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Rigel Pharmaceuticals Inc. has a market cap of $364.5 million; its shares were traded at around $6.99 with a P/E ratio of 12.3 and P/S ratio of 486. Hedge Fund Gurus that owns RIGL: Jim Simons of Renaissance Technologies LLC. Mutual Fund and Other Gurus that owns RIGL: Chuck Royce of Royce& Associates.
Highlight of Business Operations: Efficacy assessments for each participant were based on the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) criteria, which denotes at least 20% (ACR 20), at least 50% (ACR 50), or at least 70% (ACR 70) improvement, in addition to improvement denoted in the Disease Activity Score (DAS28), from each patient's baseline assessment at the end of the six month treatment period. The groups treated with 100 mg of fostamatinib b.i.d. and 150 mg q.d. reported higher response rates than the placebo group in all aforementioned criteria levels. The efficacy results for the two dosing groups were comparable, although the response rates for the 100 mg b.i.d. group were uniformly greater.
Consistent with the previous Phase 2a clinical trial (TASKi1), the onset effect of fostamatinib occurred within one week after the initiation of therapy and was maintained. The most frequent adverse events were expected based on results from TASKi1 and appeared to be manageable. The most common clinically meaningful drug-related adverse events noted in TASKi2 were diarrhea and hypertension. Dose reduction options were pre-specified in the trial protocol and, in cases where doses were reduced, patients generally completed the clinical trial with minimal safety issues. The mean increase in blood pressure at six months from baseline, using a last observation carry forward methodology, was less than 0.5 mmHg for the 150 mg q.d. dose group and approximately 1 mmHg for the 100 mg b.i.d. dose group. On the patients that had a history of high blood pressure, an elevated blood pressure level at screening or baseline, or were on blood pressure medication, approximately 29% in the 150 mg q.d. dose and 39% in the 100 mg b.i.d. dose groups, had blood pressure medication adjusted or initiated during the course of the study, compared with 12% of similar patients from the placebo group. On the patients that did not have a history of high blood pressure, were not on blood pressure medication or did not have an elevated blood pressure level at screening or baseline, approximately 4% from the 150 mg q.d. dose and 9% from the 100 mg b.i.d. dose groups had blood pressure medication initiated during the course of the study, compared with 3% of similar patients from the placebo group. For those patients who had their dose of blood pressure medications adjusted or initiated, their blood pressure was successfully reduced and was generally well controlled throughout the remainder of the trial. The blood pressure medications were standard doses of common blood pressure medication, such as angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors or diuretics.
Similar to TASKi2, the most common clinically meaningful drug-related adverse events noted in TASKi3 were diarrhea and hypertension. Dose reduction options were pre-specified in the trial protocol and, in cases where doses were reduced, patients generally completed the clinical trial with minimal safety issues. The mean increase in blood pressure from baseline at three months, using a last observation carry forward methodology, was 3.2 - 3.6 mmHg for the fostamatinib group. In TASKi3, approximately 26% of the patients that had a history of high blood pressure, had an elevated blood pressure level at screening or baseline, or were on blood pressure medication, had their blood pressure medication adjusted or initiated during the course of the study, compared with 14% of similar patients in the placebo group. Approximately 5% of the patients with a history of high blood pressure, or who were not on blood pressure medication or did not have an elevated blood pressure level at screening or baseline, had their blood pressure medication initiated during the course of the study, compared with 3% of similar patients from the placebo group. For those patients who had dosages of blood pressure medications adjusted or initiated, their blood pressure was successfully reduced and was generally well controlled throughout the remainder of the trial. The blood pressure medications were standard doses of common blood pressure medications such as ACE inhibitors or diuretics.
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