Onyx deal expected to give Amgen a big boost

By Susan Kelly

Mon Aug 26, 2013 1:19pm EDT

n">(Reuters) - Investors reacted favorably on Monday to Amgen Inc's $10.4 billion purchase of Onyx Pharmaceuticals Inc, which gives the world's largest biotech company full rights to a blood cancer drug with multibillion-dollar sales potential.

Amgen shares rose 9 percent in midday trade on news of the acquisition, the biggest biotech deal since Gilead Sciences Inc's $11 billion purchase of Pharmasset in 2012.

The main prize in the acquisition is Onyx's blood cancer drug Kyprolis.

Piper Jaffray analyst Ian Somaiya upgraded Amgen shares to "overweight" from "neutral" and raised his price target on the stock to $140 from $120, saying Kyprolis could generate sales of more than $3 billion by 2025.

Brean Capital analyst Gene Mack said Kyprolis and Oprozomib, another blood cancer drug in development at Onyx, could produce combined sales of more than $4 billion.

Kyprolis is used to treat multiple myeloma, the second most commonly diagnosed blood cancer. The disease attacks antibody-producing plasma cells, which are derived from a type of white blood cell. More than 20,000 Americans are expected to be diagnosed with multiple myeloma this year, according to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

Kyprolis competes with the Celgene Corp drug Revlimid. Celgene also has a new myeloma treatment, Pomalyst.

"Given our view of the overall myeloma market and the growth we see over the next 3-5 years, we are not surprised by the interest in Onyx since it is our view that both Onyx and Celgene will be the primary beneficiaries of that growth," Mack said in a note to clients.

Kyprolis has been on the U.S. market for about a year and its sales have been climbing steadily, reaching $61 million in the second quarter. Onyx previously said plans were in place for a Kyprolis launch in Europe in the second half of 2014.

Onyx also sells Nexavar, a treatment for liver and kidney cancer.

Amgen has been looking for new ways to boost its product pipeline as sales of its flagship anemia drugs Aranesp and Epogen have been in decline for years because of usage restrictions and safety concerns.

On a conference call with analysts on Monday, Amgen executives said they plan to file the tender offer for Onyx this week, with the deal expected to close as early as the week of September 30.

Amgen Chief Executive Officer Bob Bradway, who took the helm of the Thousand Oaks, California-based company just over a year ago, has been able to keep investors happy with dividend increases and share repurchases. On the conference call, he said Amgen remained committed to raising its dividend over time after it completes the Onyx acquisition. He also said investors should not expect any significant share repurchases in 2014 or 2015.

In the acquisition, announced on Sunday, Amgen will pay $125 a share for Onyx, a 4.2 percent increase from the $120 a share it offered in June.

Shares of Amgen rose 9 percent to $115.05 in midday trading, while Onyx shares climbed 5.7 percent to $123.65.

(Reporting by Susan Kelly in Chicago; Editing by John Wallace)

View the original article here

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

Onyx deal expected to give Amgen a big boost

By Susan Kelly

Mon Aug 26, 2013 1:19pm EDT

n">(Reuters) - Investors reacted favorably on Monday to Amgen Inc's $10.4 billion purchase of Onyx Pharmaceuticals Inc, which gives the world's largest biotech company full rights to a blood cancer drug with multibillion-dollar sales potential.

Amgen shares rose 9 percent in midday trade on news of the acquisition, the biggest biotech deal since Gilead Sciences Inc's $11 billion purchase of Pharmasset in 2012.

The main prize in the acquisition is Onyx's blood cancer drug Kyprolis.

Piper Jaffray analyst Ian Somaiya upgraded Amgen shares to "overweight" from "neutral" and raised his price target on the stock to $140 from $120, saying Kyprolis could generate sales of more than $3 billion by 2025.

Brean Capital analyst Gene Mack said Kyprolis and Oprozomib, another blood cancer drug in development at Onyx, could produce combined sales of more than $4 billion.

Kyprolis is used to treat multiple myeloma, the second most commonly diagnosed blood cancer. The disease attacks antibody-producing plasma cells, which are derived from a type of white blood cell. More than 20,000 Americans are expected to be diagnosed with multiple myeloma this year, according to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

Kyprolis competes with the Celgene Corp drug Revlimid. Celgene also has a new myeloma treatment, Pomalyst.

