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The Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights: Pfizer, Bristol-Myers, Sanofi, Glaxo and Novartis
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For Immediate Release
Chicago, IL – August 6, 2018 – Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include Pfizer (PFE - Free Report) , Bristol-Myers (BMY - Free Report) , Sanofi (SNY - Free Report) , Glaxo (GSK - Free Report) and Novartis (NVS - Free Report) .
Pfizer’s strong second-quarter results stole the show this week. Other than that, the European Commission approved Pfizer’s first oncology biosimilar and a second indication for its JAK inhibitor, Xeljanz and Bristol-Myers’ Opdivo for a melanoma indication. Meanwhile, the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) gave its opinion recommending/not recommending approval of several drugs in Europe.
Recap of the Week’s Most Important Stories
Pfizer’s Q2 Strong, Mixed Results for Sanofi:Pfizer beat estimates for both earnings as well as revenues in the second quarter. Pfizer’s total sales rose 4% as higher sales of key brands Ibrance, Eliquis and Xeljanz made up for loss of exclusivity of some products, lower sales of legacy Established Products in developed markets and continued supply shortage in legacy Hospira products.
Meanwhile, while Pfizer raised its earnings expectations for 2018, it slightly lowered the revenue guidance due to less favorable currency impact owing to a strengthening dollar. (Read more: Pfizer Beats on Q2 Earnings & Sales, Ups Profit View).
Sanofi beat earnings but missed sales estimates in the second quarter of 2018 owing to currency headwinds. At constant currency rates, Sanofi’s sales were almost flat.
CHMP Gives Positive Opinion to Several Drugs: Glaxo’s drug, Nucala, gained a positive CHMP opinion, recommending approval as an add-on treatment for severe refractory eosinophilic asthma in the pediatric patient population in Europe. The CHMP also gave a nod to AstraZeneca’s Imfinzi for an early-stage lung cancer indication based on positive progression free survival data from the phase III PACIFIC study. Imfinzi is already approved for this indication in many countries including the United States.
Novartis’ combination regimen of Tafinlar and Mekinist also received CHMP nod for adjuvant treatment of BRAF V600 mutation-positive melanoma. Meanwhile, Bayer gained CHMP nod for a new indication for oral Factor Xa inhibitor, Xarelto for the prevention of atherothrombotic events in adult patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) or symptomatic peripheral artery disease (PAD) at high risk for ischaemic events.
European Approval for Pfizer and Bristol-Myers’ Medicines:Pfizer announced European approval for Trazimera, its biosimilar version of Roche’s cancer drug, Herceptin. This is Pfizer’s first approved oncology biosimilar. The biosimilar is yet to gain approval in the United States and a regulatory application is under review. Pfizer also gained approval from the European Commission for a new indication of its JAK inhibitor, Xeljanz for moderately to severely active ulcerative colitis (UC). The approved dose of Xeljanz is 10 mg twice-daily (BID) for at least eight weeks, followed by Xeljanz 5 mg BID or 10 mg BID. Xeljanz was approved for the UC indication in the United States in May this year. In the second quarter, Xeljanz sales rose 37% to $463 million.
Bristol-Myers’ Opdivo was granted approval by the European Commission for the adjuvant treatment of adult patients with complete resected melanoma with involvement of lymph nodes or metastatic disease. With this latest approval, Opdivo is now approved for eight indications across six distinct tumor types in the European Union. In the United States, Opdivo was approved for the same indication in December last year.
Merck’s Keytruda Combo Gets Breakthrough Therapy Designation:Merck and Japanese partner Eisai announced that the FDA granted Breakthrough Therapy designation to a combination of their cancer drugs. A combination of Keytruda, Merck’s PD-L1 inhibitor and Lenvima, Eisai’s tyrosine kinase inhibitor, have been given this designation for previously treated patients with advanced and/or metastatic non-microsatellite instability high (MSI-H)/proficient mismatch repair (pMMR) endometrial carcinoma (EC).
