XBiotech surges on sale of anti-inflammatory drug to Janssen

XBiotech

09/12/2019 19:39

(Updates)
    ** Drug developer's shares  XBIT.O  more than double in
value to $11.83, touch a near 3-1/2 year high
    ** To sell its investigational anti-inflammatory drug,
bermekimab, to Johnson & Johnson's  JNJ.N  Janssen unit for $750
mln in cash and up to $600 mln in potential milestone payments
    ** Drug being developed to treat chronic skin diseases
    ** Deal a favorable precedent for Dermira Inc  DERM.O ,
which has a leading asset in late-stage development for the same
disease with significantly more mature clinical data than
bermekimab, write SVB Leerink analysts
    ** DERM shares up 12% at $8.8
    ** XBIT set for its best-day ever; stock currently among top
Nasdaq listed pct gainers 
    ** XBIT to use proceeds to develop other antibody
therapeutics in pipeline and potential share buybacks
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nNRAaepxwe   
     ** With Monday's gains, XBIT has risen nearly four-fold YTD
    ** JNJ up marginally on Monday

 (Reporting by Uday Sampath in Bengaluru)
 ((UdaySampath.Kumar@thomsonreuters.com; within U.S.+1 646 223
8780; Twitter: @sampath_uday; Reuters Messaging:
UdaySampath.Kumar.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))