Biogen’s (BIIB) stock price pushed higher this week the U.S. FDA approved its therapy for Alzheimer’s disease. According to CNBC, “The FDA’s decision was highly anticipated as U.S. regulatory approval would make aducanumab the first drug approved to slow cognitive decline in people living with the disease and the first new medicine for Alzheimer’s in nearly two decades. The drug is also expected to generate billions of dollars in revenue for the company.”
However, some don’t believe the treatment should have been approved at all. In fact, “This should not be approved, because substantial evidence of effectiveness hasn’t been shown,” said Dr. Lon Schneider, director of the California Alzheimer’s Disease Center at the University of Southern California, as quoted by The New York Times. “There’s very little potential that this will address the needs of patients.”
Fate Therapeutics (FATE) saw some good momentum after announcing positive interim Phase 1 data from the Company’s FT516 program for patients with relapsed / refractory B-cell lymphoma at the 2021 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting.
“These additional data from our Phase 1 study of FT516 administered off-the-shelf in the outpatient setting continue to reinforce its differentiated safety profile and underscore its potential clinical benefit,” said Wayne Chu, M.D., Senior Vice President of Clinical Development of Fate Therapeutics, as quoted in a company release.
Stitch Fix (SFIX) popped after earnings results. For Q3 2021, the company saw revenue of $536 million – up 44% year over year. That was also above the company’s own estimates for $515 million. The company did lose $18.8 million, or 18 cents, which was lower than expectations for a loss of 27 cents.
Stitch Fix President and incoming CEO Elizabeth Spaulding said, as quoted in a company press release, “In Q3 we delivered $536 million in net revenue, reflecting 44% year-over-year growth, and grew our active client count to more than 4.1 million, reflecting 20% year-over-year growth and our second highest quarter-over-quarter active client additions ever.”
Velodyne Lidar (VLDR) is pushing higher on news it’ll join the Russell 2000 on June 28, 2021. Ahead of the inclusion, VLDR volume has been spiking over the last few days. Since May 27, volume spikes have ranged from four million to 18.07 million, as compared to daily average volume of 3.97 million shares.
Gevo Inc. (GEVO) is also pushing higher on news it will join the Russell 3000 on June, 28 2021.
At the time of this writing, Ian Cooper did not hold a position in any of these stocks.
