Oct. 29 Company Quick Takes: Incyte’s JAK inhibitor beats expectations; plus Sumitomo-Intercept, Merck KGaA-Pfizer, AMAG, Regeneron- Sanofi

Incyte surges on Jakafi sales, guidance
On the strength of 3Q19 sales of Jakafi ruxolitinib that beat estimates and resulted in an increase in full-year guidance, Incyte Corp. (NASDAQ:INCY) climbed $3.49 to $83.35 Tuesday, adding more than $750 million in market cap. Quarterly Jakafi sales were $433.4 million, beating the $419.1 million consensus; Incyte now expects $1.65-$1.68 billion in full-year sales, up from $1.61-$1.65 billion. EVP and U.S. General Manager Barry Flannelly said on a conference call that patient growth for Jakafi in polycythemia vera was higher than in myelofibrosis, and uptake of the JAK-1 and JAK-2 inhibitor is outpacing Incyte’s expectations in graft-versus-host disease, for which it was approved this year.

Sumitomo Dainippon returns China rights to Intercept’s Ocaliva
Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma Co. Ltd. (Tokyo:4506) terminated development in China of Ocaliva obeticholic acid and returned its territorial rights to Intercept Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:ICPT). Sumitomo Dainippon had been developing the FXR agonist locally to treat non-alcoholic steatohepatitis and primary biliary cholangitis, and had held Ocaliva’s rights under a 2011 deal; it had already returned rights in South Korea and Japan. FDA has approved Ocaliva to treat PBC, and Intercept has submitted an NDA seeking its review to treat NASH...