Schaff\u00adhau\u00adsen (CH) \u2014 Record numbers of product appr\u00adovals, clini\u00adcal breakth\u00adroughs in new thera\u00adpies and further acqui\u00adsi\u00adti\u00adons \u2014 at its most important inves\u00adtor confe\u00adrence at the begin\u00adning of the year, the biotech indus\u00adtry pres\u00adents itself in strong shape. For a number of BB Biotech port\u00adfo\u00adlio compa\u00adnies, 2019 will be an exci\u00adting year.<\/p>\n
The who\u2019s who of the health\u00adcare indus\u00adtry met at J.P. Morgan<\/strong> \u2018s annual inves\u00adtor confe\u00adrence in San Fran\u00adcisco, Cali\u00adfor\u00adnia<\/strong>. Scien\u00adtists, mana\u00adgers and inves\u00adtors watched presen\u00adta\u00adti\u00adons and panel discus\u00adsions between Janu\u00adary 7 and 10 and exch\u00adan\u00adged ideas at count\u00adless meetings. For BB Biotech\u2019s invest\u00adment team, the event provi\u00added an oppor\u00adtu\u00adnity to meet with the manage\u00adment of its port\u00adfo\u00adlio compa\u00adnies and also to hold discus\u00adsions with a number of poten\u00adtial new companies.<\/p>\n Acqui\u00adsi\u00adti\u00adons and licen\u00adsing deals<\/strong> Even though other phar\u00admaceu\u00adti\u00adcal compa\u00adnies have indi\u00adca\u00adted that they are looking for take\u00adover targets, BB Biotech belie\u00adves that deals of this magni\u00adtude will remain the excep\u00adtion. The team considers so-called bolt-on acqui\u00adsi\u00adti\u00adons to be far more likely, with which compa\u00adnies streng\u00adthen their port\u00adfo\u00adlio in indi\u00advi\u00addual indi\u00adca\u00adti\u00adons via smal\u00adler acqui\u00adsi\u00adti\u00adons in the single-digit billion range. \u201cTake\u00adover targets among the biotech heavy\u00adweights include Gilead Scien\u00adces in onco\u00adlogy and gene therapy and Biogen in neuro\u00adlogy, in addi\u00adtion to Amgen. The valua\u00adtions of many biotech compa\u00adnies, which remain low despite the recent share price reco\u00advery, will have a support\u00adive effect on the conclu\u00adsion of such tran\u00adsac\u00adtions,\u201d says Dr. Daniel Koller, Head Invest\u00adment Team BB Biotech.<\/p>\n The discus\u00adsion about the acqui\u00adsi\u00adti\u00adons was parti\u00adally overs\u00adha\u00addowed by the nume\u00adrous licen\u00adsing agree\u00adments announ\u00adced at the confe\u00adrence. For exam\u00adple, the subsi\u00addiary Espe\u00adrion Thera\u00adpeu\u00adtics<\/strong> signed an agree\u00adment with Daii\u00adchi Sankyo Europe<\/strong>. Under the terms of the agree\u00adment, the Japa\u00adnese phar\u00admaceu\u00adti\u00adcal company will pay USD 300 million in upfront payments and a further USD 900 million in success-based mile\u00adstone payments in return for secu\u00adring the marke\u00adting rights to a blood lipid-lowe\u00adring drug.<\/p>\n Posi\u00adtive newsflow<\/strong> Invest\u00adment Stra\u00adtegy BB Biotech:<\/strong> Bet on tomor\u00adro\u00adw\u2019s winners<\/strong> Inter\u00adcept and Gilead Scien\u00adces will present pivo\u00adtal clini\u00adcal data from their candi\u00adda\u00adtes for the treat\u00adment of non-alco\u00adho\u00adlic fatty liver (NASH) in H1 2019. These medi\u00adca\u00adti\u00adons could be used to treat the early and late forms of the dise\u00adase. In the USA alone, up to 2 million people are affec\u00adted by liver cirrho\u00adsis as a result of fatty liver and at least the same number by liver fibro\u00adsis, which in most cases can only be trea\u00adted by liver trans\u00adplan\u00adta\u00adtion. The actual sales poten\u00adtial for this dise\u00adase, which until now has been virtually untreata\u00adble, will only become appa\u00adrent once the first products have been appro\u00adved. The main issue here is to deter\u00admine how long and inten\u00adsive the medi\u00adca\u00adtion of NASH in its early forms will be in redu\u00adcing the fat content in the liver and impro\u00adving the blood count, and to what extent the new thera\u00adpies will have a cura\u00adtive effect in the late stages of the disease.<\/p>\n As in other dise\u00adase areas, BB Biotech posi\u00adtio\u00adned itself here at an early stage, as soon as the medi\u00adcal and commer\u00adcial success of the new thera\u00adpeu\u00adtic approa\u00adches was convin\u00adcing. The above-average perfor\u00admance of BB Biotech\u2019s shares compared to the indus\u00adtry under\u00adpins this invest\u00adment approach. www.bbbiotech.