Evolus Appoints Veteran Healthcare Executive Lauren Silvernail CFO

Evolus, Inc. (EOLS) (“Evolus” or the “Company”), a premiere aesthetics company, today announced the appointment of Lauren Silvernail as Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President, Corporate Development. Mrs. Silvernail joins Evolus from Revance Therapeutics where she most recently served as Chief Financial Officer and Chief Business Officer. At Revance she successfully led multiple capital raises and executed a number of the company’s pre-commercial strategies.

Prior to her time at Revance Therapeutics, Mrs. Silvernail was Chief Financial Officer and Vice President, Corporate Development at ISTA Pharmaceuticals Inc. working to grow the business from development stage through commercialization and into profitability until its acquisition by Bausch + Lomb. Prior to ISTA, Mrs. Silvernail served in various operating and corporate development positions for Allergan, most recently as Vice President of Business Development, where she led and closed acquisitions, licensing and commercial co-promotion transactions.

David Moatazedi, President and Chief Executive Officer of Evolus, stated, “I welcome Lauren to Evolus as her appointment further strengthens our executive leadership team and represents a critical milestone for the Company ahead of commercialization. Lauren brings extensive category experience and deep financial, operational, commercial, and corporate development expertise as we prepare to bring our first product candidate to market.”

Lauren Silvernail, Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President, Corporate Development of Evolus, said, “I am excited to join Evolus at this critical juncture in the evolving competitive landscape of the neurotoxin market. I am confident that my diverse background in healthcare will meaningfully complement the team as we move to execute on the Evolus vision to build a dynamic and customer centric dedicated aesthetics platform company.”

Earlier in her career Mrs. Silvernail was a partner in a seed venture capital fund and held marketing roles of increasing responsibility at Bio-Rad Laboratories and Varian Associates. She holds an MBA in Finance and Accounting from Anderson Graduate School of Management at UCLA and a BA in Biophysics from University of California, Berkeley.

https://yhoo.it/2ISM3Dw

Quest upped to buy by Morgan Stanley

Quest Diagnostics upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley

https://bit.ly/2smhQkZ

Walgreen target cut by Mizuho

Walgreens Boots Alliance price target lowered to $77 from $87 at Mizuho. Mizuho analyst Ann Hynes views Walgreens Boots Alliance’s sell-side event last week as “strange.” Management highlighted the company was focused on a new strategy for the stores, but would not share any details on the strategy for competitive reasons, Hynes tells investors in a research note. The analyst, however, keeps a Buy rating on the shares citing Walgreens’ current valuation, “strong” cash flow and likely limited downside risk to adjusted earnings estimates

https://bit.ly/2xqi6Fi

Bayer, Loxo to get FDA priority review for cancer med

Bayer announced that the FDA has accepted the New Drug Application, or NDA, submitted by its collaboration partner Loxo Oncology and granted Priority Review for larotrectinib for the treatment of adult and pediatric patients with locally advanced or metastatic solid tumors harboring a neurotrophic tyrosine receptor kinase, or NTRK, gene fusion. The FDA has set a target action date of November 26, 2018, under the Prescription Drug User Fee Act. NTRK gene fusions are genetic alterations that result in production of tropomyosin receptor kinase fusion proteins, and lead to the development of tumor growth. Bayer and Loxo Oncology are jointly developing larotrectinib, which is being studied globally for the treatment of patients across a wide range of cancers that harbor an NTRK gene fusion. Bayer plans to submit a Marketing Authorization Application, or MAA, in the European Union in 2018.

https://bit.ly/2kyYTrI

Foundation has new data on genomic profiling assays

Foundation Medicine announced that new data generated from its comprehensive genomic profiling assays will be presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting from June 1-5, 2018 in Chicago. The company and its collaborators will present a total of 28 studies, including two oral presentations. Highlights of these presentations include: studies demonstrating the importance of known and novel genomic biomarkers of immunotherapy response, including tumor mutational burden, microsatellite instability and PBRM1 alterations across a diverse range of cancer types that could inform more precise use of these treatments; new data from PURE-01, a phase II study evaluating neo-adjuvant pembrolizumab in urothelial bladder cancer demonstrates the ability of CGP to detect genomic biomarkers when combined with T-cell inflammation signatures to potentially predict response to immunotherapy; new data showing that high tissue TMB is associated with higher likelihood of response and longer duration of response to atezolizumab in non-small cell lung cancer, metastatic urothelial carcinoma and melanoma; data from FoundationACT liquid biopsy assay, describing the landscape of kinase fusions and rearrangements from ctDNA in more than 9,000 clinical cases across multiple cancer types; and updated data from the precision oncology I-PREDICT clinical trial showing improvements in patient outcomes with integration of molecular tumor boards informed by CGP into treatment planning. These studies further underscore the importance of Foundation Medicine’s portfolio of CGP assays and molecular data services in supporting precision treatment approaches using tissue or blood samples.

https://bit.ly/2GZWAqu

Inspire Medical started at buy by Stifel

Inspire Medical initiated with a Buy at Stifel. Stifel analyst Jonathan Block started Inspire Medical Systems with a Buy rating and $42 price target, stating that his diligence with ENTs and Sleep Specialists identifies a significant opportunity for the company’s Upper Airway Stimulation procedure to gain market share from more invasive surgical procedures. Block also believes the company’s clinical data is likely robust enough to eventually win over commercial payors and sets a high hurdle for future competitors, he tells investors.

https://bit.ly/2xokNXT

G1 started at buy by Wainwright

G1 Therapeutics initiated with a Buy at H.C. Wainwright. H.C. Wainwright analyst Edward White started G1 Therapeutics with a Buy rating and $61 price target. The company’s trilaciclib could improve patient outcomes by maximizing the beneficial effects of chemotherapy, while minimizing myelosuppression and immunosuppression, White tells investors in a research note. He believes investors are missing the potential of trilaciclib, which he thinks become part of the standard of care for patients with CDK4/6-independent tumors, including small cell lung cancer and triple-negative breast cancer, that receive chemotherapy.

https://bit.ly/2IXg6Wy