On Tuesday, Juno Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:JUNO)’s shares gained 2.89% to $61.94, as on April 6, JUNO declared that it reached a settlement contract to resolve litigation with the Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania and Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation. Juno became a party to the litigation after it reached a December 2013 license contract with St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, also a party in the litigation, for patent rights owned by St. Jude. The litigation itself, which began in July 2012 in connection with a contract dispute between St. Jude and Penn, was broadened in March 2013 to comprise a dispute concerning St. Jude’s U.S. Patent No. 8,399,645, titled “Chimeric Receptors with 4-1BB Stimulatory Signaling Domain.”
Under the terms of the settlement, Novartis agreed to make payments to Juno counting an initial payment of $12.25 million, future milestone payments, and mid-single digit royalties from U.S. net sales of product candidates related to the disputed contract and patent claims, in addition to a low double digit percentage of the royalties Novartis pays to Penn for global net sales for those product candidates. Payments received by Juno will be shared with St. Jude under the terms of the license contract between Juno and St. Jude. The parties also agreed to dismiss all claims in the relevant legal proceedings.
Juno Therapeutics, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, engages in developing cell-based cancer immunotherapies. The company develops cell-based cancer immunotherapies based on its chimeric antigen receptor and T cell receptor technologies to genetically engineer T cells to recognize and kill cancer cells.
Intrexon Corporation (NYSE:XON)’s shares gained 2.82% to $44.51, during the last trading session on Tuesday, after Soligenix, an exclusive worldwide partner of Intrexon Corporation, declared that contract has been reached with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on the design of a pivotal, Phase 3 clinical trial evaluating its product, SGX203 (oral beclomethasone 17,21-dipropionate or BDP), in the treatment of pediatric Crohn’s disease. SGX203 has formerly been granted both orphan drug and fast track designations from the FDA for the treatment of Crohn’s Disease in the pediatric population.
SGX203 is a proprietary formulation of BDP that uses a two-tablet immediate and delayed release system to orally deliver high mucosal concentrations of the topical steroid to both the upper and lower bowel walls. This makes SGX203 particularly well suited for Crohn’s disease in younger patients that are stated to have gastrointestinal (GI) inflammation in both areas of the bowel as opposed to adults who have mainly lower (colon) involvement. Oral BDP has a limited systemic absorption into the blood stream, decreasing the potential for the development of adverse side-effects frequently seen with systemic steroid therapies, like prednisone. These side effects comprise bone demineralization and interference with normal growth, which are particularly concerning in children.
The forthcoming pivotal Phase 3 study will be a double-blind, randomized, controlled, multi-national trial and will seek to enroll about 150 subjects 6-17 years of age with endoscopically proven mild to moderate Crohn’s disease. The trial will compare the rates of improvement of the signs and symptoms of Crohn’s disease after 8 weeks of treatment among subjects randomized to one of three SGX203 dose groups (split 60:30:60 among the lowest, middle and highest dose of SGX203). Subjects will be followed for an additional 6 months after the completion of treatment. Entry criteria for the trial are the presence of Crohn’s disease symptoms (abdominal pain and/or diarrhea) associated with laboratory evidence of active disease in the blood. The primary clinical efficacy endpoint of the trial will compare the percentage of subjects in each of the three dose groups having resolved their signs and symptoms after an 8-week course of treatment. An adaptive design will be employed in which an independent Data Monitoring Committee will review the efficacy data after about 90 subjects have accomplished treatment and determine if the trial size requires adjustment based on the actual event rate or halted for futility or overwhelming efficacy. The trial is anticipated to start in the second half of 2015 with primary data accessible in the first half of 2017.
Intrexon Corporation, a biotechnology company, operates in the synthetic biology field in the United States. The company, through a suite of proprietary and complementary technologies, designs, builds, and regulates gene programs, which are DNA sequences that comprise of key genetic components.