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Schaff\u00adhau\u00adsen (CH) \u2014 Record numbers of product appr\u00adovals, clini\u00adcal breakth\u00adroughs in new thera\u00adpies and further acqui\u00adsi\u00adti\u00adons \u2014 at its most important inves\u00adtor confe\u00adrence at the begin\u00adning of the year, the biotech indus\u00adtry pres\u00adents itself in strong shape. For a number of BB Biotech port\u00adfo\u00adlio compa\u00adnies, 2019 will be an exci\u00adting year. The who\u2019s who of the [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":42547,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[886,1364,1366,1388],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-42534","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general-en","category-featured-en","category-news-en","category-shortcuts-en"],"yoast_head":"\n
\nThe number one topic of conver\u00adsa\u00adtion at the start of the confe\u00adrence was the two acqui\u00adsi\u00adti\u00adons announ\u00adced at the begin\u00adning of Janu\u00adary. In both cases, US phar\u00admaceu\u00adti\u00adcal compa\u00adnies acted as buyers. Eli Lilly is acqui\u00adring<\/strong> cancer specia\u00adlist Loxo Onco\u00adlogy<\/strong>, which recei\u00adved appr\u00adoval for its first product in Novem\u00adber 2018, for USD 8 billion. Even more spec\u00adta\u00adcu\u00adlar is Bris\u00adtol-Myers<\/strong> Squibb<\/strong> \u2018s<\/strong> acqui\u00adsi\u00adtion of BB Biotech \u2018s<\/strong> long-stan\u00adding core holding Celgene<\/strong>. The acqui\u00adsi\u00adtion price of USD 74 billion repres\u00adents the largest tran\u00adsac\u00adtion in the history of biotech\u00adno\u00adlogy to date and crea\u00adtes one of the worl\u00add\u2019s largest provi\u00adders of cancer thera\u00adpies on the sales side.<\/p>\n
\nIn terms of price-driving news, Sage Thera\u00adpeu\u00adtics provi\u00added a high\u00adlight of the confe\u00adrence. Its share price shot up 40% after the company announ\u00adced very good clini\u00adcal data for a product to treat severe post\u00adpar\u00adtum depres\u00adsion. This nerve dise\u00adase is the result of hormo\u00adnal chan\u00adges after child\u00adbirth and affects 400,000 women each year in the U.S. alone. The advan\u00adtage of the subs\u00adtance called SAGE-127 is that it is taken as a tablet over a period of two weeks. In this deli\u00advery form, the drug could also be used for other forms of depres\u00adsion in which Sage is test\u00ading the drug. If SAGE-127 recei\u00adves appr\u00adoval, the U.S. biotech company could secure a lucra\u00adtive market niche, as the U.S. FDA is alre\u00adady deci\u00adding on March 19 whether to approve Zupressa for the same indi\u00adca\u00adtion. The disad\u00advan\u00adtage of Zupressa is that this medi\u00adcine must be admi\u00adnis\u00adte\u00adred by infu\u00adsion over a 60-hour period. In any case, the chan\u00adces are good that Sage will be able to gene\u00adrate annual sales in the billi\u00adons with these products.<\/p>\n
\nThe latest deve\u00adlo\u00adp\u00adments in the indus\u00adtry confirm BB Biotech\u2019s invest\u00adment stra\u00adtegy of incre\u00adasingly focu\u00adsing on smal\u00adler and mid-cap compa\u00adnies that are on the verge of a breakth\u00adrough with new thera\u00adpeu\u00adtic approa\u00adches. Cancer thera\u00adpies remain the largest topic area here, follo\u00adwed by mono\u00adge\u00adnetic rare dise\u00ada\u00adses and neuro\u00adlo\u00adgi\u00adcal dise\u00ada\u00adses. The team is very confi\u00addent that some of the port\u00adfo\u00adlio compa\u00adnies will deli\u00adver posi\u00adtive price-driving news this year. These include Alexion Pharma with a follow-on product for Soli\u00adris, a billion-dollar product for the treat\u00adment of a rare gene\u00adtic disor\u00adder in hema\u00adto\u00adpoie\u00adsis. At the same time, manage\u00adment is working to increase the sales poten\u00adtial of Soli\u00adris through expan\u00added appli\u00adca\u00adti\u00adons in other niche indi\u00adca\u00adti\u00adons. Halo\u00adzyme will submit pivo\u00adtal data for its pancrea\u00adtic cancer treat\u00adment towards the end of the year. From Vertex Pharma, BB Biotech expects further data from combi\u00adna\u00adtion studies in cystic fibrosis.<\/p>\n