June 7, 2016
By Alex Keown, BioSpace.com Breaking News Staff
CHICAGO -- Everyone likes a deal and the analysts at Motley Fool have again selected three biotech stocks they consider bargains—Jazz Pharmaceuticals, Gilead Sciences and AbbVie. With the majority of biotech stocks down this year, now might be the time to bolster your investment portfolio with these companies.
This is not the first time analysts at the Fool have touted Jazz as a must-have stock. Shares of Jazz are slightly up this morning from the opening price of $153.97, hitting $154.22 per share before dipping back a bit. Although a bit on the pricy side, shares of Jazz are down more than 20 percent since the summer of 2015, making it a good time to buy. Jazz posted strong earnings last year led by its close-to-being-a-blockbuster drug Xyrem, used to treat narcolepsy, which generated $955 million in sales. The company also saw strong revenue streams from its acute lymphoblastic leukemia chemotherapy drug Erwinaze, which generated $203 million in sales. Jazz also saw regulatory approval of Defitelio for hepatic veno-occlusive disease in March, which should also be a strong revenue driver. Additionally, in May, Jazz snapped up New Jersey-based Celator Pharmaceuticals for about $1.5 billion. The deal brings Celator’s lead drug VYXEOS, an investigational treatment for acute myeloid leukemia and other blood cancers, into Jazz’ pipeline. Celator is looking to achieve regulatory approval in the U.S. and Europe for VYXEOS. Analysts at the Fool estimate VYXEOS could generate $1 billion in annual sales.
Shares of Gilead Sciences are slightly up this morning, after a federal judge reversed a $200 million ruling initially awarded to Merck over patent disputes regarding its blockbuster hepatitis C drugs. Harvoni and Sovaldi are two of Gilead’s seven blockbuster drugs. The company is predicted to earn more than $30 billion this year. Although sales of Harvoni and Sovaldi might not grow as much this year due to increased competition in the HCV market, Gilead is expecting a ruling on a new hepatitis drug by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on June 28. In January, Gilead submitted a New Drug Application to the FDA for tenofovir alafenamide, an investigational, once-daily treatment for adults with chronic hepatitis B virus infection. The company is also continuing to use Sovaldi in combination with other drugs, including a triplet drug comprised of Sovaldi, velpatasvir, and a protease inhibitor for the treatment of genotype 3 HCV patients. Gilead is also making waves in the HIV market as well, with new combination therapies featuring tenofovir alafenamide.
Shares of AbbVie hit a morning high of $63.51 from its opening price of $62.59 per share. Based in Chicago, AbbVie draws the majority of its revenue from the blockbuster rheumatoid arthritis drug, Humira. The company continues to believe Humira will continue to be a strong revenue driver for AbbVie, despite questions over lapsing patent protection. Fool analysts also predict AbbVie will see strong revenue from newly acquired Imbruvica for treatment of chronic lymphocytic leukemia. AbbVie also snapped up investigational cancer drug rovalpituzumab tesirine (Rova-T) in its acquisition of Stemcentrx. Stemcentrx also has four other drugs in clinical trials for various solid tumors, including triple-negative breast cancer, ovarian cancer, and non-small cell lung cancer. It also has several compounds in preclinical studies, as well as a proprietary technology platform that utilizes stem cells to identify and screen tumor targets.
