Amgen downgraded to In Line from Outperform at Evercore ISI

Evercore ISI analyst Umer downgraded Amgen to In Line citing increased biosimilar competition and an imminent court decision on Enbrel patents with Sandoz. Raffat sees a reasonable chance the Enbreal patents are not upheld and thinks consensus is not forecasting in a biosimilar Enbrel till mid-2020s. Sandoz has expressed a desire to launch in the wake of a district court decision, and the appeals process will be wrapped up by January 2020 regardless, the analyst wrote in a note to investors. Further, Raffat thinks double patenting is a real concern for Amgen’s 2028 patents.
https://thefly.com/landingPageNews.php?id=2854399

Axcelis upgraded to Buy from Neutral at B. Riley FBR

B. Riley FBR analyst Craig Ellis upgraded Axcelis Technologies to Buy and raised his price target for the shares to $28 from $18. The analyst says his analysis suggests a bottoming process in Semi Capital Equipment space can lead to a sustained rally in the stocks.
https://thefly.com/landingPageNews.php?id=2854411

ResMed price target lowered to $120 from $124 at BMO Capital

ResMed price target lowered to $120 from $124 at BMO Capital. BMO Capital analyst Joanne lowered her price target on ResMed to $120 after its lower than expected reported Q2 revenues and a 17% decline in its stock price late last week. The analyst believes that this is the time to step back into the stock however, keeping her Outperform rating while noting that double-digit declines for the shares are rare and should be followed by a recovery. Wuensh is positive on the company’s ability to leverage its “respiratory devices to provide cloud-connected medical data and solutions to patients and physicians.”
https://thefly.com/landingPageNews.php?id=2854415

MorphoSys weakness on patent ruling a buying opportunity, says Piper Jaffray

MorphoSys (MOR) shares are indicating down 5% this morning after the U.S. District Court sided against the company and ruled three of its patents invalid in a summary judgement of its lawsuit against Johnson & Johnson’s (JNJ) Janssen this weekend, Piper Jaffray analyst Danielle Brill tells investors in a research note. The analyst is not surprised by the outcome and had low expectations for MorphoSys winning the case. The invalidated patents do not impact MorphoSys’ drug MOR-202, and “very little has been lost” for the company, Brill writes. As such, she recommends buying the stock on today’s weakness. The analyst keeps an Overweight rating on MorphoSys with a $38 price target.
https://thefly.com/landingPageNews.php?id=2854433

BioTelemetry to acquire Geneva Healthcare

BioTelemetry and Geneva Healthcare announced that the companies have entered into a definitive merger agreement whereby BioTelemetry will acquire Geneva. An early stage company, Geneva has developed a proprietary cloud-based platform that aggregates data from the leading device manufacturer systems, enabling the company to remotely monitor all of a physician’s patients with implantable cardiac devices such as pacemakers, defibrillators and loop recorders. Geneva’s platform provides physicians a single portal to order patient monitoring, view monitoring results and request routine device checks, helping drive significant in-office efficiencies and patient compliance while allowing physicians to focus on patient care.
https://thefly.com/landingPageNews.php?id=2854439

Allogene Therapeutics announces FDA clearance of ALLO-501 IND

Allogene Therapeutics in collaboration with its development partner Servier announced that the FDA has cleared Allogene’s investigational new drug, or IND, application for ALLO-501 in patients with relapsed/refractory non-Hodgkin lymphoma, or NHL. Allogene is the sponsor of the ALLO-501 program. The Phase 1 portion of the study is designed to assess the safety and tolerability at increasing dose levels of ALLO-501 in the most common NHL subtypes of relapsed/refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma or follicular lymphoma. ALLO-501 will be administered following lymphodepletion with fludarabine/cyclophosphamide and ALLO-647, Allogene’s proprietary anti-CD52 monoclonal antibody. The ALPHA Phase 1 trial will treat up to 24 patients and is on track for initiation in the first half of 2019.
https://thefly.com/landingPageNews.php?id=2854457

Vertex granted Market Authorization for KALYDECO in Canada

https://thefly.com/landingPageNews.php?id=2854468