Waltham-based cancer drug firm Cerulean Pharma may seek a buyer

Feb 1, 2017, 11:02am EST

Waltham cancer drug developer Cerulean Pharma, which cut half its workforce in August following a trial setback, said Wednesday that it's exploring a possible sale of the company as one potential solution to recent setbacks.

Cerulean (Nasdaq: CERU) said in an announcement Tuesday that its board of directors was reviewing potential “strategic alternatives,” including a sale or merger, an investment into the company, or a sale of license of its assets. It has hired investment bank Aquilo Partners as its financial advisor.

Cerulean cautioned that the review may not result in any deal. Its share price had increased by about 3.5 percent as of 10:30 a.m.

The company suffered a setback in August when its lead drug, a treatment for patients with liver cancer, failed in a Phase 2 trial. One day after announcing the study results, Cerulean said it was cutting its workforce from 55 employees to 23, a move it expected would save about $5 million a year. A spokeswoman for the company said Wednesday that it currently has 19 employees.

As of the end of September, Cerulean had $38.1 million in cash and cash equivalents, which the company said should be sufficient to fund its operations for at least a year.

The company didn’t disclose on Wednesday whether it had identified any possible suitors for a deal. In October, it struck a research collaboration agreement with Cambridge-cased Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research. That deal is potentially worth up to more than $1 billion.

A representative for NIBR, a unit of Swiss drug giant Novartis (NYSE: NVS), declined to comment.

Cerulean Pharma Inc. (CERU) Is Sinking After Daré Bioscience Agreement

3/20/2017 9:55 AM ET

Cerulean Pharma Inc. (CERU) announced Monday morning that it has entered into a definitive stock purchase agreement with privately-held Daré Bioscience through which equityholders of Daré Bioscience will become the majority owners of Cerulean.

Cerulean Pharma has gapped open sharply lower this morning and is now down 2.09 at $1.23 on above average volume. The stock has dropped to a 3-week low.

As Cerulean Pharma winds down, executives get a parting gift: bonuses

Mar 21, 2017

After multiple trial failures, Waltham-based cancer drug developer Cerulean Pharma is laying off its employees, selling its lead drugs and merging with a San Diego biotech.

But the company’s departing top executives are in line to receive bonuses.

Cerulean (Nasdaq: CERU) announced on Monday that it will be absorbed by Daré Bioscience through a reverse merger, sell its two lead cancer drugs and its technology platform for a total of just $7.5 million, and lay off 11 of its 19 employees. The remaining eight employees, including CEO Christopher Guiffre, will remain with the company only through the close of the transaction. Essentially, Cerulean will soon cease to exist.

The company disclosed in a federal filing Monday that Guiffre, chief medical officer Adrian Senderowicz and general counsel Alejandra Carvajal are each entitled to receive a retention bonus of half-a-year’s salary. Based on their 2015 salary levels — the most recent year for which salary information is publicly available — that would be approximately $210,000 for Guiffre, $63,000 for Senderowicz and $140,000 for Carvajal.

In addition, if and when the Daré transaction closes, the three executives would be eligible to receive so-called change in control bonuses. The bonuses would be divided from a pool equal to 3.5 percent of the value of the deal as determined by Cerulean's board, Guiffre said in an interview on Tuesday. Chief financial officer Gregg Beloff is also eligible to receive a change in control bonus.

Guiffre added that he was focused on completing the deal — which must be approved by Cerulean's shareholders — and has not yet thought about what he will do in the future.

“I’ve been very, very busy getting three transactions done at once to try to preserve value for my shareholders,” he said. “It’s been a challenging situation.”

In August, Cerulean’s lead drug, a treatment for patients with liver cancer, failed in a Phase 2 trial, prompting the company to slash its headcount from 55 employees to 23. The deal with Daré — and the additional layoffs — are expected to be completed in the second quarter of 2017.

Celgene Shares Fall as Outlook Dims

Cut earnings forecast for year, lowered long-term sales forecast for several products

Oct. 26, 2017

Celgene Corp. shares plummeted about 18% Thursday after the pharmaceutical company cut its earnings forecast for the year and lowered its long-term sales forecast for several products.

Chief Executive Mark Alles said the company is updating its 2020 outlook to account for shifts in the market and recent events, which include disappointing sales of a psoriasis treatment and clinical trials of a Crohn’s disease treatment that the company cut short.

