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Wednesday, October 13, 2021

Revance Still Sees DAXI Green Light This Year

 Shares of Revance Therapeutics Inc. rose more than 10% in premarket trading Wednesday after the biotechnology company said it still expects U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval of its injection treatment for frown lines by the end of the year.

Revance shares tumbled 25% on Tuesday after the FDA, responding to a Freedom of Information Act request, released a document outlining concerns raised by a pre-approval inspection of the company's manufacturing plant in late June and early July.

The FDA early last year accepted Revance's application for DaxibotulinumtoxinA for Injection, or DAXI, with a decision expected before the end of the year. However, the agency deferred its decision because it hadn't been able to inspect the California manufacturing plant due to travel restrictions related to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Revance late Tuesday said the issuance of the FDA document, known as a Form 483, following an inspection isn't uncommon and doesn't constitute a final determination. The Newark, Calif., company said it responded to the Form 483 in July, and that its application remains under FDA review.

Several Wall Street analysts reiterated positive recommendations for Revance shares, noting that while the Form 483 could raise some worries about DAXI's approval, the document is heavily redacted, making the FDA's observations difficult to interpret.

Analysts at Piper Sandler, noting Revance's comment that it still expects a green light by the end of the year, said they give the company the benefit of the doubt and reiterated an overweight stance and $37 a share price target.

Wells Fargo, with a $35 price target on the stock, said Tuesday's selloff made the Revance risk/reward more favorable and reiterated an overweight recommendation.

https://www.marketscreener.com/quote/stock/REVANCE-THERAPEUTICS-INC-15724812/news/Revance-Still-Sees-DAXI-Green-Light-This-Year-Shares-Rise-Premarket-36671990/

FDA Says No Need For Boosters As Moderna, J&J Plead Case

 The decision creates the possibility that the agency could approve Pfizer for a booster jab but not Moderna.

In the report, the FDA said "... data indicate that currently US-licensed or authorized COVID-19 vaccines still afford protection against severe COVID-19 disease and death in the United States. There are many potentially relevant studies, but FDA has not independently reviewed or verified the underlying data or their conclusions."

After detailing all the studies undertaken to try and assess the safety of the booster jab, namely whether it would increase the risk of dangerous heart inflammation in men, a rare side effect that has been documented in the mRNA jabs, the FDA said it believes a booster is safe.

"In adults 18 through 64 years of age, with the exception of axillary swelling or tenderness of the vaccination arm (indicating lymphadenopathy), solicited safety data do not show evidence of increased frequency or severity of local or systemic reactions after the booster dose..."

While the documents released by the FDA on Tuesday show that the agency is likely holding off on recommending a booster jab - for now, at least - the advisory committee will still meet to discuss the proposal on Thursday.

In September, the FDA granted emergency clearance for a third booster dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech two-shot vaccine for older people, as well as patients at particularly high risk, or who are at risk because of their job.

But the news isn't all bad for Moderna: Earlier this month, an EU drug regulator signed off on booster jabs of Moderna's vaccine, as well as Pfizer's two-dose shot, for vulnerable patients, although the EU based the decision on patients who have weakened immunity due to having had an organ transplant.

J&J also just asked the FDA for approval of a booster jab for adults 18 and older, and both Moderna and J&J insist that they've gathered enough data showing that a booster jab should be justified for the general population.

That would be the best outcome for them, at least.

Readers can find the briefing documents below:

https://www.scribd.com/document/531935267/VRBPAC-2021-10-14-15-Meeting-Briefing-Document-FDA-Moderna#download&from_embed

GBS: Pre-Submission package is with FDA

 GBS Inc. (Nasdaq: GBS), a life sciences company developing non-invasive, real-time diagnostic testing for patients and their primary health practitioners at point-of-care, today announced it has filed a Pre-Submission package with the United States (US) Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The purpose of this pre-submission is to confirm with the FDA that GBS is following the proper steps to conduct the clinical studies enabling it to develop the glucose biosensor according to the FDA regulatory standards.

The pre-submission package will allow the FDA to review the Company’s clinical trial plans and protocols while also providing a forum for feedback on these clinical studies as it pursues regulatory approval. The proposed three step clinical plan involves generation of prospective data, the initial objective is to explore the relationship between salivary glucose and plasma glucose as well as the time course between the two. The next phase objective is the development of the algorithm between plasma and salivary glucose and the final stage will confirm the algorithm and generate data for regulatory submission.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/gbs-inc-announces-pre-submission-123000873.html

VBI Publishes on Phase 3 3-Antigen Hepatitis B Vaccine Study

 

  • Publication title: "Immunogenicity and safety of a 3-Antigen Hepatitis B Vaccine vs a Single-Antigen Hepatitis B Vaccine; A Phase 3 Randomized Clinical Trial"

  • The Phase 3 study, in 2,838 adults age 18-45, evaluated immunogenicity, safety, and lot-to-lot manufacturing equivalence of VBI’s 3-antigen hepatitis B vaccine candidate compared to Engerix-B®

  • VBI’s vaccine candidate demonstrated robust and consistent immune responses across all three lots after two and three doses, with higher seroprotection rates and antibody geometric mean concentration (GMC) compared to Engerix-B®

  • No safety signals were observed

BioLineRx: Positive Results for Potential Standard of Care in Stem Cell Study

 - Results demonstrate significant cost benefits of using Motixafortide in combination with G-CSF as standard-of-care mobilization therapy for all multiple myeloma patients undergoing autologous stem cell transplantation -

- Results from pre-planned study, on top of highly significant and clinically meaningful results from Phase 3 GENESIS trial announced in May 2021, strongly support potential use of Motixafortide as standard of care in stem cell mobilization -

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/biolinerx-announces-positive-results-pharmacoeconomic-123000351.html

Jasper Therapeutics started at Outperform by Oppenheimer

 Target $21

https://finviz.com/quote.ashx?t=JSPR&ty=c&ta=1&p=d

Neuronetics: Below-view Prelim Q3 Revenue

 Neuronetics, Inc. (NASDAQ: STIM), a commercial-stage medical technology company focused on designing, developing and marketing products that improve the quality of life for patients who suffer from neurohealth disorders, today provided preliminary revenue results for the third quarter of 2021.

The Company expects total revenue for the third quarter to be approximately $13.8 million, compared to previously issued guidance of $15.0 million to $16.0 million. The Company now expects full-year revenue to be in the range of $53.3 million to $54.3 million.

“Our third quarter revenue came in lower than anticipated primarily due to our new sales team requiring additional time to get to full productivity as a result of extended sales cycles driven in part by the uncertain Covid-19 environment. Despite the uncertainty in the market, we have continued to make solid progress on our strategic initiatives to drive future growth," said Keith J. Sullivan, President and Chief Executive Officer of Neuronetics. “Specifically, in the third quarter, we hosted a second successful NeuroStar Summit while continuing the implementation of a variety of digital and social marketing campaigns to drive awareness. In addition, we launched a new program that helped identify over 500 patients within existing customer practices who are candidates for NeuroStar therapy. Lastly, we continue to have a productive dialogue with the FDA on potential label expansion and new indications. Timing obviously is outside our control, but we definitely feel like we’re moving in the right direction.”

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/neuronetics-announces-preliminary-revenue-third-201500433.html