Progenics Up After Good HIV Drug Results

Biotech drug developer Progenics Pharmaceuticals Inc. said Tuesday that its experimental HIV treatment greatly lowered levels of the virus that causes AIDS after a single dose in an early stage clinical trial.

Progenics shares rose $1.16, or 4.8 percent, to $25.36 in afternoon trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market at more than twice their average daily volume. Shares have traded between $19.80 and $30.31 over the past 52 weeks.
The company said the study showed a single dose of PRO 140 equal to 5 milligrams per kilogram of patient weight reduced levels of HIV to up an average of 98.5 percent, with some patients experiencing virus reduction up to 99.7 percent.

Patients who experienced a more than 90 percent decrease of the virus held this level for up to two to three weeks after dosing, Progenics said.

The drug has fast track status at the Food and Drug Administration, meaning Progenics can send data to the agency as it becomes available to support a marketing application rather than having to wait to send it in all at once, allowing for feedback and a generally more streamlined regulatory review.

PRO 140 is an antibody drug designed to protect healthy cells from viral infection by blocking the molecular entry way a virus uses to enter the cell.

Progenics plans to begin another clinical trial on the drug in the second half of the year.

Lazard Capital analyst Joel Sendek, who rates the company a "Buy," raised his price target on Progenics stock to $37 from $32, confident that the company will launch a mid stage clinical trial for the drug after meeting with the FDA for guidance.