Six biotechs will end the month of June as new additions to the Russell Indexes. Approximately $9 trillion in assets are benchmarked against Russell U.S. Indexes, which are reconstituted annually.
Six biotechs will end the month of June as new additions to the Russell Indexes. Approximately $9 trillion in assets are benchmarked against Russell U.S. Indexes, which are reconstituted annually.
AVEO Oncology -- Cambridge, Mass.-based Aveo Oncology was added to Russell 2000, Russell 3000, and Russell Microcap indexes, the company announced this morning. Michael Bailey, president and chief executive officer of AVEO, said being included on the Russel Indexes reflects the progress the company has made over the past year, including European Union approval of kidney cancer treatment tivozanib.
“We look forward to the prospect of building on this progress as we seek to achieve milestones in the next two pillars of our tivozanib strategy: commercialization in the U.S. and combinations with immunotherapy. To that end, we expect top line results from the Phase III TIVO-3 study of tivozanib in aRCC in the third quarter of this year, and an update to the Phase 2 portion of the TiNivo Study of Tivozanib and Nivolumab (Bristol-Myers Squibb’s Opdivo) in mRCC at a medical meeting in the second half of 2018,” Bailey said in an announcement.
Verastem Oncology – Boston-based Verastem Oncology was added to the Russell 3000 index. Verastem, started the month of June with a licensing agreement with Japan-based Yakult Honsha Co., Ltd. for development and commercialization rights to duvelisib, a cancer treatment under review by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Duvelisib is a first-in-class oral dual inhibitor of phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K)-delta and PI3K-gamma. It has been developed for the treatment of relapsed or refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia/small lymphocytic lymphoma (CLL/SLL) and accelerated approval for the treatment of relapsed or refractory follicular lymphoma (FL).
Synlogic, Inc. – Synlogic, Inc., based in Cambridge, Mass., was added to the Russell 3000. Aoife Brennan, Synlogic’s interim president and chief executive officer and chief medical officer, said the inclusion of the company into the index is a benchmark for Synlogic’s growth. Inclusion in the Russell 3000 offers a “platform to increase the company’s visibility and exposure to leading institutional investors,” Brennan said. Earlier this month the company presented preclinical data from SYNB1618, an investigational Synthetic Biotic medicine currently being evaluated in an ongoing Phase I/IIa clinical trial in patients with Phenylketonuria (PKU). The data demonstrate that oral administration of SYNB1618 resulted in lower blood Phe levels and a quantitative, dose-dependent production of biomarkers indicating SYNB1618-related activity in an animal model of PKU and healthy NHPs, the company said.
GTx, Inc. – Memphis, Tenn.-based GTx, Inc. was added to the Russell 3000 Index as part of the Russell U.S. Indexes annual reconstitution. In May the company reported additional data supporting the durability a 12-week treatment with enobosarm 3 mg from an open-label, Phase II proof-of-concept clinical trial evaluating enobosarm in postmenopausal women with stress urinary incontinence.
Motus GI – Florida-based Motus GI was added to the Russell Microcap Index. Mark Pomeranz, CEO of Motus GI, said the company believes inclusion in the Russell index will enable the company “further broaden” its investor base. Pomeranz said it will also expand the company’s visibility and awareness. “We are grateful to have been added and look forward to utilizing the visibility to build shareholder value as we continue to advance the development and commercialization of our flagship product, the Pure-Vu System,” Pomeranz said in a statement.
ArQule, Inc. – Burlington, Mass.-based ArQule was added to the Russell 2000 Index. Paolo Pucci, CEO of ArQule, said his company’s addition to the index “increases visibility among the investment community and reflects the value ArQule creates for its shareholders.” Earlier this month released preliminary results from a Phase I dose escalation study of ARQ 531. The company’s experimental drug is a potent and reversible inhibitor of both wild type and C481S-mutant Bruton’s tyrosine kinase (BTK) in patients with relapsed or refractory hematologic malignancies.