In March 2018, Merck formed a deal with Eisai to co-develop and commercialize Lenvima, both as a monotherapy as well as in combination with Keytruda, for several types of cancer. In the second quarter, Merck recorded Lenvima alliance revenues of $35 million.
The NYSE ARCA Pharmaceutical Index rose 1.3% in the last five trading sessions.
Zacks Equity Research provides the best of quantitative and qualitative analysis to help investors know what stocks to buy and which to sell for the long-term.
Continuous coverage is provided for a universe of 1,150 publicly traded stocks. Our analysts are organized by industry which gives them keen insights to developments that affect company profits and stock performance. Recommendations and target prices are six-month time horizons.
Strong Stocks that Should Be in the News
Many are little publicized and fly under the Wall Street radar. They're virtually unknown to the general public. Yet today's 220 Zacks Rank #1 "Strong Buys" were generated by the stock-picking system that has nearly tripled the market from 1988 through 2015. Its average gain has been a stellar +26% per year. See these high-potential stocks free >>.
Zacks Investment Research is under common control with affiliated entities (including a broker-dealer and an investment adviser), which may engage in transactions involving the foregoing securities for the clients of such affiliates.
Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Inherent in any investment is the potential for loss. This material is being provided for informational purposes only and nothing herein constitutes investment, legal, accounting or tax advice, or a recommendation to buy, sell or hold a security. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. It should not be assumed that any investments in securities, companies, sectors or markets identified and described were or will be profitable. All information is current as of the date of herein and is subject to change without notice. Any views or opinions expressed may not reflect those of the firm as a whole. Zacks Investment Research does not engage in investment banking, market making or asset management activities of any securities. These returns are from hypothetical portfolios consisting of stocks with Zacks Rank = 1 that were rebalanced monthly with zero transaction costs. These are not the returns of actual portfolios of stocks. The S&P 500 is an unmanaged index. Visit https://www.zacks.com/performance for information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release.
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The Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights: Pfizer, Bristol-Myers, Sanofi, Glaxo and Novartis
For Immediate Release
Chicago, IL – August 6, 2018 – Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include Pfizer (PFE - Free Report) , Bristol-Myers (BMY - Free Report) , Sanofi (SNY - Free Report) , Glaxo (GSK - Free Report) and Novartis (NVS - Free Report) .
Today, Zacks is promoting its ''Buy'' stock recommendations. Get #1Stock of the Day pick for free.
Here are highlights from Friday’s Analyst Blog:
Pharma Stock Roundup: PFE, BMY and More
Pfizer’s strong second-quarter results stole the show this week. Other than that, the European Commission approved Pfizer’s first oncology biosimilar and a second indication for its JAK inhibitor, Xeljanz and Bristol-Myers’ Opdivo for a melanoma indication. Meanwhile, the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) gave its opinion recommending/not recommending approval of several drugs in Europe.
Recap of the Week’s Most Important Stories
Pfizer’s Q2 Strong, Mixed Results for Sanofi:Pfizer beat estimates for both earnings as well as revenues in the second quarter. Pfizer’s total sales rose 4% as higher sales of key brands Ibrance, Eliquis and Xeljanz made up for loss of exclusivity of some products, lower sales of legacy Established Products in developed markets and continued supply shortage in legacy Hospira products.
Meanwhile, while Pfizer raised its earnings expectations for 2018, it slightly lowered the revenue guidance due to less favorable currency impact owing to a strengthening dollar. (Read more: Pfizer Beats on Q2 Earnings & Sales, Ups Profit View).
Sanofi beat earnings but missed sales estimates in the second quarter of 2018 owing to currency headwinds. At constant currency rates, Sanofi’s sales were almost flat.
CHMP Gives Positive Opinion to Several Drugs: Glaxo’s drug, Nucala, gained a positive CHMP opinion, recommending approval as an add-on treatment for severe refractory eosinophilic asthma in the pediatric patient population in Europe. The CHMP also gave a nod to AstraZeneca’s Imfinzi for an early-stage lung cancer indication based on positive progression free survival data from the phase III PACIFIC study. Imfinzi is already approved for this indication in many countries including the United States.