At the end of Tuesday’s trade, Canadian Natural Resources Limited (NYSE:CNQ)’s shares gained 2.58% to $33.01, after CNQ declared that Toronto Stock Exchange has accepted notice filed by Canadian Natural of its intention to make a Normal Course Issuer Bid through the facilities of Toronto Stock Exchange. Purchases may also be made through the facilities of the New York Stock Exchange.
The notice provides that Canadian Natural may, during the 12 month period commencing April 9, 2015 and ending April 8, 2016, purchase for cancellation on Toronto Stock Exchange, alternative Canadian trading platforms, and the New York Stock Exchange up to 54,640,607 shares, being 5% of the 1,092,812,154 outstanding ordinary shares as at March 31, 2015. Canadian Natural will not attain more than 25% of the average daily trading volume of its ordinary shares during a trading day, being 905,367 ordinary shares subject to certain prescribed exceptions. The price which Canadian Natural will pay for any such shares will be the market price at the time of attainment. The actual number of ordinary shares that may be purchased and the timing of any such purchases will be determined by Canadian Natural.
Canadian Natural, following a Normal Course Issuer Bid that ends April 8, 2015, purchased for cancellation to March 31, 2015 at a weighted average price of C$46.64 per ordinary share, 8,140,000 of its outstanding ordinary shares. Aggregate cost incurred to-date for the repurchase of shares under the current Normal Course Bid is $379.7 million.
Canadian Natural Resources Limited attains, explores for, develops, produces, markets, and sells crude oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids (NGLs). The company offers light and medium crude oil, primary heavy crude oil, Pelican Lake heavy crude oil, bitumen, and synthetic crude oil (SCO).
Finally, Sony Corporation (NYSE:SNE), ended its Tuesday’s trading session with 2.50% gain, and closed at $31.13, after Sony Entertainment CEO Michael Lynton recently named Sanford Panitch as President of International Film & Television. Panitch comes to SPE after serving as president of Fox International Productions, a division of 20th Century Fox.
As President of International Film & Television, Panitch will report directly to Lynton. He will oversee global film and television co-productions in addition to local language film and television productions. In international television, he will coordinate with Andrea Wong, President of International Production, Sony Pictures Television, who will continue with all her responsibilities supervising international television production.
Panitch joins SPE following a successful tenure at Fox. As the founding president of Fox International Productions, he oversaw all local production activities in 12 territories around the globe in Latin America, Europe, India and China. Fox International Productions is considered the most successful international film production division in the industry grossing more than $900M in global box office since its inception six years ago. Before establishing the division, Panitch served as President of Filmed Entertainment at New Regency and Executive Vice President of Production at 20th Century Fox.
Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) is a partner of Sony Entertainment Inc., a partner of Tokyo-based Sony Corporation.
Sony Corporation designs, develops, manufactures, and sells electronic equipment, instruments, and devices for consumer, professional, and industrial markets worldwide. It offers LCD televisions; home audio, Blu-ray disc players and recorders, and memory-based audio devices; compact digital, home-use video, and interchangeable single-lens cameras; and personal computers.
DISCLAIMER:
This article is published by www.wsnewspublishers.com. The Content included in this article is just for informational purposes only. All information used in this article is believed to be from reliable sources, but we make no representations or warranties of any kind, express or implied, about the completeness, accuracy, or reliability with respect to this article.
All visitors are advised to conduct their own independent research into individual stocks before making a purchase decision.
Information contained in this article contains forward-looking information within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, counting statements regarding the predictable continual growth of the market for the corporation’s products, the corporation’s ability to fund its capital requirement in the near term and in the long term; pricing pressures; etc.
Any statements that express or involve discussions with respect to predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, aims, assumptions, or future events or performance may be forward looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on expectations, estimates, and projections at the time the statements are made that involve a number of risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results or events to differ materially from those presently anticipated. Forward looking statements may be identified through the use of such words as expects, will, anticipates, estimates, believes, or by statements indicating certain actions may, could, should might occur.
