The Medicines Company
(
MDCO
) recently announced that patient enrollment for its pivotal phase
III CHAMPION PHOENIX trial is expected to finish in the fourth
quarter of 2012. The study is evaluating cangrelor for the
prevention of platelet activation and aggregation when oral therapy
is not feasible or desirable.
The Medicines Company's said that the study's independent Data
Safety Monitoring Board (DSMB) recommended a sample size of 10,900
patients for the trial. The DSMB earlier conducted a pre-specified
interim analysis with around 7,700 patients from the trial.
Besides cangrelor, The Medicines Company has two late stage
candidates. The company is developing oritavancin, a semi-synthetic
lipoglycopeptide antibiotic candidate. The other candidate is
MDCO-157, a Captisol-enabled intravenous (IV) formulation of
clopidogrel (the active ingredient in Plavix).
While oritavancin became a part of the company's pipeline
through its acquisition of Targanta Therapeutics in February 2009,
The Medicines Company entered into a licensing agreement with
Ligand Pharmaceuticals
(
LGND
) in June 2011 under which it acquired exclusive worldwide rights
to MDCO-157.
The resolution of the Angiomax patent extension case was a major
boost for The Medicines Company. The company's settlement
agreements with
Teva
(
TEVA
) and APP regarding Angiomax are also positive events. We are also
pleased to see the company's progress with its pipeline.
Moreover, we are pleased to see that management is actively
pursuing in-licensing deals and acquisitions to drive growth. The
AstraZeneca
(
AZN
) deal is another smart move by the company. However, we believe
all these positive developments are already factored into the stock
price.
We currently have a Neutral recommendation on The Medicines
Company, which carries a Zacks #3 Rank (short-term Hold
rating).
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