William Blair Initiates Research Coverage on MDVN, OGXI & DNDN: Three Companies in Prostate Cancer Treatment Space
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Rating Summary:
12 Buy, 17 Hold, 0 Sell
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Today's Overall Ratings:
Up: 8 | Down: 5 | New: 26
Rating Summary:
12 Buy, 17 Hold, 0 Sell
Rating Trend: = Flat
Today's Overall Ratings:
Up: 8 | Down: 5 | New: 26
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William Blair & Company analyst Y. Katherine Xu initiated research coverage of Medivation (Nasdaq: MDVN) and OncoGenex Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: OGXI) with Outperform ratings and Dendreon Corp (Nasdaq: DNDN) with an Underperform rating.
"The prostate cancer treatment field has recently witnessed an explosion of development," Xu said. "During the past two years, Provenge (produced by Dendreon), Jevtana (Sanofi (NYSE: SNY)), and Zytiga (Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ)) gained approval for the treatment of metastatic prostate cancer, and all three therapies demonstrated significant benefits in prolonging overall survival. In contrast, before these three approvals were granted, only Taxotere had been found to prolong survival in prostate cancer patients over the past several decades. We believe Provenge, an immunotherapy, and the next-generation hormonal agents Zytiga (abiraterone) and MDV3100 will bring dramatic transformation and advancement to the prostate cancer treatment field in the next decade."
"Dendreon's Provenge is the first immunotherapy approved in the United States; as such, we believe it will eventually capture a good share of the on-label indicated market for metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) in the United States. However, we rate Dendreon Underperform, as we have concerns about the commercial prospects of the therapy. We believe the key questions are how big an opportunity Provenge can be both in the United States and Europe, and how profitable the company can become given the cumbersome logistics to manufacture and distribute the patient-specific therapy. We rate Medivation Outperform because we believe Medivation's MDV3100 (partnered with Astellas) is among the most promising agents, with usefulness not only in the mCRPC setting, but also earlier on the disease continuum in the hormone-sensitive stage. OncoGenex's lead candidate custirsen (partnered with Teva (Nasdaq: TEVA)) is in two Phase III studies, and both are expected to release top-line data during fourth quarter 2012. Custirsen augments the effect of chemotherapeutic agents, and should it be approved, custirsen could be established as the combination of choice with chemotherapies to enhance overall survival and provide pain palliation."
"The prostate cancer treatment field has recently witnessed an explosion of development," Xu said. "During the past two years, Provenge (produced by Dendreon), Jevtana (Sanofi (NYSE: SNY)), and Zytiga (Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ)) gained approval for the treatment of metastatic prostate cancer, and all three therapies demonstrated significant benefits in prolonging overall survival. In contrast, before these three approvals were granted, only Taxotere had been found to prolong survival in prostate cancer patients over the past several decades. We believe Provenge, an immunotherapy, and the next-generation hormonal agents Zytiga (abiraterone) and MDV3100 will bring dramatic transformation and advancement to the prostate cancer treatment field in the next decade."
"Dendreon's Provenge is the first immunotherapy approved in the United States; as such, we believe it will eventually capture a good share of the on-label indicated market for metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) in the United States. However, we rate Dendreon Underperform, as we have concerns about the commercial prospects of the therapy. We believe the key questions are how big an opportunity Provenge can be both in the United States and Europe, and how profitable the company can become given the cumbersome logistics to manufacture and distribute the patient-specific therapy. We rate Medivation Outperform because we believe Medivation's MDV3100 (partnered with Astellas) is among the most promising agents, with usefulness not only in the mCRPC setting, but also earlier on the disease continuum in the hormone-sensitive stage. OncoGenex's lead candidate custirsen (partnered with Teva (Nasdaq: TEVA)) is in two Phase III studies, and both are expected to release top-line data during fourth quarter 2012. Custirsen augments the effect of chemotherapeutic agents, and should it be approved, custirsen could be established as the combination of choice with chemotherapies to enhance overall survival and provide pain palliation."
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