Yahoo Finance Concert Pharmaceuticals Plunges on Patent Petition Setback
Shares of Concert Pharmaceuticals, Inc. CNCE plunged more than 25%, following the announcement that the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has refused to grant the company a Post Grant Review petition in a dispute related to Incyte Corporation’s (INCY) ‘335 patent.
However, shares of the company have gained 92.4% in the past year, significantly outperforming the industry’s gain of 10.4% in that period.
The patent ’335 protects Incyte’s JAK inhibitor, ruxolitinib, which is sold under the tradename Jakafi for treating myelofibrosis and polycythemia vera. Concert Pharma’s pipeline candidate, CTP-543, is a modified version of ruxolitinib, which is being developed as a treatment for alopecia areata.
Alopecia areata is an auto-immune disease, which result in partial or complete hair losson the scalp and/or body.
However, the company said that it may challenge the validity of the patent in the future in federal court. It will also continue developing CTP-543.
In a separate press release, Concert Pharma announced that the FDA has granted Fast Track designation to CTP-543 as a treatment for moderate-to-severe alopecia areata.
The FDA grants a fast track designation to expedite a candidate’s development and its faster review, which treat serious and unmet medical conditions. With this designation, a candidate is expected to be granted a priority review once it files a new drug application.
The candidate is currently being evaluated in a phase IIa study.
Apart from CTP-543, Concert Pharma is also developing AVP-786 for treating agitation associated with Alzheimer’s disease, JZP-386 in collaboration with Jazz Pharmaceuticals PLC JAZZ in narcolepsy and CTP-730 in collaboration with Celgene Corporation CELG in inflammatory disease.
However, in an asset purchase agreement, the company sold its cystic fibrosis candidate, CTP-656, to Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated VRTX in July last year.
Zacks Rank
Concert Pharma carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
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