May 9 Company Quick Takes: Chimerix, Puma, Janssen

Chimerix abandons brincidofovir trials
Chimerix Inc. (NASDAQ:CMRX) will cut its workforce in half after deciding to discontinue all clinical trials of adenovirus candidate brincidofovir due to low patient recruitment, five years after access to the therapy sparked a firestorm over compassionate use. Chimerix will make existing clinical supply of the lipid acyclic nucleoside phosphonate available under its expanded access program, and plans to submit an application for brincidofovir to treat smallpox under FDA's Animal Rule in 2020 (see "Turnabout"; "Brincidofovir Fails to Improve Survival in Adenovirus Study").

Puma reports declining sales of Nerlynx
Puma Biotechnology Inc. (NASDAQ:PBYI) was off $9.32 (31%) to $20.70 in after-hours trading Thursday after the company reported lower-than-expected sales of Nerlynx neratinib, citing patient discontinuations. Nerlynx sales were $45.6 million in 1Q19, up from $36 million in 1Q18 but well below 4Q18 sales of $61.1 million...