Amgen's Multiple Myeloma Drug Receives NICE Recommendation

Amgen Inc. AMGN announced that Kyprolis gained recommendation from National Institute for Health and Care Excellence NICE in combination with dexamethasone for the treatment of relapsed multiple myeloma (RMM) in patients who have received at least one prior therapy excluding Johnson & Johnson's JNJ Velcade.

The drug, in combination with Celgene Corporation's CELG Revlimid (lenalidomide) and dexamethasone, is already approved in the EU for the treatment of multiple myeloma in patients who have received at least one prior therapy. Moreover, the recommendation for label expansion from NICE, a public body of the Department of Health in the United Kingdom, will allow Amgen to market the drug with expanded label in England and Wales.

Amgen's shares have outperformed the Zacks classified Medical - Biomedical and Genetics industry so far this year. The stock gained 12.8% compared with the industry's increase of 2.3% during the period.

The recommendation was based on data from the pivotal ENDEAVOR study, which compared Kyprolis and Velcade in combination with dexamethasone in patients with RMM. The data demonstrated superiority of Kyprolis over Velcade by doubling progression-free survival PFS (18.7 months vs. 9.4 months) and significantly improving overall survival in patients.

Moreover, data from ASPIRE study showed that Kyprolis in combination with Revlimid and dexamethasone achieved better PFS than combination therapy with Revlimid and dexamethasone (26.3 months vs 17.6 months).

According to the company press release, there are approximately 17,500 patients with myeloma in the UK with news cases of approximately diagnosed every year.

Kyprolis posted sales of $190 million in the first quarter 2017, up 23% year over year, driven by higher demand. At the call, the company said that in the second-line multiple myeloma market, despite triplet regimens being used in approximately one-third of patients, Kyprolis gained 50% market share for new patient starts. With the approval of label expansion in the U.K., sales of this drug are likely to witness an increase.

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Zacks Rank & Stock to Consider

Amgen currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). A better-ranked stock in the healthcare sector is VIVUS, Inc. VVUS, sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

VIVUS' loss per share estimates declined from 50 cents to 39 cents for 2017 in the last 60 days. The company posted positive earnings surprises in the four trailing quarters with an average beat of 233.69%.

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