Latest news with #ClinicalResearch
Yahoo
02-08-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Pharma interest can plug NIH funding gap: Illumina CEO
Genetic sequencing company Illumina (ILMN) has had a rough few years. It has battled activist investors, faced off with the Federal Trade Commission, and, most recently, agreed to a $9.8 million settlement with the Department of Justice over a cybersecurity breach. To add to the pile: sanctions in China and the Trump administration cutting National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding, which the company relies heavily on for clinical research. The numbers don't lie. The stock is down more than 21% in the past year and sank more than 11% in after-hours trading Thursday after the company reported an earnings miss for the second quarter. The company reported $1.06 billion in revenues compared to expected revenues of $1.05 billion. Adjusted earnings per share came in at $1.19 compared to estimates of $1.01. But CEO Jacob Thaysen told Yahoo Finance he remains positive about the company's near-term growth. Why? Because, in part, pharmaceutical companies can provide a new market. "Now, we're shifting from small things to really big programs. Some of the things making up for the reduction from the NIH is kind of indirect, but pharma is getting more interest in these big programs," he said, noting that 15% of the company is exposed to government research funding. "It's not only about sequencing itself, but really using massive amounts of data ... to really identify new drug targets and understand a disease," Thaysen said. The idea to use patient data to help the pharmaceutical world was also identified by 23andMe, which recently came out of bankruptcy through a nonprofit led by founder Anne Wojcicki. Thaysen said that unlike 23andMe, which he has worked with, his company is not going to pursue drug development on its own. "We have a lot of pharma companies that are very excited to work with us," he said. In addition to genetic testing of patient samples, the company is looking at growing in the preventative side of care with cancer screenings. The oncology business, Thaysen said, will have healthy growth over the next 10 or so years. China China banned importations of the San Diego-based company's sequencing machines earlier this year as part of its retaliatory actions to Trump's tariff war. Thaysen said he is working with regulators to try to reverse that, but "in the meantime, that business is declining, and we are expecting it to be flat." In fact, though China has historically been about 10% of the company's business, it contributed to half of the decline in earnings this past week. "China was never a huge part of Illumina's business. When it was the largest, it was just around 10%. We're down to 5% of the business," Thaysen told Yahoo Finance. But because of the tariff war and China's goals to boost its domestic innovation market, Illumina has faced a setback in its market power there from local competition. "As soon as there is a Chinese alternative that is good enough, then you will see that the Chinese government is pushing for the Chinese population, the Chinese companies to use that technology," Thaysen said. He added that even with the increased competition, China is an appealing market to remain in. Analysts are still waiting to see more progress on Illumina's return to growth. Jefferies analyst Tycho Peterson said in a note to clients that the firm will reiterate its Hold rating until things settle: "While the clinical traction is encouraging, we view clarity on near-term headwinds (A&G, China, Roche) and a path to sustainable HSD growth as key to a more constructive view. Reiterate Hold." Anjalee Khemlani is the senior health reporter at Yahoo Finance, covering all things pharma, insurance, provider services, digital health, PBMs, and health policy and politics. That includes GLP-1s, of course. Follow Anjalee as AnjKhem on social media platforms X, LinkedIn, and Bluesky @AnjKhem. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
20-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Medpace (MEDP) Q2 Earnings Report Preview: What To Look For
Clinical research company Medpace Holdings (NASDAQ:MEDP) will be reporting results this Monday after market hours. Here's what to expect. Medpace beat analysts' revenue expectations by 6% last quarter, reporting revenues of $558.6 million, up 9.3% year on year. It was an exceptional quarter for the company, with an impressive beat of analysts' organic revenue estimates and an impressive beat of analysts' EPS estimates. Is Medpace a buy or sell going into earnings? Read our full analysis here, it's free. This quarter, analysts are expecting Medpace's revenue to grow 2.6% year on year to $542 million, slowing from the 14.6% increase it recorded in the same quarter last year. Adjusted earnings are expected to come in at $3.00 per share. Analysts covering the company have generally reconfirmed their estimates over the last 30 days, suggesting they anticipate the business to stay the course heading into earnings. Medpace has missed Wall Street's revenue estimates five times over the last two years. With Medpace being the first among its peers to report earnings this