BMS & bluebird bio to Present Updated Positive Results from Pivotal KarMMa Study of Ide-cel in Relapsed and Refractory Multiple Myeloma Patients

The drug company has not said what it plans to do with the cash, but analysts speculate that it will pursue a gene therapy company worth around $5 billion.

This week’s online annual meeting of the American Society for Gene and Cell Therapy will take place on the web.

Bluebird (BLUE) delivered earnings and revenue surprises of 7.61% and 147.26%, respectively, for the quarter ended March 2020. Do the numbers hold clues to what lies ahead for the stock?

The pharma giant and the smaller biotech will keep working together on a couple of promising CAR-T cancer therapies.

bluebird bio to present data from its gene and cell therapy programs during virtual European Hematology Association Annual Congress.

bluebird (BLUE) has seen solid earnings estimate revision activity over the past month, and belongs to a strong industry as well.

bluebird bio, Inc. (Nasdaq: BLUE) today announced that it has commenced an underwritten public offering of $400 million of its common stock. bluebird bio also intends to grant the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional fifteen percent (15%) of the shares of common stock offered in the public offering. All of the shares in the proposed offering are to be sold by bluebird bio.

Bristol-Myers Squibb and Bluebird Bio say the FDA declined to move forward on the application for their experimental multiple myeloma treatment.

Exelixis (NASDAQ: EXEL) and bluebird bio (NASDAQ: BLUE) are two biotech companies that have been moving in opposite directions on the stock market this year. While Exelixis has provided healthy gains -- its stock is up by 52.1% year to date -- Bluebird's shares have slid by 35.2% since the beginning of the year. With this backdrop in mind, it might be tempting to pick Exelixis as the better stock to buy.

Shares of Bluebird Bio Inc. declined 5.9% in premarket trading on Wednesday after the company and Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. said the Food and Drug Administration had declined to move forward on the application for their experimental multiple myeloma treatment. Bristol's stock was down 0.1%. In a "refusal to file" letter, the regulatory agency reportedly cited issues with the manufacturing process. Bluebird and Bristol are seeking approval for idecabtagene vicleucel, a chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell immunotherapy; Bristol Myers Squibb plans to resubmit the application in July. Under the terms of the co-development and co-promotion arrangement, the companies share equally in profits, and Bristol earlier this month paid Bluebird a $200 million upfront payment for a second CAR-T therapy in development. Bluebird is building a manufacturing plant in Durham, N.C., for the U.S. market. Since the start of the year, Bluebird's stock is down 35.2%, shares of Bristol have declined 1.3%, and the S&P 500 has tumbled 11.6%.

Between a string of avoidable problems and instability in the market, bluebird bio might be in for a rough decade.

Company stocks drop on dilution, but monies could benefit shareholders down the line Continue reading...

Bluebird (BLUE) might move higher on growing optimism about its earnings prospects, which is reflected by its upgrade to a Zacks Rank 2 (Buy).

The treatments, ide-cel and bb21217, are part of a class of drugs called CAR-T therapies that involve drawing white blood cells from a patient, processing them to target cancer cells, and infusing them back into the patient. The companies will continue to equally share profits and losses in the United States, bluebird said. The company also said it was going to reduce the investment in building a U.S. commercial organization, and that its Chief Executive Officer Nick Leschly will decline nearly 100% of his salary for the next 12 months.

BMS and bluebird bio Provide Regulatory Update on Idecabtagene Vicleucel (ide-cel, bb2121) for the Treatment of Patients with Multiple Myeloma

Bluebird Bio (BLUE) priced an offering of 9.09 million shares of its common stock at $55 each, the company said late on Monday.The gene therapy company, which expects the offering to close on May 21, seeks to raise gross proceeds of about $500 million from the sale. Shares in Bluebird were down 0.2% at $57 in Tuesday’s pre-market trading in the U.S. after plunging 34% year-to-date.Bluebird is also giving the underwriters a 30-day option to buy up to an additional 1.36 million shares in common stock. Goldman Sachs, BofA Securities and Cowen are acting as joint book-running managers of the offering.Last week, Bluebird announced that its partner Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. (BMY) will pay the company $200 million to buy out future royalty obligations of its two jointly developed cancer therapies ide-cel and bb21217.Five-star analyst Mark Breidenbach at Oppenheimer, maintained a Buy rating on the stock with a $111 price target, after meeting with Bluebird’s management.“FDA approval of ide-cel remains a top priority for both Bluebird and its partner Bristol-Myers Squibb, especially given BMY’s investment in trials aimed at future label expansions,” Breidenbach wrote in a note to investors. “We believe bb2121 has potential for rapid development in r/r MM, and we project its commercial approval in 2021.”Overall, Wall Street analysts are cautiously optimistic on the company’s stock. Out of 13 analysts, 10 have Buy ratings and 3 have issued Hold ratings adding up to a Moderate Buy consensus. The $99.73 average price target provides investors with 75% upside potential should the target be met in the next 12 months. (See Bluebird stock analysis on TipRanks)Related News: Bristol Myers to Pay Bluebird $200 Million in Royalties For Cancer Drugs Novavax Seeks To Raise $250 Million From Share Sale; Top Analyst Bumps Up PT AstraZeneca, Daiichi Get FDA Breakthrough Status For Gastro Cancer Drug More recent articles from Smarter Analyst: * Autodesk Earnings: Here’s What To Expect Today * Tilray To Shut Ontario Cannabis Greenhouse In Money-Saving Move * Here’s Why Roku Stock Will Stay Afloat * Is CymaBay’s Seladelpar Back in the Saddle? 5-Star Analyst Weighs In

bluebird bio, Inc. (NASDAQ: BLUE) today announced that it has amended its existing co-promotion/co-development agreement with Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS) to enable the companies to focus their efforts on efficient commercialization of idecabtagene vicleucel (ide-cel; bb2121) in the U.S., the companies’ lead investigational B-cell maturation antigen (BCMA)-directed chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell immunotherapy, currently in review with the FDA.

bluebird bio, Inc. (Nasdaq: BLUE) today announced the pricing of an underwritten public offering of 9,090,910 shares of its common stock at a public offering price of $55.00 per share, before underwriting discounts. In addition, bluebird bio has granted the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 1,363,636 shares of common stock. All of the shares in the offering are to be sold by bluebird bio.

Shares of Bluebird Bio Inc. fell 2.9% in premarket trading Monday, after the gene therapy company said it was proposing a public offering of $400 million worth of common stock. Based on Friday's stock closing price of $56.66, the offering could be for about 7.06 million shares, or about 12.7% of the current shares outstanding. All of the shares would be sold by the company. The stock has dropped 35.8% over the past three months through Friday, while the iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF has gained 7.9% and the S&P 500 has lost 15.0%.