Nov. 6 Quick Takes: Global Blood slides after earnings; plus AZ’s hold on fitusiran, U.K.’s vaccine delivery
Global Blood sheds value after tepid earnings report
Shares of Global Blood Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:GBT) slid 37% to $38.21 Friday, losing almost $1.4 billion in market cap and touching a 52-week low intraday, after the company’s 3Q20 earnings report showed a weaker-than-expected launch trajectory for sickle cell disease therapy Oxbryta voxelotor. Although quarterly sales of the treatment rose to $36.9 million from $31.5 million in 2Q20, they fell short of analysts’ consensus estimate of $44 million. Oxbryta sales were $14.1 million in 1Q20, the drug’s first full quarter on the market. A Raymond James analyst downgraded Global Blood on the news.
Sanofi hemophilia candidate on hold
A Sanofi (Euronext:SAN; NASDAQ:SNY) representative told BioCentury the pharma paused clinical trials of fitusiran on Oct. 30 to allow investigation of non-fatal thrombotic events in the studies, including the Phase III ATLAS trial. Sanofi, which has rights to the siRNA against AT3 from Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:ALNY), is engaging with regulatory authorities and assessing relevant trial data...