ALKS, SGEN To Watch Out, Capstone Dons New Hat, PRTA Pockets $15 Mln

(RTTNews) - Alkermes plc's (ALKS) phase III clinical trial of aripiprazole lauroxil in patients with schizophrenia has demonstrated its ability to provide clinically meaningful symptom control in patients struggling with schizophrenia.

The company plans to submit a New Drug Application for aripiprazole lauroxil to the FDA in the third quarter of 2014.

ALKS closed Tuesday's trading at $42.08, up 2.38%.

Capstone Therapeutics (CAPS.OB) has initiated dosing in its phase 1 trial of AEM-28 in LDL/non-HDL cholesterol reduction.

The primary objectives are to evaluate safety and tolerability and to determine preliminary pharmacokinetics/pharmacodynamics of AEM-28 in normal healthy volunteers with elevated cholesterol. Approximately 36 subjects are planned for treatment at a hospital-affiliated clinical site in Perth, Australia.

The initial development program of AEM-28, which will include phase 1a and 1b/2a clinical trials, is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2014.

CAPS.OB closed Tuesday's trading at $0.29, up 19.96%.

Prothena Corp plc (PRTA) has initiated a phase 1 clinical trial of its therapeutic monoclonal antibody candidate, PRX002, for the treatment of Parkinson's disease, thereby earning a $15 million milestone payment from Roche.

Including the current milestone payment, Prothena has now achieved a total of $45 million through its worldwide PRX002 collaboration with Roche.

PRTA closed Tuesday's trading at $29.91, down 1.64%.

Seattle Genetics Inc. (SGEN) is all set to receive milestone payments totaling $6 million from Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited for achieving the first commercial sale of cancer drug ADCETRIS in three key countries namely Australia, South Korea and Mexico.

While the U.S. and Canadian commercialization rights to ADCETRIS are retained by Seattle Genetics, the rights to commercialize ADCETRIS in the rest of the world rest with Takeda.

ADCETRIS net product sales in 2013 were $144.7 million. Looking ahead to 2014, the company expects ADCETRIS net product sales to be in the range of $155 million to $165 million.

SGEN closed Tuesday's trading at $41.09, up 1.58%. In after-hours, the stock climbed 3.43% to $42.50.