Consecutive wins in PAH
Phase III selexipag data put Actelion in PAH driver's seat, combos to follow
Positive Phase III data for selexipag in pulmonary arterial hypertension gave Actelion Ltd. (SIX:ATLN) a CHF2.4 billion ($2.7 billion) bump in market cap, valuing the bellwether at CHF13.4 billion ($14.9 billion). Daniel Koller of BB Biotech, which holds the stock, believes Actelion now could be in a dominant position in PAH with two new drugs in different therapeutic pathways that have further combination opportunities in the long term.
On June 16, Actelion announced top-line data from the Phase III GRIPHON trial that showed oral selexipag decreased the risk of a morbidity/mortality event by 39% vs. placebo (p<0.0001). The company said 80% of patients were already on standard PAH therapy of an endothelin receptor antagonist or a phosphodiesterase-5 (PDE-5) inhibitor...