ARDX Kidney Drug Passes Phase 3 Study, EDIT Up On CRISPR News, FDA Nod For VRX

(RTTNews) - Ardelyx Inc.'s (ARDX) phase III clinical trial of Tenapanor as a treatment for hyperphosphatemia in patients with end-stage renal disease who are on dialysis has met its primary endpoint and was generally well-tolerated.

There was a statistically significant difference in serum phosphorus levels from the end of the eight-week treatment period to the end of the four-week randomized withdrawal period between the Tenapanor-treated group and the placebo-treated group, according to the company.

ARDX closed Wednesday's trading at $13.00, up 13.54%.

Shares of Editas Medicine Inc. (EDIT) surged over 28% on Wednesday, following a favorable decision in gene-editing technology patent fight between two teams of scientists, one at the University of California, Berkeley, and the other at Broad Institute, Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

CRISPR, which stands for "clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats," is an advanced genetic engineering technique. University of California (UC), Berkeley and Broad have been claiming that they were the first to invent the CRISPR technology and applied for a patent in March of 2013, and October of 2013, respectively. The Broad's patent was issued on April 15, 2014.

Based on the request of UC, Berkeley, the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) declared an interference proceeding last January.

Now, that the Patent Trial and Appeal Board of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has declared that the patents granted to the Broad Institute, MIT and Harvard concerning CRISPR do not interfere with patent claims filed by UC Berkeley, it can be considered a win-win situation for both the warring parties because the decision also paves way for UC Berkeley to receive the CRISPR patent. As previously mentioned, UC, Berkeley applied for a CRISPR technology patent in March of 2013, and is yet to be issued one.

Editas has a worldwide license agreement with Broad Institute related to CRISPR technology. Companies like CRISPR Therapeutics (CRSP) and Intellia Therapeutics (NTLA) have a global license agreement for CRISPR technology with UC Berkeley.

EDIT closed Wednesday's trading at $24.30, up 28.84%.

The FDA has approved Valeant Pharmaceuticals' (VRX) Siliq, generically known as brodalumab, to treat adults with moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis. The label for Siliq carries a Boxed warning about the risk of suicidal ideation and behavior.

The drug will be only available through a restricted program under a Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS). Brodalumab was launched under the brand name Lumicef in Japan last September. The drug is also under review by the EMA in Europe.

The market potential of Siliq is estimated to be in excess of $500 million annually.

VRX closed Wednesday's trading at $16.86, up 5.51%. In after-hours, the stock was up another 4.86% to $17.68.