NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / December 11, 2017 / Shares of Gilead Sciences crept higher on Friday by a little over 2%. The company had exciting news this weekend revealing that the company's Yescarta therapy, which treats an aggressive form of blood cancer, had more than half the patients in a trial live at least a year after the one-time treatment. Shares of Alexion also closed higher after it was revealed by the New York Times that Elliott Management has built a stake in the company and wants a potential sale of the company or a proxy fight to get seats on the board.

RDI Initiates Coverage on:

Gilead Sciences, Inc.
https://rdinvesting.com/news/?ticker=GILD

Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
https://rdinvesting.com/news/?ticker=ALXN

Gilead Sciences, Inc. shares closed up 2.06% on nearly 8 million shares traded on Friday. Results revealed over the weekend showed that Yescarta, the company's novel therapy, had more than half of trial patients with an advanced, aggressive form of blood cancer live for at least a year after one-time treatment with the therapy. The FDA had approved the drug in October to treat aggressive large B-cell lymphoma that did not respond to other treatments. The trial's co-lead investigator, Dr. Frederick Locke, remarked, "This is an extremely valuable therapy for some patients who have no other options." 108 patients had been treated with the therapy and 42% had remained in remission after a median of 15 months. 56% of the patients were still alive. The results were revealed at the annual meeting of the American Society of Hematology on Sunday.

Access RDI's Gilead Sciences, Inc. Research Report at:
https://rdinvesting.com/news/?ticker=GILD

Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. shares closed up 7.19% on nearly 5.5 million shares traded this past Friday. Shares climbed higher after Wall Street learned from the New York Times that activist Elliott Management has built a stake in the company and is urging the company to bolster its stock price by possibly exploring a sale. It was late Thursday that the Times reported that Elliott wants the company to potentially sell or it may begin a proxy fight to get seats on the board. The FDA had approved the company's Soliris drug this past October which treats adult patients that have generalized myasthenia gravis (gMG).

Access RDI's Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Research Report at:
https://rdinvesting.com/news/?ticker=ALXN

Our Actionable Research on Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: GILD) and Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: ALXN) can be downloaded free of charge at Research Driven Investing.

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