microRNA diagnostic products. The firm starts the process of expanding its oncology-focused sales team, as well.

ARIAD Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARIA) reports the initiation of its Phase 1/2 clinical trial in Japan of ponatinib, which is an investigational BCR-ABL inhibitor. The trial is being conducted in Japanese patients suffering from chronic leukemia, who have failed other treatments. Ariad believes that this trial can provide the incremental clinical data required for initial regulatory approval of the drug in the country, which represents the third largest leukemia market in the world.

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