Novartis’ combination regimen of Tafinlar and Mekinist also received CHMP nod for adjuvant treatment of BRAF V600 mutation-positive melanoma. Meanwhile, Bayer gained CHMP nod for a new indication for oral Factor Xa inhibitor, Xarelto for the prevention of atherothrombotic events in adult patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) or symptomatic peripheral artery disease (PAD) at high risk for ischaemic events.
European Approval for Pfizer and Bristol-Myers’ Medicines:Pfizer announced European approval for Trazimera, its biosimilar version of Roche’s cancer drug, Herceptin. This is Pfizer’s first approved oncology biosimilar. The biosimilar is yet to gain approval in the United States and a regulatory application is under review. Pfizer also gained approval from the European Commission for a new indication of its JAK inhibitor, Xeljanz for moderately to severely active ulcerative colitis (UC). The approved dose of Xeljanz is 10 mg twice-daily (BID) for at least eight weeks, followed by Xeljanz 5 mg BID or 10 mg BID. Xeljanz was approved for the UC indication in the United States in May this year. In the second quarter, Xeljanz sales rose 37% to $463 million.
Bristol-Myers’ Opdivo was granted approval by the European Commission for the adjuvant treatment of adult patients with complete resected melanoma with involvement of lymph nodes or metastatic disease. With this latest approval, Opdivo is now approved for eight indications across six distinct tumor types in the European Union. In the United States, Opdivo was approved for the same indication in December last year.
Merck’s Keytruda Combo Gets Breakthrough Therapy Designation:Merck and Japanese partner Eisai announced that the FDA granted Breakthrough Therapy designation to a combination of their cancer drugs. A combination of Keytruda, Merck’s PD-L1 inhibitor and Lenvima, Eisai’s tyrosine kinase inhibitor, have been given this designation for previously treated patients with advanced and/or metastatic non-microsatellite instability high (MSI-H)/proficient mismatch repair (pMMR) endometrial carcinoma (EC).
In March 2018, Merck formed a deal with Eisai to co-develop and commercialize Lenvima, both as a monotherapy as well as in combination with Keytruda, for several types of cancer. In the second quarter, Merck recorded Lenvima alliance revenues of $35 million.
The NYSE ARCA Pharmaceutical Index rose 1.3% in the last five trading sessions.
Today, Zacks is promoting its ''Buy'' stock recommendations. Get #1 Stock of the Day pick for free.
About Zacks Equity Research
Zacks Equity Research provides the best of quantitative and qualitative analysis to help investors know what stocks to buy and which to sell for the long-term.
Continuous coverage is provided for a universe of 1,150 publicly traded stocks. Our analysts are organized by industry which gives them keen insights to developments that affect company profits and stock performance. Recommendations and target prices are six-month time horizons.
Strong Stocks that Should Be in the News
Many are little publicized and fly under the Wall Street radar. They're virtually unknown to the general public. Yet today's 220 Zacks Rank #1 "Strong Buys" were generated by the stock-picking system that has nearly tripled the market from 1988 through 2015. Its average gain has been a stellar +26% per year. See these high-potential stocks free >>.
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Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Inherent in any investment is the potential for loss. This material is being provided for informational purposes only and nothing herein constitutes investment, legal, accounting or tax advice, or a recommendation to buy, sell or hold a security. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. It should not be assumed that any investments in securities, companies, sectors or markets identified and described were or will be profitable. All information is current as of the date of herein and is subject to change without notice. Any views or opinions expressed may not reflect those of the firm as a whole. Zacks Investment Research does not engage in investment banking, market making or asset management activities of any securities. These returns are from hypothetical portfolios consisting of stocks with Zacks Rank = 1 that were rebalanced monthly with zero transaction costs. These are not the returns of actual portfolios of stocks. The S&P 500 is an unmanaged index. Visit https://www.zacks.com/performance for information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release.