{"id":684026,"date":"2010-03-05T17:09:11","date_gmt":"2010-03-05T22:09:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.wsj.com\/health\/2010\/03\/05\/intermune-stock-gets-boost-as-fda-staff-questions-lung-drug\/"},"modified":"2010-03-05T17:09:11","modified_gmt":"2010-03-05T22:09:11","slug":"intermune-stock-gets-boost-as-fda-staff-questions-lung-drug","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/684026","title":{"rendered":"InterMune Stock Gets Boost as FDA Staff Questions Lung Drug"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/s.wsj.net\/media\/placebo_art_257_20080304155738.jpg?w=780\" alt=\"pill\" align=\"right\"\/>The FDA staff said it has a bunch of questions about InterMune&#8217;s new drug to slow deteriorating lung functioning. But investors figure the concerns weren&#8217;t as bad as they could have been, sending the biotech&#8217;s shares soaring.<\/p>\n<p>The stock jumped as much as 74% after FDA reviewers said only one of InterMune&#8217;s two late-stage trails for the experimental drug pirfenidone had met its main goal and added that &#8220;the clinical significance of the treatment effect size is uncertain.&#8221; The <a href=\"http:\/\/www.fda.gov\/downloads\/AdvisoryCommittees\/CommitteesMeetingMaterials\/Drugs\/Pulmonary-AllergyDrugsAdvisoryCommittee\/UCM203081.pdf\" >FDA documents<\/a>, which were released ahead of an advisory panel meeting to discuss the drug Tuesday, also had a mix of other things to say.<\/p>\n<p>All things considered, an Oppenheimer analyst noted the &#8220;tone was less negative than expected,&#8221; all things considered and there was room for the drug to still get FDA approval. The shares settled down in later trading, but still finished up <a href=\"http:\/\/www.google.com\/finance?q=itmn\" >nearly 60%<\/a> for the day.<\/p>\n<p>InterMune often appears on lists of likely biotech <a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.wsj.com\/health\/2009\/08\/21\/is-1-billion-is-the-right-price-for-pharma-ma\/\" >takeover candidates<\/a>. FDA approval of pirfenidone would give it two drugs on the U.S. market. <\/p>\n<p>The new drug would treat idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, which affects about 200,000 Americans, the majority of whom eventually die of respiratory failure. The FDA noted that there aren&#8217;t any approved drugs to treat IPF, although drugs like corticosteroids and drugs that suppress the immune system are used, according to <a href=\"http:\/\/online.wsj.com\/article\/BT-CO-20100305-707383.html?mod=WSJ_latestheadlines\" >Dow Jones Newswires<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The company also put out <a href=\"http:\/\/www.fda.gov\/downloads\/AdvisoryCommittees\/CommitteesMeetingMaterials\/Drugs\/Pulmonary-AllergyDrugsAdvisoryCommittee\/UCM203083.pdf\" >material<\/a> noting that &#8220;the slowing of progression in loss of lung volume constitutes a clear benefit to patients,&#8221; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.reuters.com\/article\/idUSN0514624820100305?type=marketsNews\" >Reuters<\/a> said. Here&#8217;s <a href=\"http:\/\/www.prnewswire.com\/news-releases\/intermune-announces-posting-of-briefing-documents-for-fda-advisory-committee-meeting-on-pirfenidone-86546937.html\" >more<\/a> from the company.<br \/>\n.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/feedads.g.doubleclick.net\/~at\/Iwvd-5Zl5T-YH8qNoo6qWMbDy98\/0\/da\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feedads.g.doubleclick.net\/~at\/Iwvd-5Zl5T-YH8qNoo6qWMbDy98\/0\/di\" border=\"0\" ismap=\"true\"><\/img><\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/feedads.g.doubleclick.net\/~at\/Iwvd-5Zl5T-YH8qNoo6qWMbDy98\/1\/da\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feedads.g.doubleclick.net\/~at\/Iwvd-5Zl5T-YH8qNoo6qWMbDy98\/1\/di\" border=\"0\" ismap=\"true\"><\/img><\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"feedflare\">\n<a href=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/wsj\/health\/feed?a=iO61_3T9suY:TfhSshfJpY0:yIl2AUoC8zA\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/wsj\/health\/feed?d=yIl2AUoC8zA\" border=\"0\"><\/img><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/wsj\/health\/feed?a=iO61_3T9suY:TfhSshfJpY0:D7DqB2pKExk\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/wsj\/health\/feed?i=iO61_3T9suY:TfhSshfJpY0:D7DqB2pKExk\" border=\"0\"><\/img><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/wsj\/health\/feed?a=iO61_3T9suY:TfhSshfJpY0:F7zBnMyn0Lo\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/wsj\/health\/feed?i=iO61_3T9suY:TfhSshfJpY0:F7zBnMyn0Lo\" border=\"0\"><\/img><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/wsj\/health\/feed?a=iO61_3T9suY:TfhSshfJpY0:V_sGLiPBpWU\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/wsj\/health\/feed?i=iO61_3T9suY:TfhSshfJpY0:V_sGLiPBpWU\" border=\"0\"><\/img><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/wsj\/health\/feed?a=iO61_3T9suY:TfhSshfJpY0:qj6IDK7rITs\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/wsj\/health\/feed?d=qj6IDK7rITs\" border=\"0\"><\/img><\/a>\n<\/div>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~r\/wsj\/health\/feed\/~4\/iO61_3T9suY\" height=\"1\" width=\"1\"\/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The FDA staff said it has a bunch of questions about InterMune&#8217;s new drug to slow deteriorating lung functioning. But investors figure the concerns weren&#8217;t as bad as they could have been, sending the biotech&#8217;s shares soaring. The stock jumped as much as 74% after FDA reviewers said only one of InterMune&#8217;s two late-stage trails [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":757,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4821],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-684026","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9NivD-2RWG","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/684026","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/757"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=684026"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/684026\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=684026"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=684026"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=684026"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}