NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / May 19, 2017 / Despite the recent sell-off triggered by the recent health-care bill that is meant to take the place of the Affordable Care Act, the Biotech Industry has continued to outperform the broader markets in 2017. The Biotech Industry has benefited from a speedier FDA approval process in 2017. There has been 20 new Novel Drug Approvals so far in 2017, compared to just 22 new approvals in all of 2016.The iShares NASDAQ Biotechnology Index ETF and the SPDR S&P Biotech ETF have posted year-to-date gains of 10.13 and 18.26 percent, respectively, compared to gains of 4.56 percent and 5.67 percent for the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 Index.

RDI Initiates Coverage on:

Achillion Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
https://ub.rdinvesting.com/news/?ticker=ACHN

CytRx Corp.
https://ub.rdinvesting.com/news/?ticker=CYTR

Achillion Pharmaceuticals' shares spiked 16.67 percent to close at $4.41 a share on Thursday. The stock traded between $3.96 and $4.47 on volume of 5.74 million shares traded. In April, the company initiated a phase 2 trial with ACH-4471 for patients with untreated paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH). Achillion reported a net loss of $20.2 million, or $0.15 per share, for the first quarter of 2017, compared to a net loss of $18.1 million, or $0.13 per share, in the same quarter a year ago. Cash, cash equivalents, marketable securities, and interest receivable were $386.6 million as of March 31, 2017. Shares of Achillion Pharmaceuticals have gained approximately 6.78 percent year-to-date.

"With Achillion's robust balance sheet, the ongoing worldwide HCV collaboration with Janssen, who has fully enrolled patients into their Phase 2b OMEGA-1 clinical trial, and the emerging results from our complement factor D inhibitor program, I believe Achillion is well positioned to achieve its goal of advancing novel therapies that can address significant unmet needs for patients around the globe," commented Milind Deshpande, Ph.D., President and CEO.

Access RDI's Achillion Pharmaceuticals Research Report at:
https://ub.rdinvesting.com/news/?ticker=ACHN

CytRx's shares jumped 10.30 percent to close at $0.50 a share on Thursday. The stock traded between $0.48 and $0.55 on volume of 15.06 million shares traded. The company reported a net loss of $11.0 million, or $(0.10) per share, compared with a net loss of $12.6 million, or $(0.19) per share, for the same quarter a year ago. CytRx reported cash and cash equivalents of $48.0 million as of March 31, 2017. Shares of CytRx have gained approximately 35.14 percent year-to-date.

The company is scheduled to present two abstracts at the 2017 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting, taking place June 2-6, 2017 in Chicago. "In addition to the significantly prolonged progression-free survival achieved by both North American and L-sarcoma patients, the data presented at ASCO this year demonstrate that, unlike any other drugs in this class, aldoxorubicin can be dosed continuously with minimal to no cardiotoxicity," commented Sant Chawla, M.D., F.R.A.C.P., Director of the Sarcoma Oncology Center in Santa Monica, California, and Principal Investigator for the Phase 3 trial.

Access RDI's CytRx Research Report at:
https://ub.rdinvesting.com/news/?ticker=CYTR

Our Actionable Research on Achillion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: ACHN) and CytRx Corporation (NASDAQ: CYTR) can be downloaded free of charge at Research Driven Investing.

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SOURCE: RDInvesting.com