ANIK, GWPH Hit Record High, Menlo To Make Stock Market Debut, IOVA On Watch

(RTTNews) - Today's Daily Dose brings you news about Menlo's IPO; Anika's expanded collaboration with the Institute for Applied Life Sciences and encouraging preliminary data from Iovance's phase II studies evaluating autologous Tumor Infiltrating Lymphocytes (LN-145) in head and neck and cervical cancers.

Read on...

Shares of Anika Therapeutics Inc. (ANIK) touched a record high of $62.41 on Wednesday, before closing the day's trading at $61.47, up 3.52%. We had alerted our premium subscribers to ANIK when it was trading around $12.50.

The Company has expanded its strategic collaboration with the Institute for Applied Life Sciences (IALS) at the University of Massachusetts Amherst to develop innovative therapy for rheumatoid arthritis.

The Company commercializes more than 20 products based on its proprietary hyaluronic acid (HA) technology. Anika's orthopedic medicine portfolio includes ORTHOVISC, MONOVISC, and CINGAL, which alleviate pain and restore joint function by replenishing depleted HA, and HYALOFAST, a solid HA-based scaffold to aid cartilage repair and regeneration. CINGAL and HYALOFAST are not approved in the U.S.

Under the expanded collaboration, Anika and UMass will focus on research to optimize the drug delivery system with the goal of advancing a novel therapeutic candidate into clinical trials to support regulatory submission.

GW Pharmaceuticals PLC (GWPH) touched a fresh life-time high of $141.50 on Wednesday, before closing the day's trading at $137.63, down 1.49%.

The Company, which is involved in the development of plant-derived cannabinoid therapeutics, has 1 marketed cannabinoid prescription drug Sativex and a deep pipeline of additional cannabinoid product candidates.

The lead product candidate of GW Pharma is Epidiolex, a pharmaceutical formulation of purified cannabidiol, which is being studied for the treatment of a number of rare, severe pediatric-onset epilepsy disorders.

A New Drug Application for Epidiolex in the treatment of Lennox-Gastaut syndrome and Dravet syndrome is under priority review by the FDA, with a decision expected on June 27, 2018. A Marketing Authorisation Application (MAA) was submitted to the European Medicines Agency (EMA) in December 2017, with a decision expected in early 2019.

Iovance Biotherapeutics Inc. (IOVA) has reported encouraging preliminary results from two ongoing open-label phase II studies evaluating autologous Tumor Infiltrating Lymphocytes (LN-145) in head and neck and cervical cancers.

In the head and neck cancer trial, three of the eight patients treated with LN-145 had a reduction in tumor size of at least 30% and qualified as a Partial Response, and the Objective Response Rate (ORR) in the study is 38% to date. Recently approved therapies have had overall response rates of 13-16% in head and neck cancer patients, according to the Company.

In the cervical cancer trial, of the two evaluable patients, one treated with LN-145 had a confirmed Partial Response and one patient had stable disease.

IOVA closed Wednesday's trading at $11.50, down 4.96%.

Menlo Therapeutics Inc., which has priced its initial public offering of shares at $17.00 each, is expected to begin trading under the ticker symbol "MNLO" on January 25, 2018.

About 7 million shares are to be sold in the offering. The underwriters have a 30-day option to purchase an additional 1.05 million shares. The offering is expected to close on January 29, 2018, subject to customary closing conditions.

The Company's lead drug candidate is Serlopitant, and phase III trials for the treatment of pruritus associated with prurigo nodularis are expected to be initiated in the first half of 2018.

Serlopitant is also under phase II studies for the treatment of pruritus associated with atopic dermatitis, pruritus associated with psoriasis, and refractory chronic cough.