ACIU Back In Focus, MDXG Works To Undo Past Wrongs, AVEO To Report Data In Q4

(RTTNews) - The following are some of today's top gainers in the pharma/biotech sector.

1. AC Immune SA (ACIU)

Gained 21.48% to close Thursday's (Jul 19) trading at $14.31.

News: The Company announced the price and other details for the offerings of up to 10 million new common shares.

Pipeline:

The lead product candidate is Crenezumab, out-licensed to Genentech, under phase III testing for the treatment and prevention of Alzheimer's disease including the first-ever Alzheimer's disease prevention trial.

Next in the pipeline is ACI-24, a liposomal therapeutic anti-Abeta vaccine, wholly owned by AC Immune, advancing to phase II in Alzheimer's disease, and is in phase Ib testing in Down's syndrome.

The other clinical candidates include ACI-35, outlicensed to Janssen Pharmaceuticals, under phase 1b study in patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease, and RO7105705, outlicensed to Genentech, under phase II study in people with prodromal-to-mild Alzheimer's disease. In addition, the Company also has a couple of preclinical drug candidates and diagnostic product candidates.

2. MiMedx Group Inc. (MDXG)

Gained 17.89% to close Thursday's trading at $4.02.

News: The Company announced the appointment of Mark Graves to the position of Chief Compliance Officer to strengthen its corporate compliance practices.

"We are implementing plans to improve our corporate compliance practices in order to ensure our Company adheres to policies with the highest integrity, ethics and legal standards," said David Coles, interim CEO of MiMedx.

Earlier this month, Parker "Pete" Petit resigned from the posts of Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, and William "Bill" Taylor resigned as President and Chief Operating Officer amid an ongoing investigation of the Company's accounting practices. In June, Michael Senker had quit as CFO, along with corporate controller and treasurer, John Cranston.

The Audit Committee has already concluded that MiMedx's financial statements from fiscal year 2012 need to be restated.

3. EyePoint Pharmaceuticals Inc. (EYPT)

Gained 16.98% to close Thursday's trading at $2.48.

News: No news

Near-term Catalysts:

-- Data highlighting YUTIQ for posterior segment uveitis to be presented at the 36th Annual Scientific Meeting of the American Society of Retina Specialists on July 25. -- DEXYCU, a dropless, long-acting therapeutic, which was approved by the FDA for the treatment of inflammation in post cataract surgery on February 9, 2018, is expected to be launched in the U.S. in the first half of 2019 following the successful scale up of commercial supplies. -- The NDA for YUTIQ micro-insert, proposed for treatment of non-infectious posterior segment uveitis, is under FDA review - with a decision expected on November 5, 2018.

4. NantKwest Inc. (NK)

Gained 13.25% to close Thursday's trading at $3.42.

NantKwest is a clinical-stage immunotherapy company focused on harnessing the power of the innate immune system by using the natural killer cell to treat cancer, infectious diseases and inflammatory diseases.

News: No news

5. AVEO Pharmaceuticals Inc. (AVEO)

Gained 11.79% to close Thursday's trading at $2.18.

News: The Company now expects top line data readout from its pivotal phase III trial comparing lead drug candidate Tivozanib to FDA-approved Nexavar (sorafenib) in subjects with refractory advanced renal cell carcinoma, dubbed TIVO-3, in the fourth quarter of 2018.

Earlier, the Company was expecting the results to be out in the third quarter of 2018. But due to progression free survival events occurring slower than forecasted, and with ten patients being removed or 'censored' from the PFS event count, the guidance on the timing of reporting the TIVO-3 data has been revised.