Biohaven Pharmaceutical Holding (NYSE:BHVN) shares climbed Tuesday on word it had sold rights on future global net sales of products containing rimegepant (BHV-3000) to private equity investor Royalty Pharma for US$100mln. Royalty Pharma has built a multi-billion-dollar investment portfolio by buying up the rights to royalties on future drug sales. Royalty Pharma also agreed to purchase US$50mln in common shares of Biohaven at a price of $45 per share. The funding will boost Biohaven’s product development. The Connecticut-based biotech’s shares were up nearly 4% to US$43.20.
Solid Biosciences Inc. (NASDAQ:SLDB) rocketed after the Massachusetts-based company said the US Food and Drug Administration had lifted its clinical hold on SGT-001, the company's treatment for Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), allowing a Phase 1/11 trial to resume. SGT-001 is a gene therapy that aims to improve protein expression for patients with DMD, a rare degenerative disease. Shares of the biotech rocketed nearly 71% to US$50.25.
READ: Astrotech shares blast off after its new trace explosives detector clears EU hurdle
A subsidiary of Astrotech (NASDAQ: ASTC) revealed that Tracer 1000, a new explosives trace detector made by 1st Detect, will enter the European Civil Aviation Conference’s common evaluation process (CEP) for airport checkpoint screening of passengers and cargo in the coming months. Certification by the European Civil Aviation Conference, the European regulator on aviation security, would pave the way for the sale of the Tracer 1000 to international airports and governments. Enthused by the announcement, investors sent Astrotech’s shares more than tripled to US$6.22.
Curiously, shares of Wave Life Sciences Ltd (NASDAQ:WVE) fell after fellow gene therapy developer Sarepta Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:SRPT) presented encouraging preliminary data on its gene therapy candidate for Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) during its R&D day. Seeking Alpha reported that Wave Life Sciences shares fell because of “the perceived negative read-through on its DMD candidate WVE-210201, an antisense oligonucleotide.” Wave Life Science shares fell nearly 13% to US$44.05.