NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / January 9, 2018 / Biogen shares slipped on Monday after it was revealed that a competitor, AveXis, could have a significant delay in a medicine that could compete against Spinraza. Shares of Celgene also closed down after it seemed Wall Street was not impressed with the company's expectations for 2018 revenue.

RDI Initiates Coverage on:

Biogen Inc.
https://rdinvesting.com/news/?ticker=BIIB

Celgene Corporation
https://rdinvesting.com/news/?ticker=CELG

Biogen Inc. shares closed down 3.75% on a little over 1.4 million shares traded on Monday. The stock was one of the biggest losers on the S&P 500 yesterday. The slip in share price came despite the news that rival AveXis' spinal muscular atrophy drug would not be getting accelerated approval from the FDA. According to Credit Suisse analyst Alethia Young, if AveXis files its application in the latter half of 2018, the gene therapy likely would come on the market in the first half of 2019. She remarked, "Based on the next steps AveXis needs to take, we think it is unlikely that Biogen sees commercial competition for Spinraza in 2018." She also wrote, "Overall, AveXis is ultimately moving closer to a potential approval, so it still remains a risk for Biogen's Spinraza franchise. Of course, there remains the potential Biogen could acquire this company for their differentiated approach and gene therapy platform that is heading toward being commercially read at some point." Spinraza, from Biogen and Ionis Pharmaceuticals, is the first and only treatment approved in the U.S. for spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) in pediatric and adult patients.

Access RDI's Biogen Inc. Research Report at:
https://rdinvesting.com/news/?ticker=BIIB

Celgene Corporation shares closed down a modest 0.77% on Monday with almost 11.5 million shares traded. The loss is despite the company announcing preliminary fourth quarter and 2017 earnings results that are anticipated to beat what the Street is expecting. The decline may have had something to do with 2018's forecast. Celgene has forecast for 2018 revenue to be in the range of $14.4 billion to $14.8 billion. The FactSet Consensus was waiting for $14.83 billion. Management remarked on 2017 and said it had experienced "choppy weather." Celgene also revealed that it is going to buy Impact Biomedicines for$ 7 billion with $1.1 billion upfront with another $1.25 billion that is dependent on whether there are successful regulatory approvals of the company's blood cancer drug. All other payments will be approved on achieving major sales milestones. Celgene is expecting to launch possibly 10 blockbuster drugs in the years to come. Impact has a drug called fedratinib that is used to treat cancers such as myelofibrosis and polycythemia vera. The FDA has allowed clinical trials of the drug to resume after blocking them earlier as patients had serious side-effects. According to Celgene, Impact will be able to fix what is necessary and be able to successfully market it. Celgene's president of hematology and oncology, Nadim Ahmed commented, "We believe fedratinib is uniquely positioned as a potential treatment for myelofibrosis and it provides strategic options for us to build leadership in this disease."

Access RDI's Celgene Corporation Research Report at:
https://rdinvesting.com/news/?ticker=CELG

Our Actionable Research on Biogen Inc. (NASDAQ: BIIB) and Celgene Corporation (NASDAQ: CELG) can be downloaded free of charge at Research Driven Investing.

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