ABBV ACHIEVES Goals, HealthStream's CFO Resigns, NTEC On Watch

(RTTNews) - Today's Daily Dose brings you news about AbbVie's ulcerative colitis trial results; Chembio's preliminary Q3 revenue and stock offering; HealthStream's Q3 results and CFO resignation; Intec Pharma's progress in ACCORDANCE study, and acquisition of Therapix Biosciences by SD Pharma.

Read on...

AbbVie's (ABBV) ongoing phase IIb/III dose-ranging study evaluating investigational Upadacitinib in adult patients with moderately to severely active ulcerative colitis, dubbed U-ACHIEVE, has met the primary endpoint of clinical remission and all ranked secondary endpoints.

ABBV closed Monday's trading at $84.27, down 4.21%.

Chembio Diagnostics Inc. (CEMI) expects revenue for the third quarter of 2018 to be in the range of $9.2 million to $9.4 million, compared to $7.6 million in the prior year period.

The Company also announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire opTricon GmbH, a privately-held developer and manufacturer of hand-held analyzers for rapid diagnostic tests, for $5.5 million in cash. The transaction is expected to close on October 31, 2018, subject to standard closing conditions.

In after-hours, Chembio revealed that it has commenced a $25 million public offering of common stock. The underwriters have a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 15% of the number of shares of its common stock sold in the offering.

CEMI closed Monday's trading at $9.88, up 2.38%.

HealthStream Inc. (HSTM) has reported improved earnings and revenue for the third quarter ended September 30, 2018.

Income from continuing operations for the third quarter of 2018 was $3.0 million or $0.09 per share on revenue of $59.9 million. This compared with income from continuing operations of $1.7 million or $0.06 per share and revenue of $54.7 million in the third quarter of 2017.

In other news, the Company's Chief Financial Officer, Gerard Hayden, Jr., has tendered his resignation, which will come into effect in March 2019. Afterwards, he will remain available to HealthStream as a Senior Executive Advisor.

Following Gerard's resignation, Scott A. Roberts, HealthStream's Vice President, Accounting & Finance, will serve as Interim CFO.

HSTM closed Monday's trading at $28.27, up 1.36%.

Intec Pharma Ltd. (NTEC) has completed patient enrollment in ACCORDANCE, a pivotal phase III clinical trial evaluating the safety and efficacy of Accordion Pill as a treatment for the symptoms of advanced Parkinson's disease.

The study, which is being conducted at approximately 90 clinical sites throughout the U.S., Europe and Israel, compares Accordion Pill-Carbidopa/Levodopa (AP-CD/LD) with immediate release CD/LD (IR-CD/LD; Sinemet).

The top line data from this trial are expected in mid-2019.

NTEC closed Monday's trading at $5.17, up 0.98%.

ResMed (RMD) has won a patent infringement case against Fisher & Paykel in Germany. The case relates to patents covering the headgear used on two Fisher & Paykel CPAP masks - the Simplus full face and Eson 2 nasal mask.

The Munich District Court has ruled that the headgear used on two Fisher & Paykel CPAP masks infringes ResMed patent EP 2 373 368 B1 in Germany.

Last October, ResMed won a patent infringement case brought by Fisher & Paykel in Germany. That time, the Munich District Court ruled that ResMed's AirSense 10, AirCurve 10, Lumis and their humidifiers do not infringe a Fisher & Paykel German utility model (a short-term patent), DE 20 2013 012 358 U1.

RMD closed Monday's trading at $102.63, down 0.34%.

SD Pharma Inc. (FSDDF.OB), a licensed producer of marijuana, is all set to acquire Therapix Biosciences Ltd. (TRPX) for US$48 million.

The transaction combines two complementary businesses - the production and distribution of medical and recreational products by FSD Pharma, and the medical and pharmaceutical brands by Therapix Biosciences.

If all goes well as planned, the transaction is anticipated to be completed by Q1 2019.

TRPX closed Monday's trading at $4.42, up 2.79%.