Today’s Research Reports on Stocks to Watch: Bristol-Myers Squibb Company and Merck & Co.
NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / January 17, 2017 / Merck shares soared on Tuesday while shares of rival company Bristol-Myers hit negative territory on news that Merck's Keytruda drug had positive results in a data study.
RDI Initiates Coverage on:
Merck & Co., Inc.
http://www.rdinvesting.com/report/?ticker=MRK
Bristol-Myers Squibb Company
http://www.rdinvesting.com/report/?ticker=BMY
Merck & Co., Inc. shares closed up 5.81% on about 48 million shares on Tuesday. Trading volume was colossal compared to an average trading volume of almost 12.3 million shares. The pharmaceutical company saw big gains after it was revealed that a study of the company's Keytruda cancer drug along with chemotherapy had achieved its goals in a lung cancer study. The company said the Phase 3 study combining Keytruda with chemotherapy drugs pemetrexed and cisplatin or carboplatin in previously untreated, metastatic non-squamous, non-small cell lung cancer met its primary goals. Merck said that the study showed significantly longer overall survival and progression-free survival compared with just pemetrexed and platinum chemotherapy. Analyst Umer Raffat with Evercore ISI remarked, "The timing of this readout is well ahead of expectations ... I recall getting lots of investor pushback when I argued that enrollment timelines imply a possible interim in mid-2018 ... many investors thought it wouldn't be till 2019."
Access RDI's Merck & Co., Inc. Research Report at:
http://www.rdinvesting.com/report/?ticker=MRK
Bristol-Myers Squibb Company shares closed down 4.60% on nearly 14.5 million shares traded yesterday. Though there was no particular news from the company on Tuesday, shares went into the red after rival Merck & Co. announced positive results on a study that combined its Keytruda oncology drug with chemotherapy. The two companies have been long rivals in melanoma. Bristol with its drug Opdivo and Merck with Keytruda. The new results from Merck about Keytruda had Bristol-Myers investors showing caution. Merck's SVP Roger Dansey, who is the head of late-stage oncology development commented, "This result demonstrates the meaningful benefit that Keytruda offers for patients with melanoma." Merck is planning to discuss the results with regulatory authorities. Credit Suisse analyst Vamil Divan commented, "[G]iven that it compared Keytruda to placebo, we are not surprised by the positive results. Bristol-Myers' Opdivo already has FDA approval for use in the adjuvant melanoma setting (based on RFS superiority over Yervoy), but we believe Keynote-054 will ultimately allow for Merck to enter this market as well and compete for share with Bristol-Myers."
Access RDI's Bristol-Myers Squibb Company Research Report at:
http://www.rdinvesting.com/report/?ticker=BMY
Our Actionable Research on Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE: MRK) and Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (NYSE: BMY) can be downloaded free of charge at Research Driven Investing.
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SOURCE: RDInvesting.com