season, we don't have anywhere else to look to get a hint at how this quarter will unravel for life sciences tools & services stocks. However, the whole sector has been hit hard over the last month as stocks in Medpace's peer group are down 2.5% on average. Medpace's stock price was unchanged during the same time and is heading into earnings with an average analyst price target of $301.61 (compared to the current share price of $311.86). Today's young investors likely haven't read the timeless lessons in Gorilla Game: Picking Winners In High Technology because it was written more than 20 years ago when Microsoft and Apple were first establishing their supremacy. But if we apply the same principles, then enterprise software stocks leveraging their own generative AI capabilities may well be the Gorillas of the future. So, in that spirit, we are excited to present our Special Free Report on a profitable, fast-growing enterprise software stock that is already riding the automation wave and looking to catch the generative AI next. StockStory is growing and hiring equity analyst and marketing roles. Are you a 0 to 1 builder passionate about the markets and AI? See the open roles here. Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
20-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Medpace (MEDP) Q2 Earnings Report Preview: What To Look For
Clinical research company Medpace Holdings (NASDAQ:MEDP) will be reporting results this Monday after market hours. Here's what to expect. Medpace beat analysts' revenue expectations by 6% last quarter, reporting revenues of $558.6 million, up 9.3% year on year. It was an exceptional quarter for the company, with an impressive beat of analysts' organic revenue estimates and an impressive beat of analysts' EPS estimates. Is Medpace a buy or sell going into earnings? Read our full analysis here, it's free. This quarter, analysts are expecting Medpace's revenue to grow 2.6% year on year to $542 million, slowing from the 14.6% increase it recorded in the same quarter last year. Adjusted earnings are expected to come in at $3.00 per share. Analysts covering the company have generally reconfirmed their estimates over the last 30 days, suggesting they anticipate the business to stay the course heading into earnings. Medpace has missed Wall Street's revenue estimates five times over the last two years. With Medpace being the first among its peers to report earnings this season, we don't have anywhere else to look to get a hint at how this quarter will unravel for life sciences tools & services stocks. However, the whole sector has been hit hard over the last month as stocks in Medpace's peer group are down 2.5% on average. Medpace's stock price was unchanged during the same time and is heading into earnings with an average analyst price target of $301.61 (compared to the current share price of $311.86). Today's young investors likely haven't read the timeless lessons in Gorilla Game: Picking Winners In High Technology because it was written more than 20 years ago when Microsoft and Apple were first establishing their supremacy. But if we apply the same principles, then enterprise software stocks leveraging their own generative AI capabilities may well be the Gorillas of the future. So, in that spirit, we are excited to present our Special Free Report on a profitable, fast-growing enterprise software stock that is already riding the automation wave and looking to catch the generative AI next. StockStory is growing and hiring equity analyst and marketing roles. Are you a 0 to 1 builder passionate about the markets and AI? See the open roles here. Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
26-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Should You Hold ICON PLC (ICLR)?
Wasatch Global Investors, an asset management company, released its 'Wasatch U.S. Select Strategy' first-quarter 2025 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. US equities declined in the first quarter due to potential tariffs and government funding cuts. Against this backdrop, the strategy was down but exceeded the Russell Midcap® Growth Index, which lost -7.12%. In addition, please check the fund's top five holdings to know its best picks in 2025. In its first-quarter 2025 investor letter, Wasatch U.S. Select Strategy highlighted stocks such as ICON Public Limited Company (NASDAQ:ICLR). Headquartered in Dublin, Ireland, ICON Public Limited Company (NASDAQ:ICLR) is a clinical research organization. The one-month return of ICON Public Limited Company (NASDAQ:ICLR) was 11.32%, and its shares lost 53.42% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On June 25, 2025, ICON Public Limited Company (NASDAQ:ICLR) stock closed at $145.91 per share, with a market capitalization of $11.597 billion. Wasatch U.S. Select Strategy stated the following regarding ICON Public Limited Company (NASDAQ:ICLR) in its Q1 2025 investor letter: "ICON Public Limited Company (NASDAQ:ICLR) also detracted. The Irish health-care company provides contracted clinical-research services to global biotechnology and pharmaceutical firms. Concerns about the funding environment for biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies likely weighed on ICON's stock price this quarter, but