Shares in Minerva Neurosciences Inc. (NERV) tanked 72% after the company's experimental drug roluperidone tailored for the treatment of schizophrenia did not meet its primary and key secondary endpoints in a Phase 3 trial.The stock sank 72% to $3.71 on Friday. The clinical-stage biotech company said the trial conducted among 513 patients did not demonstrate “statistically significant difference from the placebo” in narrowing disease symptoms at week 12 of the treatment. However, the study did show that the roluperidone experimental drug was generally well tolerated, the company said.“Even though this study didn’t achieve its primary and key secondary endpoints, primarily due to a larger than expected placebo effect at Week 12, results obtained with the 64 mg dose including the early onset of effect and functional improvement as measured by PSP suggest roluperidone merits continued investigation for the treatment of primary negative symptoms,” said Remy Luthringer, Executive Chairman and CEO of Minerva. “We intend to consult with the US FDA about the next steps in the development of roluperidone for this indication after we complete the analysis of the study data.”Roluperidone is being developed as a treatment for the negative symptoms of schizophrenia that can persist chronically throughout patients’ lifetimes and contribute to poor quality of life and functional outcomes. The experimental drug has in the past been shown to potentially block serotonin receptors and sigma receptors, two receptors in the brain that are involved in the regulation of mood, cognition, sleep and anxiety.In reaction to the announcement, five-star analysts Myles Minter at William Blair and Biren Amin at Jefferies on Friday both cut Minerva's stock to Hold from Buy. Amin, who has a $2 price target on the stock does not believe the FDA will consider benefit on a secondary endpoint when a study fails on a primary endpoint, leaving an unclear path for the drug.The rest of Wall Street analysts have 3 Buy ratings on the stock adding up to a Moderate Buy consensus. The $15.75 average analyst price target now implies a staggering 325% upside potential in the shares in the coming 12 months. (See Minerva stock analysis on TipRanks).  Related News: Moderna Embarks On Phase 2 Study Of Covid-19 Candidate; Shares Pop 11% Efgartigimod’s Positive Data Is Good News for Momenta’s Nipocalimab Novavax Seeks To Make 1 Billion Covid-19 Vaccine Doses; Top Analyst Ramps More recent articles from Smarter Analyst: * Abiomed’s Heart Pump Gets FDA Emergency Use Status For Covid-19 Patients * Eli Lilly’s Taltz Injection Gets FDA Nod For Inflammatory Spine Arthritis Treatment * Zynga Snaps Up Peak For $1.8B In Its Largest Deal To Date; Shares Up 7% * Eli Lilly Starts Dosing Patients In World’s First Covid-19 Antibody Trial

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Insider Monkey has processed numerous 13F filings of hedge funds and successful value investors to create an extensive database of hedge fund holdings. The 13F filings show the hedge funds' and successful investors' positions as of the end of the first quarter. You can find articles about an individual hedge fund's trades on numerous financial […]

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The treatment, Ibrance, was being tested along with the standard of care for early breast cancer in men and women, against standard of care alone, the company said on Friday. The study was broadly seen to have a high probability of success readout, but the early failure represents a meaningful setback for Pfizer, JP Morgan analysts said in a note, cutting its price target on the stock by $1 to $37.

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Yahoo Finance’s Brian Sozzi, Alexis Christoforous, and Heidi Chung discuss the market action for Tesla.

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Yahoo Finance’s Jared Blikre breaks down the latest on U.S, China relations.

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In this article you are going to find out whether hedge funds think Keysight Technologies Inc (NYSE:KEYS) is a good investment right now. We like to check what the smart money thinks first before doing extensive research on a given stock. Although there have been several high profile failed hedge fund picks, the consensus picks […]

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In this article we will check out the progression of hedge fund sentiment towards L3Harris Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:LHX) and determine whether it is a good investment right now. We at Insider Monkey like to examine what billionaires and hedge funds think of a company before spending days of research on it. Given their 2 and […]

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The nation continues to grapple with civil unrest over the killing of George Floyd in police custody. Many leaders across retail, tech and banking are speaking out over the weekend and Monday morning as protests continue. Yahoo Finance’s Alexis Christoforous and Emily McCormick share the details.

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(Bloomberg) — Gilead Sciences Inc.’s drug remdesivir showed only a limited benefit in a large trial of more moderate patients with Covid-19, a result that may shift perceptions of the therapy already cleared for use in severe cases of the disease.In the phase 3 trial, a group of moderately ill, hospitalized patients getting the drug for five days showed a modest improvement compared to those getting the standard of care, the company said in a statement. But another group getting the drug for 10 days didn’t show a statistically significant improvement, which is likely to raise questions about why a longer course doesn’t help more. Severely ill patients weren’t included in the trial.The shares fell 2.8% to $75.68 at 9:36 a.m. in New York. They’re up 16% this year, largely on optimism around remdesivir. Gilead’s drug has become a symbol of efforts to reopen the economy and effectively treat patients stricken with the coronavirus. A working therapy would help reduce the risk for people who become sick, providing greater certainty to efforts to reopen economies around the globe.The clinical trial looked at hospitalized Covid-19 patients who had more moderate disease, with pneumonia but who didn’t have reduced oxygen levels at the beginning of the study. Patients were randomly assigned to get five days of remdesivir, 10 days of remdesivir, or the standard of care, and then evaluated on a 7-point scale.Overall, the differences were quite modest. The patents who received five days of remdesivir did best, with 76% improving by at least one point by day 11, compared to 66% who received standard of care.But confusingly, patients who stayed on remdesivir for 10 days did slightly worse than those who received five days of remdesivir, with only 70% of them improving at day 11. That difference wasn’t statistically significant compared to the standard of care group.“There seems to be growing evidence five-day treatment is as good or better than 10-day — somewhat curious given no clear side-effect liabilities and may seem counter-intuitive to the typical ‘more is better’ expectation,” said Brian Abrahams, an analyst with RBC Capital Markets. He said the difference could be caused by a less burdensome administration of the drug.The U.S. Food and Drug Administration cleared remdesivir under an emergency authorization on May 1, which has allowed hospitalized patients with severe cases of Covid-19 to begin using the therapy. The emergency approval followed early results from a large, placebo-controlled study run by the U.S. government that showed that patients getting remdesivir recovered faster than those that got a placebo.In the new trial, Gilead said there were no new safety risks identified across either treatment group. The company plans to submit the full data for publication in a peer-reviewed medical journal in coming weeks.(Updates with opening share price in the third paragraph)For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.

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The latest 13F reporting period has come and gone, and Insider Monkey is again at the forefront when it comes to making use of this gold mine of data. Insider Monkey finished processing 821 13F filings submitted by hedge funds and prominent investors. These filings show these funds' portfolio positions as of March 31st, 2020. […]

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