The company lowered 2020 targeted revenue from new hematology products, oncology products, and inflammation and immunology products. The company raised the outlook for its existing hematology portfolio. Overall, it lowered its total 2020 revenue target to a range of $19 billion to $20 billion, down from more than $21 billion.

Shares now trade at less than eight times the lowered 2020 earnings multiple.

The company also decreased its revenue estimate for the current year to about $13 billion, down from a previously guided range of $13 billion to $13.4 billion.

Company executives told investors on an earnings call that sales of Otezla, a treatment for psoriatic arthritis and psoriasis, have been weaker than expected and it is considering next steps after discontinuing development of a Crohn’s disease treatment.

“Our 2017 forecast assumptions did not adequately anticipate the deep and persistent slowing growth of the psoriatic arthritis and psoriasis markets, especially during the entire third quarter,” Mr. Alles said on the call.

The company said last week it ended two clinical trials for a Crohn’s disease treatment and halted plans to launch a third, following a recommendation from an independent data-monitoring panel. Celgene didn’t say at the time what prompted the panel’s recommendation.

“This pipeline failure is a major disappointment,” Mr. Alles said.

Overall for the third quarter, Celgene reported Thursday a profit of $988 million, or $1.21 a share, compared with $171 million, or 21 cents a share, a year ago.

Excluding one-time items, the company earned $1.91 a share, up from $1.58 a year ago, on adjusted net income of $1.56 billion. Analysts had expected adjusted earnings per share of $1.87 on adjusted net income of $1.53 billion.

Expedia profit misses Wall Street view, shares tumble

Oct. 26, 2017

(Reuters) - Online travel services company Expedia Inc reported quarterly profit below Wall Street's consensus forecast, sending the brand's shares tumbling in after-hours trading on Thursday.

Shares of Expedia Inc, which owns Expedia.com, Hotels.com, Hotwire and other brands, slid 6 percent in extended trading, as investors reacted to the third-quarter earnings publication.

On an adjusted basis, the company earned $2.51 (1.91 pounds) per share in the quarter, falling short of analysts' average estimate of $2.62 per share.

Total quarterly revenue rose to $2.97 billion, from $2.58 billion a year earlier, and compared to an average estimate of $2.98 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Its HomeAway vacation rental business, which competes with Airbnb, has been witnessing strong growth, however. The unit reported a 45 percent jump in revenue in the latest quarter.

HomeAway is one of the many acquisitions Expedia made under former Chief Executive Officer Dara Khosrowshahi, whose exit in August to ride-share provider Uber Technologies Inc [UBER.UL] had sparked worries among investors.

Underperformance at majority-owned hotel price comparison site Trivago is also weighing on Expedia. On Wednesday, Trivago again cut its 2017 revenue forecast and warned that there would be no growth in the first half of 2018.

In the third quarter to Sept.30, Expedia said gross bookings rose 11 percent to $22.2 billion. Domestic gross bookings increased 5 percent, while international gross bookings rose 22 percent.

Net income attributable to Expedia rose to $352 million, or $2.23 per share, from $279 million, or $1.81 per share, in the year prior.

"Healthy room night growth (was) partly offset by natural disasters, Trivago," the company said in the quarterly release.

Expedia said that Trivago lost $8 million in the third quarter, while a recent series of severe hurricanes cost it nearly $15 million to $20 million.

Immuron's stock blasts off nearly 10-fold after partner NMRC seeks pre-IND meeting with FDA

June 9, 2020

The U.S.-listed shares of of Immuron Ltd. skyrocketed nearly 10-fold on massive volume in afternoon trading Tuesday, after the Australia-based biopharmaceutical company said its research partner, the Naval Medical Research Center (NMRC) has requested a pre-investigational new drug (IND) meeting with the Food and Drug Administration regarding the treatment being developed for severe campylobactcampylobacteriosis and ETEC infections (E-Coli).

The stock was trading at $20.65, or 890.4% above Monday's closing price of $2.10. Trading volume blasted off to 65.5 million shares, compared with the full-day average of about 5,900 shares and nearly 15 times the 4.4 million shares outstanding.

"The Australian Importation permit required to ship the vaccines from the NMRC was approved by Biosecurity Australia and the NMRC vaccines were shipped to our contract research partner to commence the project," said Immuron Chief Executive Jerry Kanellos. "The plan is to have the product completed by the end of this year and have it ready for clinical evaluation next year." The stock was down 42.1% year to date as of Monday's close, before Tuesday's rally