Amgen (AMGN) stock was up 2.5% in afternoon trading on the stock market today after the company presented five studies on its new cholesterol drug over the weekend. Results eased safety concerns raised earlier in the month. Competitors Regeneron (REGN), Sanofi (SNY), Pfizer (PFE) and Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY) also presented data, but their shares were up a fraction or flat Monday afternoon. At the American College of Cardiology meeting, Amgen
In recent decades, high cholesterol has been Big Pharma’s gravy train. The statins, oral drugs that lower “bad” cholesterol, turned into the best-selling drugs in history, with Pfizer’s Lipitor peaking at nearly $14 billion in 2006 sales. Now, however, all the statins have gone off-patent or are about to. So Pfizer (PFE) and a passel of other companies — led by Amgen (AMGN), Regeneron (REGN) and Regeneron’s partner Sanofi (SNY) — are turning to a
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (REGN) plunged 10% Friday afternoon after trading was briefly halted for volatility, after word got out that the FDA is investigating its cholesterol-drug candidate for adverse effects. The item was buried deep in a 20-F form Regeneron’s big-pharma partner Sanofi (SNY) filed Friday. Under a discussion of the two firms’ collaboration on alirocumab, a monoclonal antibody of a type called PCSK9 for treating high cholesterol,