ISRG Accelerates Buyback, ECYT Has No Way To PROCEED, ACOR Snubbed By FDA

(RTTNews) - Acorda Therapeutics Inc. (ACOR) has been issued a Complete Response Letter for its New Drug Application for PLUMIAZTM Nasal Spray for the treatment of people with epilepsy who experience cluster seizures.

ACOR dropped over 9% to close Friday's trading at $32.39.

Endocyte Inc. (ECYT) plunged over 60 percent on Friday to touch a new low of $6.50 as a phase III trial evaluating its drug candidate Vintafolide for platinum-resistant ovarian cancer, dubbed PROCEED, was ordered to be stopped by the Data Safety Monitoring Board.

According to the DSMB, Vintafolide did not demonstrate efficacy on the pre-specified outcome of Progression-Free Survival in patients with platinum-resistant ovarian cancer. However, there were no safety concerns for the patients enrolled in the trial.

Endocyte has an exclusive worldwide agreement with Merck to develop and commercialize Vintafolide.

Intuitive Surgical Inc. (ISRG) is all set to repurchase $1 billion of its common stock from Goldman Sachs & Co. under its accelerated share repurchase program. The company anticipates that a majority of the shares repurchased will be received and retired within two weeks, and the remaining shares, if any, will be received and retired in early November 2014, although they could be received earlier.

ISRG closed Friday's trading at $363.59, up 1.24%.

OncoMed Pharmaceuticals Inc.'s (OMED) drug candidate Demcizumab for the treatment of pancreatic cancer has been granted orphan drug designation by FDA.

Demcizumab is currently in a phase 1b clinical trial in combination with Abraxane and Gemcitabine in first-line Stage IV pancreatic cancer patients. The company anticipates advancing Demcizumab into a randomized phase 2 clinical study in combination with Abraxane and Gemcitabine in first-line pancreatic cancer in 2014.

OMED closed Friday's trading at $27, down 2.67%.

Ruthigen Inc. (RTGN) has submitted an Investigational New Drug Application to the FDA for its lead drug candidate RUT58-60 designed for prophylactic use during invasive surgical procedures.

Spun off from Oculus Innovative Sciences Inc. (OCLS) last year, Ruthigen went public on the NASDAQ on March 21, 2014, pricing its shares at $7.25 per unit.

RTGN closed Friday's trading at $6.45, down 4.30%.