Amgen’s AMGN 27% hike in its first quarter dividend was one of the key highlights this week. Meanwhile, ARIAD ARIA, which has yet to arrive at an agreement in France related to Iclusig pricing and reimbursement, cut its Iclusig revenue guidance for 2015.
Recap of the Week’s Most Important Stories
1. Amgen’s investors should react favorably to the company’s announcement that it is raising its first quarter 2016 dividend by 27% to $1.00 per share. This represents a dividend yield of 2.46%. Amgen has been quite active in returning value to shareholders both through dividends as well as share buybacks. One of the company’s key commitments for 2018 is to return about 60% of net income to shareholders.
Meanwhile, Amgen said that it will be taking back all of its remaining rights to Prolia, Xgeva and Vectibix from Glaxo. Some of the markets include key expansion regions like Brazil, China, Colombia, Hong Kong, Israel, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand. Amgen, which will provide Glaxo with undisclosed milestone payments related to the closing of the deal, expects the transaction to boost 2017 earnings (Read more: Amgen Regains Rights to Prolia, Xgeva & Vectibix from Glaxo).
2. Clovis Oncology CLVS said that the FDA will need an additional three months to review the company’s NDA for its experimental cancer treatment, rociletinib. The company had submitted a major amendment in November on the FDA’s request for additional data. The FDA is now expected to respond on the approval status of rociletinib by Jun 28.
3. Formulary coverage for PCSK9 inhibitors continues to make news with the latest update coming from Regeneron REGN and Sanofi. The companies said that Praluent is the only PCSK9 inhibitor preferred across UnitedHealth Group formularies, including OptumRx and UnitedHealthcare Commercial, Medicare, and Managed Medicaid formularies.
We note that last month Amgen had announced that its PCSK9 inhibitor, Repatha, would have a preferred position across CVS/caremark commercial formularies. Meanwhile, Express Scripts has placed both Repatha and Praluent on its National Preferred Formulary, which covers approximately 25 million Americans.
4. ARIAD announced that pricing and reimbursement negotiations for its cancer treatment, Iclusig, with the Economic Committee on Health Care Products in France will continue into 2016. The company had previously expected to reach an agreement by the end of this year. However, with discussions now expected to continue into 2016, ARIAD said that it now expects 2015 Iclusig sales in the range of $110 million to $115 million, down from its previously provided guidance. Shares were down on the lowered outlook (Read more: ARIAD Lowers Iclusig's 2015 Revenue Outlook, Shares Fall).
5. Akebia Therapeutics AKBA signed a development and commercialization agreement with Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corporation for vadadustat in Japan and certain other countries in Asia. Vadadustat, an oral therapy, is being developed for the treatment of anemia related to chronic kidney disease (CKD). The deal will see Akebia getting up to $350 million from Mitsubishi Tanabe – this includes $100 million for funding the phase III global program for vadadustat and milestone payments of up to $250 million. Akebia will also be entitled to tiered royalty payments (Read more: Akebia Up on Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Deal for Vadadustat).
Performance
Amgen was the highest gainer (2.05%) among major biotech stocks over the last five trading days while Vertex declined 4.87% during this period. Meanwhile, Biogen BIIB lost 25.54% over the last six months with Regeneron being the highest gainer (10.90%) during this period.
| Company | Last Week | Last 6 Months |
| AMGN | 2.05% | 5.11% |
| BIIB | 0.23% | -25.54% |
| GILD | -1.08% | -13.65% |
| CELG | 0.97% | 1.83% |
| REGN | 0.02% | 10.90% |
| ALXN | -1.33% | 5.12% |
| VRTX | -4.87% | -4.91% |
The NASDAQ Biotechnology Index was down 0.22% over the last five trading days (See the last biotech stock roundup here: Repros Tanks on CRL, AbbVie Multiple Myeloma Drug Approved).
What's Next in the Biotech World?
BioMarin BMRN has an important regulatory event coming up with the FDA expected to respond on the approval status of Kyndrisa for the treatment of Duchenne muscular dystrophy.
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