"Given our view of the overall myeloma market and the growth we see over the next 3-5 years, we are not surprised by the interest in Onyx since it is our view that both Onyx and Celgene will be the primary beneficiaries of that growth," Mack said in a note to clients.

Kyprolis has been on the U.S. market for about a year and its sales have been climbing steadily, reaching $61 million in the second quarter. Onyx previously said plans were in place for a Kyprolis launch in Europe in the second half of 2014.

Onyx also sells Nexavar, a treatment for liver and kidney cancer.

Amgen has been looking for new ways to boost its product pipeline as sales of its flagship anemia drugs Aranesp and Epogen have been in decline for years because of usage restrictions and safety concerns.

On a conference call with analysts on Monday, Amgen executives said they plan to file the tender offer for Onyx this week, with the deal expected to close as early as the week of September 30.

Amgen Chief Executive Officer Bob Bradway, who took the helm of the Thousand Oaks, California-based company just over a year ago, has been able to keep investors happy with dividend increases and share repurchases. On the conference call, he said Amgen remained committed to raising its dividend over time after it completes the Onyx acquisition. He also said investors should not expect any significant share repurchases in 2014 or 2015.

In the acquisition, announced on Sunday, Amgen will pay $125 a share for Onyx, a 4.2 percent increase from the $120 a share it offered in June.

Shares of Amgen rose 9 percent to $115.05 in midday trading, while Onyx shares climbed 5.7 percent to $123.65.

(Reporting by Susan Kelly in Chicago; Editing by John Wallace)

View the original article here

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

CFTC finalizes plan to boost oversight of fast traders: official

By Tom Polansek

CHICAGO | Fri Aug 23, 2013 5:44pm EDT

CHICAGO (Reuters) - The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission is preparing to reveal a laundry list of potential options to increase oversight of high-speed and automated trading, an agency official said on Friday.

The CFTC will likely approve the release of a report, which includes more than 100 questions about how high-frequency traders impact markets, next week, according to the official, who declined to be named because the report is not yet public.

The public will be able to respond to the questions and submit comments on the report, called a concept release.

The CFTC's Technology Advisory Committee is expected to discuss the report at a meeting on September 12.

Scott O'Malia, a CFTC member who chairs the committee, could not be reached for comment. Stevem Adamske, a CFTC spokesman, did not respond to a request for comment.

A favored tool of hedge funds and other institutional traders, high-frequency trading uses so-called algorithmic software programs to post orders in the blink of an eye.

The practice accounted for more than 60 percent of all futures volume in 2012 on U.S. exchanges such as CME Group Inc and IntercontinentalExchange Inc, according to New York industry researcher The Tabb Group.

However, a string of computer glitches have roiled markets recently and raised concerns about the reliability of electronic markets. The latest occurred on Thursday, when the trading of thousands of U.S. stocks ground to a halt after a technological problem shut down the Nasdaq for just over three hours.

An over-arching theme of the report is whether trading controls should be applied more uniformly to exchanges and firms to improve oversight of fast traders, the CFTC official said.

A system to "tag" high-frequency trading firms with electronic identifiers is among the options to toughen scrutiny, the official said. The tags could help regulators reconstruct disruptive market events in the future, he added.

(Editing by Andre Grenon)

View the original article here

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

CFTC finalizes plan to boost oversight of fast traders: official

By Tom Polansek

CHICAGO | Fri Aug 23, 2013 5:44pm EDT

CHICAGO (Reuters) - The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission is preparing to reveal a laundry list of potential options to increase oversight of high-speed and automated trading, an agency official said on Friday.

The CFTC will likely approve the release of a report, which includes more than 100 questions about how high-frequency traders impact markets, next week, according to the official, who declined to be named because the report is not yet public.

The public will be able to respond to the questions and submit comments on the report, called a concept release.

The CFTC's Technology Advisory Committee is expected to discuss the report at a meeting on September 12.

Scott O'Malia, a CFTC member who chairs the committee, could not be reached for comment. Stevem Adamske, a CFTC spokesman, did not respond to a request for comment.

A favored tool of hedge funds and other institutional traders, high-frequency trading uses so-called algorithmic software programs to post orders in the blink of an eye.