we continue to like the business. ICON's valuation is near historical lows, and we like the stock's risk-reward potential from here. Further, accelerated stock buybacks signal more confidence from management that growth could be poised to accelerate." A laboratory setting with a team of scientists working on a clinical trial. ICON Public Limited Company (NASDAQ:ICLR) is not on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 44 hedge fund portfolios held ICON Public Limited Company (NASDAQ:ICLR) at the end of the first quarter, which was 46 in the previous quarter. ICON Public Limited Company's (NASDAQ:ICLR) first quarter revenue declined 4.3% year-over-year to $2 billion. While we acknowledge the potential of ICON Public Limited Company (NASDAQ:ICLR) as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns, and doing so within a shorter timeframe. If you are looking for an AI stock that is as promising as NVIDIA but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the undervalued AI stock set for massive gains. In another article, we covered ICON Public Limited Company (NASDAQ:ICLR) and shared small-cap healthcare stocks hedge funds are buying. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q1 2025 page for more investor letters from hedge funds and other leading investors. While we acknowledge the potential of ICLR as an investment, we believe certain AI stocks offer greater upside potential and carry less downside risk. If you're looking for an extremely undervalued AI stock that also stands to benefit significantly from Trump-era tariffs and the onshoring trend, see our free report on the best short-term AI stock. READ NEXT: The Best and Worst Dow Stocks for the Next 12 Months and 10 Unstoppable Stocks That Could Double Your Money. Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey. Sign in to access your portfolio
Medscape
26-06-2025
- Health
- Medscape
Guselkumab Clears Scalp Psoriasis Across Skin Tones
TOPLINE: In the VISIBLE trial, guselkumab led to significant and sustained improvements in scalp psoriasis severity and quality of life in patients with skin of color through 48 weeks. METHODOLOGY: Researchers evaluated outcomes in a cohort of patients in the phase 3b randomized VISIBLE trial, which included 102 adults with skin of color and scalp psoriasis (mean age, 42.5 years; Fitzpatrick skin type IV-VI, 62.7%; 56.9% men) at 45 sites in the US and Canada from September 2022 to June 2024. Participants self-identified as Asian (38.2%), non-White Hispanic or Latino (38.2%), Black (10.8%), and Middle Eastern (4.9%). Participants were randomly assigned 3:1 to receive guselkumab or placebo with crossover to guselkumab at week 16. Coprimary endpoints were scalp-specific Investigator's Global Assessment (ss-IGA) score of 0/1 and 90% improvement in Psoriasis Scalp Severity Index (PSSI) at week 16. Secondary outcomes were changes in PSSI, scalp surface area, Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI), Scalp Itch Numeric Rating Scale, Psoriasis Symptoms and Signs Diary, and complete clearance. TAKEAWAY: At week 16, patients treated with guselkumab showed significantly higher response rates than those with placebo for ss-IGA 0/1 (68.4% vs 11.5%; P < .001) and PSSI 90 (65.8% vs 3.8%; P < .001). Complete scalp clearance was higher in the guselkumab group: ss-IGA 0 (57.9% vs 3.8%; P < .001) and PSSI 100 (59.2% vs 3.8%; P < .001). At week 16, guselkumab led to greater mean percentage improvements in PSSI (least squares mean [LSM] change, 87.6% vs 37.8%; P < .001) and scalp surface area (SSA; LSM change, 86.6% vs 33.4%; P < .001). Patients reported improved quality of life (DLQI: LSM change, -9.7 vs -2.2; P < .001), symptom relief (LSM change, -44.8 vs -8.3; P < .001), and improvements in itch scores (69.4% vs 24.0%; P < .001) with guselkumab vs placebo at week 16. Over 90% of patients achieved mean percentage improvements with guselkumab in PSSI and SSA by week 48, with 67.1% achieving complete scalp clearance (ss-IGA 0). One patient in the placebo group experienced at least one serious adverse event (SAE) at week 16 vs none in the guselkumab-treated group. From 0-48 weeks, at least one SAE was reported in 2.5% of patients on guselkumab; no adverse events resulted in drug discontinuation. IN PRACTICE: The findings showed that 'guselkumab is highly effective for the treatment of moderate-to-severe scalp psoriasis in individuals with skin of color across the spectrum of objectively measured skin tones,' the study authors concluded. SOURCE: This study was led by Amy McMichael, MD, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and was published online on June 25 in JAMA Dermatology. LIMITATIONS: Postinflammatory pigment alteration, a common concern in people with skin of color, was not fully captured. DISCLOSURES: Johnson & Johnson provided funding support for this study. McMichael reported receiving personal fees, nonfinancial support, and royalties from various organizations, including Johnson & Johnson. Several other authors also reported receiving personal fees, investigator fees, salary, stock, and stock options from Johnson & Johnson and multiple other companies. This article was created using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication.
