Shares of the biotech Biogen (NASDAQ:BIIB), one of the first biotech firms, were trading 3.3 percent lower, in a further drop that has further distanced the company’s valuation from the highs of last March based on favorable tests of its Alzheimer’s disease drug candidate Aducanumab.
"This is the first time an investigational drug for Alzheimer's disease has demonstrated a statistically significant reduction on amyloid plaque as well as a statistically significant slowing of clinical impairment in patients with prodromal or mild disease," Biogen's senior VP and chief medical officer Alfred Sandrock, M.D., Ph.D. said at the time.
Now, Cowen analyst Mark Schmidt, who set a price target for Biogen in the range of US$425-US$500 because of the Phase 1b’s results’ success, recently noted that as impressive as those results were the 6mg cohort "had not yet differentiated itself from placebo". He also said that because the trial was based only on 22 to 23 patients it allows excessive room for "some bias."
Therefore, Schmidt fears that the result may not be as good when Biogen presents them to the Alzheimer’s Association (AAIC).
Meanwhile, today’s drop may also be related to the resignation of Biogen’s CEO, Dr. Douglas Williams, who said he would leave the company at the end of July to become CEO of as-yet unnamed start-up biotechnology firm focused on cancer diagnostics and therapy.
Biogen said that Sandrock and senior VP and chief scientific officer Spyros Artavanis-Tsakonas would now take over from Williams to head Biogen Research and Development
“All of us at Biogen appreciate Doug’s contributions to the rapid development of our Research and Development organization. We are fortunate to have Al Sandrock and Spyros Artavanis-Tsakonas to lead the work to which Biogen is dedicated,” said Biogen’s CEO, Dr. George A. Scangos.
Separately, Biogen is not showing any signs of slowdown and the company recently said it would invest one billion francs in a new drug production center in Luterbach, Switzerland, creating up to 400 jobs by 2019 to produce new drugs, which require additional production capacity.
Now based in Cambridge, MA., Biogen was founded in 1978 in Geneva, Switzerland. It employs some 7,500 employees in 30 countries, specializing in neurodegenerative diseases, hemophilia and autoimmune disorders.