Sellers of short-term health plans upped by eased ObamaCare rules

• Health Insurance Innovations and eHealth shares were higher
• The Trump administration issued a final rule that makes it easier to enroll in short-term health insurance plans.
• Carriers will be able to make short-term plans renewable for up to 36 months.

Companies that sell short-term health plans got a boost Wednesday after the Trump administration issued a final rule that loosened restrictions on plans that don’t comply with the Affordable Care Act.

The new rule allows consumers to enroll in short-term coverage for up to 36 months, instead of just 3 months allowed under the ACA rules set up under former President Barack Obama, more commonly known as Obamacare.

Shares of the companies that sell the plans jumped after the rule was released.

Health Insurance Innovations shares rose more than 13 percent in early afternoon trading, while eHealth shares were up more than 5 percent.

Short-term plans, which were designed to provide temporary care for people in between jobs, often come with substantially lower monthly premiums than other forms of insurance but tend to offer less coverage. They generally don’t preexisting conditions or prescription drugs.

In an interview Wednesday with CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said the new rules could provide relief to part-time or contract workers or people in rural areas that can’t afford a traditional ACA plan.

“We believe in options,” Azar said. “This is instead giving many millions of Americans an additional option.”

https://cnb.cx/2n6qSQI

Teladoc price target raised to $77 from $55 at Piper Jaffray

Piper Jaffray analyst Sean Wieland raised his price target for Teladoc to $77 after the company Q2 beat numbers and increased guidance. The analyst highlights Teladoc’s 39% organic growth driven by “continued strong” utilization and “solid M&A execution” that has accelerated BestDoctors. He keeps an Overweight rating on the shares.

https://bit.ly/2O4BNWF

Cigna again raises FY adjusted EPS view to $13.60-$13.90 from $12.85-$13.25

Consensus is $13.19

https://bit.ly/2v6myFN

Spring Bank has positive Phase 2, expands hep B trial with Gilead

Spring Bank Pharmaceuticals (SBPH) announced positive results from the third cohort (inarigivir 100mg) of Part A of the ongoing Phase 2 ACHIEVE trial. Spring Bank also announced the expansion of the Phase 2 clinical trial being undertaken by Gilead Sciences (GILD) to include up to two additional cohorts of inarigivir co-administered with tenofovir alafenamide 25mg in chronic hepatitis B patients. Spring Bank is developing inarigivir, an orally-administered investigational selective immunomodulator, as a potential backbone in a combinatorial treatment for chronic hepatitis B virus, with a goal to accelerate and substantially increase functional cure rates in a simple, safe and selective manner. Spring Bank has already randomized the majority of the patients in the fourth and final cohort (inarigivir 200mg) of the ACHIEVE trial and anticipates that it will have top-line results by the end of 2018. In the third cohort, 20 patients were randomized; 17 on inarigivir 100mg (13 HBeAg-positive, 4 HBeAg-negative) and 3 on placebo. The primary endpoints, safety and antiviral activity, were achieved at both week 12 (inarigivir monotherapy) and week 24 (following the switch to tenofovir disoproxil fumarate 300mg after week 12). Inarigivir was well-tolerated with no serious adverse events observed. Overall, treatment-emergent adverse events ranged from mild to moderate in severity, with no observed interferon-like side effects or clinical or biochemical events above Grade 3. One HBeAg-negative patient on inarigivir alone had an ALT flare greater than200 IU with reductions in HBV DNA and HBsAg consistent with previously described inarigivir immune flares. Overall, mean HBV DNA reduction at week 12 was 1.0log10, with a mean 0.55log10 reduction in HBeAg-positive patients and a mean 2.26log10 reduction in HBeAg-negative patients, which was significantly superior (t-test: p=0.006) to combined placebo from all groups (n=11). Similar log reductions were seen for the secondary endpoint of HBV RNA reduction, with a mean 0.6log10 reduction in HBeAg-positive patients and a mean 1.4log10 reduction in HBeAg-negative patients. Three patients had a greater than 0.5log10 reduction in HBsAg at either week 12 or week 24. Overall, 13 of 47 (28%) of inarigivir-treated patients in the ACHIEVE trial have had a predefined HBsAg response of 0.5log10 decrease, with a mean decrease in the responder group of 0.8log10 (range 0.5 – 1.4log10) at either week 12 or week 24 after the switch to TDF. Baseline HBsAg level less than 10,000 IU (4log10) remains the strongest predictor of response to inarigivir across all cohorts for HBV DNA and HBV RNA reductions irrespective of HBeAg status. This response is consistent with the known role of HBsAg as a down regulator of the host immune response to HBV. Detailed results from this third cohort will be presented at a future medical conference

https://bit.ly/2LMpMIW

Regeneron reports Q2 EPS $5.45, consensus $4.70

Regeneron reports Q2 EPS $5.45, consensus $4.70  Reports Q2 revenue $1.61B, consensus $1.56B. Reports Eylea Injection U.S. net sales up 8% to 992M. Q2 Eylea global net sales up 13% to $1.66B.

https://bit.ly/2vvMR7L

Spectrum reports Q2 EPS 4c, consensus 1c

Reports Q2 revenue $5.4M, consensus $5.1M.

https://bit.ly/2O43P4I

Teva says restructuring plan on-track for $1.5B of savings in 2018

Teva said its restructuring plan is on-track to achieve $1.5B of savings in 2018 and in total $3B by the end of 2019.

https://bit.ly/2vcmF2t