Benzinga's Daily Biotech Pulse: Celgene's Lymphoma Trial Meets Endpoint, Merit Medical's Strong Q2, Bluebird Bio Offering

Here's a roundup of top developments in the biotech space over the last 24 hours:

Scaling the Peaks

(Stocks hitting 52-week highs on July 23)

• Becton Dickinson and Co BDX
• Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. Class A BIO
• Chembio Diagnostics Inc CEMI
• Coherus Biosciences Inc CHRS
• Haemonetics Corporation HAE
• Medpace Holdings Inc MEDP
• Novocure Ltd NVCR
• Reata Pharmaceuticals Inc RETA
• SurModics, Inc. SRDX
• Tandem Diabetes Care Inc TNDM

Down In The Dumps

(Stocks hitting 52-week lows on July 23)

• Catabasis Pharmaceuticals Inc CATB
• Enzo Biochem, Inc. ENZ
• Fortress Biotech FBIO
• Genocea Biosciences Inc GNCA
• ZIOPHARM Oncology Inc. ZIOP

Stocks In Focus

Celgene's Lymphatic Cancer Drug Meets Primary Endpoint

Celgene Corporation CELG announced its Phase III AUGMENT study that evaluated its Revlimid in combination with rituximab for treating patients with relapsed/refractory indolent lymphoma met the primary endpoint of progression-free survival compared to rituximab, plus placebo.

Additionally, the company said a favorable trend was observed for overall survival during the analysis.

The stock rallied 1.9 percent to $1.62 in after-hours trading.

Veracyte Q2 Results Exceed Expectations

Veracyte Inc VCYT reported a Q2 loss of 18 cents per share, narrower than the 27 cents loss estimated by analysts. Revenues climbed 24 percent to $22.8 million.

See Also: The Week Ahead In Biotech: Conferences, PDUFA Dates, Clinical Trial Results, Earnings And IPOs

Cara, AC Immune Announce Closing Of Offering

Cara Therapeutics Inc CARA announced closing of its underwritten public offering of 5.175 million shares at a price of $19 per share. The company generated gross proceeds of $98.3 million from the offering, and said it intends to use the net proceeds from the offering to fund CR845/difelikefalin's clinical and research development activities, among other things.

The stock rose 3.21 percent to $19.92 in after-hours trading.

AC Immune SA ACIU said its first subscription rights offering and underwritten primary offering of common shares have been closed.

AC Immune stock rose 3.83 percent to $16.80 in after-hours trading.

Bluebird bio, Reata, Announce Common Stock Offering

bluebird bio Inc BLUE commenced an underwritten public offering of $400 million of its common stock. All shares earmarked for the offering will be offered by the company.

Bluebird bio shares fell 3.05 percent to $171.85 in after-hours trading.

Reata announced intention to offer and sell 3 million shares in an underwritten public offering, pursurant to an existing shelf registration statement.

Reata shares lost 2.05 percent to $74.98 in after-hours trading.

Merit Medical Q2 EPS Beats Estimates

Merit Medical Systems, Inc. MMSI reported Q2 revenues of $224.8 million, up 20.5 percent, and non-GAAP earnings per share of 43 cents compared to 36 cents per share last year. Analysts, on average, estimated earnings of 40 cents per share. The company also raised guidance for 2018.

The stock rallied 4 percent to $58.45 in after-hours trading.

Celyad Gets FDA Nod to Proceed With Colorectal Cancer Drug Trial

CELYAD SA/ADR CYAD said the FDA accepted its IND, or investigational new drug, application for CYAD-101, a non-gene edited allogenic CAR-T candidate.

"The FDA has indicated that the Allo-SHRINK trial, evaluating the safety and clinical activity of CYAD-101 in patients with unresectable colorectal cancer in combination with standard chemotherapy, is allowed to proceed," the company said.

On The Radar

Earnings

Eli Lilly And Co LLY Q2 Adj. EPS $1.50 Beats $1.30 Estimate, Sales $6.36B Beat $6.05B Estimate
Biogen Inc BIIB Q2 EPS $5.80 vs $5.21 Est., Sales $3.4B vs $3.25B Est.
Quest Diagnostics Inc DGX Q2 Adj. EPS $1.75 Misses $1.76 Estimate, Sales $1.919B Miss $1.95B Estimate

FDA Tidbits

FDA announced several actions to protect public health related to the compounding of human drug products. The agency also said it is issuing an alert warning about an active pharma ingredient, namely cesium chloride, used in compounding that pose serious risks to patients.