Ahead Of AdComm AstraZeneca, FibroGen's Roxadustat Hit With Safety, Efficacy Questions


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  • Ahead of Thursday's meeting of the FDA's Cardiovascular and Renal Drugs Advisory Committee, the agency is raising fresh doubts on the safety of AstraZeneca Plc's (NASDAQ:AZN) and FibroGen Inc's (NASDAQ:FGEN) anemia drug roxadustat.
  • FDA staffers flagged concerning evidence of blood clotting, when compared with placebo in nondialysis-dependent patients but also when compared against Amgen Inc (NASDAQ:AMGN) and Johnson & Johnson's (NYSE:JNJ) Epogen/Procrit, "which is itself known to pose these risks," in dialysis-dependent patients.
  • The staffers pooled their safety analysis from six Phase 3 trials in non-dialysis and dialysis-dependent patients. 
  • On a composite of major adverse cardiac events (MACE), roxadustat was comparable to Epogen/Procrit in dialysis-dependent patients and comparable to placebo among non-dialysis patients. 
  • The agency also noted "considerable disparity in subject retention between the roxadustat and placebo groups," challenging the interpretation of the company's safety analyses.
  • The committee on Thursday will be tasked with voting on two approval questions: whether roxadustat should be approved for the treatment of anemia due to CKD in adult patients on dialysis and whether it should be approved for those not on dialysis.
  • See the FDA Briefing Documents here.
  • Price Action: FGEN shares are down 4.7% at $24.19, and AZN stock is down 0.14% at $60.41 during the market session on the last check Tuesday.
  • Related content: Benzinga's Full FDA Calendar.

27% profits every 20 days?

This is what Nic Chahine averages with his options buys. Not selling covered calls or spreads... BUYING options. Most traders don't even have a winning percentage of 27% buying options. He has an 83% win rate. Here's how he does it.


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