All's Well With VCEL, Time To Keep MOR In Mind, MYL Pulls Off Surprise

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

1. Vericel Corp. (VCEL)

Gained 44.28% to close Tuesday's (Nov.6) trading at $16.65.

News: The Company reported narrower loss on 58% revenue growth for the third quarter of 2018, and raised its full year revenue guidance.

Net loss for the third quarter ended September 30, 2018 narrowed to $1.1 million or $0.02 per share from $5.4 million or $0.16 per share in the third quarter of 2017. Total net revenues for the recent third quarter increased 58% to $22.5 million from $14.3 million in the year-ago quarter.

Looking ahead, the Company raised its full year 2018 revenue guidance range to $87 million to $90 million from its prior outlook range of $80 million to $83 million.

2. Intersect ENT Inc. (XENT)

Gained 20.04% to close Tuesday's trading at $32.64.

News: The Company reported financial results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2018.

The net loss for the recent third quarter widened to $7.59 million or $0.25 per share from $4.26 million or $0.15 per share in the year-ago quarter. Total revenue grew to $24.7 million for the third quarter 2018 compared to $22.3 million for the same period of 2017, an increase of 11%.

The Company expects fourth quarter revenue to be in the range of $30.3 million to $33.3 million, and full year 2018 revenue to range between $106 million and $109 million.

Near-term Catalysts:

-- Commence clinical trial of a new pipeline product, the investigational ASCEND drug-coated balloon, for sinus in early 2019. -- Complete the ASCEND study and report results by the end of 2019.

3. Allogene Therapeutics Inc. (ALLO)

Allogene Therapeutics is a clinical stage immuno-oncology company developing genetically engineered allogeneic T cell therapies for the treatment of cancer.

Gained 17.46% to close Tuesday's trading at $33.30.

News: No news

Pipeline:

The Company's lead product candidate is UCART19, a CAR T cell product, being developed in collaboration with French pharmaceutical company Servier.

UCART19 is under two phase I trials - in adult patients with relapsed or refractory (R/R) B-cell precursor acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), dubbed CALM, and in pediatric patients with relapsed or refractory (R/R) B-cell precursor acute lymphoblastic leukemia, known as PALL.

ALLO-501, for the treatment of patients with R/R NHL, ALLO-715, for the treatment of patients with R/R multiple myeloma, and ALLO-647, which is designed to be used prior to infusing other product candidates as part of the lymphodepletion regimen, all of which are in preclinical testing are the other product candidates in the pipeline.

Near-term Catalysts:

-- The Company is slated to make a presentation at the Jefferies London Healthcare Conference on November 14, 2018, and at the Piper Jaffray Healthcare Conference on November 27, 2018. -- The Company expects to advance UCART19 to potential registrational trials in the second half of 2019.

4. MorphoSys AG (MOR)

Gained 16.83% to close Tuesday's trading at $28.95.

News: the Company turned around to profit in the third quarter of 2018 as revenue rose nearly four-fold.

Net profit in the third quarter of 2018 was EUR 30.2 million or EUR 0.96 per share compared to a net loss of EUR 24 million or EUR 0.83 per share in the year-ago quarter. Revenue in the recent third quarter rose to EUR 55 million from EUR 15 million in the comparable quarter last year.

Near-term Catalysts:

-- Present updated interim results on all 81 patients enrolled in a phase II study evaluating MOR208 plus lenalidomide in relapsed/refractory Diffuse Large B-cell Lymphoma, dubbed L-MIND, on December 5, 2018. -- Present data from exploratory phase 2 COSMOS study of MOR208 plus venetoclax in relapsed/refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) or small lymphocytic lymphoma on December 5, 2018.

5. Mylan N.V. (MYL)

Gained 16.13% to close Tuesday's trading at $36.43.

News: The Company reported better-than expected third quarter earnings.

The recent third quarter adjusted earnings were $648.0 million or $1.25 per share, which topped analysts' consensus estimate of $1.19. The Company's revenue for the quarter fell 4.3% to $2.86 billion from $2.99 billion last year.

Looking ahead, Mylan CEO Heather Bresch said, "We remain committed to our full-year 2018 guidance, and this confirmation is not dependent on any single product approval or launch. As we look ahead, we're very optimistic about our long-term growth prospects as we have secured almost all regulatory approvals necessary for our key 2019 product drivers around the world."