The practice accounted for more than 60 percent of all futures volume in 2012 on U.S. exchanges such as CME Group Inc and IntercontinentalExchange Inc, according to New York industry researcher The Tabb Group.

However, a string of computer glitches have roiled markets recently and raised concerns about the reliability of electronic markets. The latest occurred on Thursday, when the trading of thousands of U.S. stocks ground to a halt after a technological problem shut down the Nasdaq for just over three hours.

An over-arching theme of the report is whether trading controls should be applied more uniformly to exchanges and firms to improve oversight of fast traders, the CFTC official said.

A system to "tag" high-frequency trading firms with electronic identifiers is among the options to toughen scrutiny, the official said. The tags could help regulators reconstruct disruptive market events in the future, he added.

(Editing by Andre Grenon)

View the original article here

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

Bank of England's rate guidance aims to boost confidence - Bean

The Bank of England is seen in the City of London August 7, 2013.

Credit: Reuters/Toby Melville

LONDON | Sat Aug 24, 2013 5:28pm BST

LONDON (Reuters) - The Bank of England's decision to provide explicit guidance on the path of interest rates was motivated by the desire to give consumers and firms more confidence to spend, deputy governor Charlie Bean said on Saturday.

It was not primarily designed to inject more stimulus into the economy, he said, but it should reduce the risk of a premature rise in market interest rates jeopardising the recovery.

"The guidance is intended primarily to clarify our reaction function rather than to inject additional stimulus by pre-committing to a time-inconsistent 'longer for longer' policy path," Bean said.

"Nevertheless, by reducing uncertainty about our behaviour, we are aiming to encourage households and businesses to spend and invest."

Bean is only the second Monetary Policy Committee to speak publicly since Mark Carney, the central bank's new chief, announced the bank would not raise interest rates before unemployment fell to 7 percent.

Bank projections show this threshold is unlikely to be hit before 2016, but money markets show investors are betting UK rates could rise a full year earlier.

Bean, who typically represents the majority view on the nine-strong committee, acknowledged that market rates had risen rather than fallen since the introduction of "forward guidance" - a move he said reflected a string of good news on Britain's economy.

But he said the unemployment threshold "by serving as a reminder of just how much growth is needed to regain lost ground" should temper the extent of any tightening.

Bean did not comment on whether the recent shift in rate expectations was justified but warned investors against assuming that all central banks would remove stimulus at the same time.

"Although synchronised movements in bond rates is unsurprising given the high degree of substitutability between relatively safe sovereign bonds, synchronisation at the short end of the yield curve is not warranted if cyclical positions differ," he said.

(Reporting by Christina Fincher; editing by Ron Askew)

View the original article here

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

CFTC finalizes plan to boost oversight of fast traders: official

By Tom Polansek

CHICAGO | Fri Aug 23, 2013 5:44pm EDT

CHICAGO (Reuters) - The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission is preparing to reveal a laundry list of potential options to increase oversight of high-speed and automated trading, an agency official said on Friday.

The CFTC will likely approve the release of a report, which includes more than 100 questions about how high-frequency traders impact markets, next week, according to the official, who declined to be named because the report is not yet public.

The public will be able to respond to the questions and submit comments on the report, called a concept release.

The CFTC's Technology Advisory Committee is expected to discuss the report at a meeting on September 12.

Scott O'Malia, a CFTC member who chairs the committee, could not be reached for comment. Stevem Adamske, a CFTC spokesman, did not respond to a request for comment.

A favored tool of hedge funds and other institutional traders, high-frequency trading uses so-called algorithmic software programs to post orders in the blink of an eye.

The practice accounted for more than 60 percent of all futures volume in 2012 on U.S. exchanges such as CME Group Inc and IntercontinentalExchange Inc, according to New York industry researcher The Tabb Group.

However, a string of computer glitches have roiled markets recently and raised concerns about the reliability of electronic markets. The latest occurred on Thursday, when the trading of thousands of U.S. stocks ground to a halt after a technological problem shut down the Nasdaq for just over three hours.

An over-arching theme of the report is whether trading controls should be applied more uniformly to exchanges and firms to improve oversight of fast traders, the CFTC official said.

A system to "tag" high-frequency trading firms with electronic identifiers is among the options to toughen scrutiny, the official said. The tags could help regulators reconstruct disruptive market events in the future, he added.

(Editing by Andre Grenon)

View the original article here

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.