On Friday, Shares of Horizon Pharma PLC (NASDAQ:HZNP), gained 2.13% to $17.99.
Horizon Pharma plc, declared that its shareholders have approved four of the five proposals put before them recently at the extraordinary general meeting of Horizon Pharma shareholders (the “Shareholder Meeting”). Further details on the voting results for each of the proposals put before the shareholders at the Shareholder Meeting can be found on the Current Report on Form 8-K that Horizon Pharma intends to file with the Securities and Exchange Commission later recently.
“Recently’s overall favorable vote by our shareholders demonstrates the confidence they have in our team’s ability to build value through the potential acquisition of Depomed,” said Timothy P. Walbert, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Horizon Pharma plc. “We and other like-minded shareholders believe that a combination with Depomed is financially, operationally and plannedally compelling and look forward to continued engagement with Depomed shareholders as we work towards achieving this important merger.”
By obtaining the approval of its shareholders on key proposals, Horizon Pharma has satisfied another of the conditions to its outstanding exchange offer to acquire all of the outstanding shares of common stock of Depomed. However, the exchange offer remains conditioned on, among other things, the redemption or removal of certain poison pill rights that the Depomed board has the unilateral ability to remove and the tender of a majority of the total number of outstanding Depomed shares on a fully diluted basis.
Horizon Pharma plc, a specialty biopharmaceutical company, engages in identifying, developing, acquiring or in-licensing, and commercializing medicines for the treatment of arthritis, pain, inflammatory, and/or orphan diseases in the United States and internationally.
Shares of Whole Foods Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:WFM), declined -1.20% to $29.55, during its last trading session.
Whole Foods Market, declared the company will present at the Morgan Stanley Consumer and Retail Conference on November 18th at 9:20 a.m. (ET).
Whole Foods Market, Inc. operates natural and organic foods supermarkets. Its stores offers produce, packaged goods, bulk, frozen, dairy, meat, bakery, prepared foods, coffee, tea, beer, wine, cheese, nutritional supplements, vitamins, body care, pet foods, grocery, and household goods.
Finally, Shares of The Medicines Company (NASDAQ:MDCO), ended its last trade with 3.92% gain, and closed at $40.00.
Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, the leading RNAi therapeutics company, and The Medicines Company (Nasdaq:MDCO), a leading biopharmaceutical development and cardiovascular product company, stated positive results from their ongoing Phase 1 clinical trial with ALN-PCSsc in a late-breaking oral presentation at the American Heart Association (AHA) Scientific Sessions 2015.
ALN-PCSsc is an investigational RNAi therapeutic targeting PCSK9 – a genetically validated protein regulator of LDL receptor metabolism – being developed for the treatment of hypercholesterolemia. In contrast to anti-PCSK9 monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) that bind to PCSK9 in blood, ALN-PCSsc is a first-in-class investigational medicine that acts by turning off PCSK9 synthesis in the liver. As stated formerly, subcutaneous administration of ALN-PCSsc resulted in an up to 83 percent lowering of LDL-C, with an up to 64 ± 5 percent mean maximum reduction, comparable to published results for anti-PCSK9 MAbs (Zhang XL., et al., BMC Med, 2015). In new results, the effects of ALN-PCSsc were found to be highly durable, with clinically noteworthyand clamped reductions in LDL-C, supportive of a potential bi-annual subcutaneous dose regimen. Specifically, an up to 53 percent maximal and 47 percent least squares mean reduction in LDL-C was achieved at day 180 after just a single, low volume injection. In addition, ALN-PCSsc was shown to reduce a number of atherogenic lipids, counting lipoprotein (a) – or “Lp(a)” – and total cholesterol, which are associated with raised risk of cardiovascular disease. ALN-PCSsc was generally well tolerated with no clinically noteworthy drug-related adverse events. The development leadership of ALN-PCSsc has now transferred from Alnylam to The Medicines Company, who anticipates to initiate the ORION-1 Phase 2 study by the end of 2015.
“Our study results continue to show a highly durable PCSK9 knockdown and LDL-C reduction with just a single dose of ALN-PCSsc, a first-in-class investigational PCSK9 synthesis inhibitor. Remarkably, these data show that noteworthyand clamped lowering of LDL-C is achieved for over 180 days, with associated decreases in other atherogenic lipids counting Lp(a) and total cholesterol. Importantly, ALN-PCSsc continues to be generally well tolerated with no clinically noteworthydrug-related adverse events,” said Akshay Vaishnaw, M.D., Ph.D., Executive Vice President of R&D, and Chief Medical Officer of Alnylam. “We very much look forward to our continued partnership with The Medicines Company as they now take the lead in the ORION ALN-PCSsc development program.”
The Medicines Company provides medicines for patients in acute and intensive care hospitals worldwide. The company markets Angiomax, an intravenous direct thrombin inhibitor used as an anticoagulant in combination with aspirin in patients with unstable angina undergoing percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty, and for patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention; Cleviprex, an intravenous small molecule calcium channel blocker for blood pressure reduction; Minocin IV, an antibiotic for the treatment of infections due to gram-negative bacteria; Orbactiv for the treatment of acute bacterial skin and skin structure infections; PreveLeak, a mechanical vascular and surgical sealant; ready-to-use formulation of Argatroban for the treatment of thrombosis; and Recothrom, a human recombinant thrombin used as an aid to hemostasis, in addition to acute care generic products for acute cardiovascular, surgery and perioperative care, and serious infectious diseases.