On Friday, Shares of Opko Health Inc. (NYSE:OPK), lost - 2.37% to $10.72.
OPKO Health, declared that the American Medical Association (AMA) Current Procedural Terminology (CPT®) Editorial Panel has granted a Category I CPT code for its 4Kscore Test, the only blood test that accurately identifies an individual patient’s risk for aggressive prostate cancer. This important event upgrades the 4Kscore Test from a Category III Administrative code to a Category I CPT code, a designation reserved for established diagnostic tests, and will provide broader access to the 4Kscore Test to urologists and their patients across the United States.
“The CPT Category I approval is recognition by the leading panel of medical experts in the United States that the 4Kscore Test is now an established diagnostic test addressing an important unmet medical need,” said David Okrongly, Ph.D., President of OPKO Diagnostics. “The multiple peer-reviewed clinical studies, inclusion of the 4Kscore Test in the 2015 National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) guidelines for Prostate Cancer Early Detection, and the growing adoption of the test in the United States were key factors in the decision by the CPT Editorial Board reviewers.”
OPKO Health, Inc., a biopharmaceutical and diagnostics company, engages in the discovery, development, and commercialization of novel and proprietary technologies in the United States and internationally. It operates through two segments, Pharmaceuticals and Diagnostics.
Shares of Harvard Apparatus Regenerative Tech Inc (NASDAQ:HART), declined -8.03% to $1.26, during its last trading session.
Harvard Apparatus Regenerative Technology, stated third quarter financial results and offered a business update. Separately this morning, HART stated noteworthy results from research involving its second-generation (Gen2) bioengineered trachea, bronchus and esophagus implants in large animals (Click here for release). HART will host a conference call recently at 5:00 pm ET to review its results, progress and outlook.
Business Update
HART has made solid advances towards key objectives during the past several months.
Most notably, as declared earlier recently, the company has made noteworthy advances in the development of its Gen2 bioengineered implants. HART’s Gen2 technology reflects design enhancements to improve the body’s response to the implant and to better guide the repair of tissue in the healing process. The Company’s recent animal studies tested all three of its Gen2 implants – esophagus, trachea, and bronchus – demonstrating resolution of the negative inflammatory response observed with the preceding generation of the technology. Clinically noteworthy evidence of tissue and nerve regeneration was observed in the esophageal implant, positioning the esophageal implant as the current lead development priority.
Importantly, HART’s esophageal implant is intended to address a very noteworthy need as a potentially life-saving treatment for patients with esophageal cancer. Each year in the U.S. about 17,000 new cases of esophageal cancer are diagnosed, and more than 4,000 are addressed by surgery. The Company believes that these results underscore the value and potential of its platform technology to treat these patients and pave the way for further studies and its regulatory pathway for human clinical trials.
The company also continued to advance its development partnerships, specifically collaborations with Mayo Clinic and Connecticut Children’s Medical Center (CCMC). HART’s partnership with Mayo Clinic focuses on developing solutions for cancer and other life-threatening diseases affecting the esophagus, bronchus and trachea. HART has initiated its planned confirmatory large-animal studies of its Gen2 implants in partnership with Mayo Clinic. The study design has been accomplished, prerequisite tests are underway and the Company anticipates the animal surgeries to occur in December. The Company’s partnership with CCMC is focused on developing a solution for a congenital childhood condition, pediatric esophageal atresia, a condition in which a noteworthy or complete separation of a child’s esophagus prevents normal eating function. Initial tests with CCMC commenced during the third quarter.
Harvard Apparatus Regenerative Technology, Inc., a clinical stage biotechnology company, develops and commercializes regenerated organs for human transplant. The company is developing the HART-Trachea, which comprises a scaffold, the patient’s cells, and a bioreactor to restore the structure and/or function of a severely damaged trachea; and automated solid organ bioreactor that has the ability to seed cells on an organ scaffold and keep them sterile and healthy during the growth phase priority to transplant. Its pre-clinical stage products comprise human-sized synthetic scaffold prototypes for esophageal transplant.
Finally, Shares of Murphy Oil Corporation (NYSE:MUR), ended its last trade with 0.45% loss, and closed at $28.77.
Murphy Oil Corporation (MUR) recently declared its preliminary financial and operating results for the quarter and nine-month period ended September 30, 2015, counting a net loss of $1,595 million, or $9.26 per diluted share during the quarter. The net loss during the third quarter comprises a non-cash impairment of oil and natural gas properties of $2,301 million, or $1,537 million net of taxes. Details are offered in the third quarter financial results section below.
- Operating and financial highlights for the quarter and year-to-date comprise:
- Produced volumes of 207,586 boepd in the third quarter, surpassing guidance of 200,000 boepd
- Reduced lease operating expense per barrel by over 19 percent year-over-year
- Lowered G&A expense by about 12 percent year-over-year
- Maintained net debt to EBITDA ratio below 1.5 at quarter-end (annualized)
- Signed farm-in agreement for 15-1/05 block in Vietnam`s Cuu Long Basin, where a discovery well has successfully been tested
- Achieved exploration success in low-risk opportunities - Merapuh 5 and Marakas offshore Malaysia and Dalmatian South #2 in Gulf of Mexico
Murphy Oil Corporation operates as an oil and gas exploration and production company worldwide. It explores for and produces crude oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids. The company was formerly known as Murphy Corporation and changed its name to Murphy Oil Corporation in 1964.