Taking An Early Look at 2012 ASCO Biotech/Cancer Stocks (DNDN, LLY, ARIA, ARRY, BVTI, ABPI, CLDX, CYTR, GALE, EXEL, GNBT, GHDX, IMGN, NKTR, NLNK, PCYC, SGEN)

It is now getting close to the middle of May, and that means one thing for biotech investors.  The king of biotech and pharma events is about to take place.  The 2012 annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) is set to take place from June 1 to June 5 in Chicago.  Some of the exhibitors being featured by ASCO are Dendreon Corporation (NASDAQ: DNDN), Eli Lilly & Co. (NYSE: LLY), Genentech, Helsinn, Eisai, and Montefiore/Einstein.

24/7 Wall St. wanted to make a log of companies which have already signaled that they will be presenting data or that data will be presented on their behalf at the 2012 ASCO Annual Meeting.  The data below is as follows:

As of May 10, the total abstracts submitted were 5,264 and of those there have been 2,744 which have been accepted for presentation at ASCO.  Of those accepted for presentation, some 1,859 are going to be ‘ePublication only’ for viewers.  The breakdown for the Abstracts shows that the oral presentation is currently 257 presentations and 2,487 are listed as poster presentation only.

The most presentations accepted (203) so far are focused on Genitourinary Cancer, which covers urinary tract and male genital tract as follows: Prostate cancer; Bladder cancer; Kidney cancer; Testicular cancer; Penile cancer; Nonmalignant tumors of the urinary tract and male reproductive system; and Von Hippel Lindau disease.  As of today, the fewest accepted presentations (93) covers Pediatric oncology.

ARIAD Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: ARIA) will have updated clinical data from the pivotal PACE trial of ponatinib, our investigational pan-BCR-ABL inhibitor in patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML).

Array BioPharma Inc. (NASDAQ: ARRY) recently noted that it “presented Phase 1 data on MEK162 in 28 patients with biliary tract cancer at the ASCO Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium in January 2012. MEK162 was well tolerated and showed evidence of clinical efficacy in this patient population, including a complete response and a partial response. Stable disease was observed in 12 patients.”

Biovest International, Inc. (OTCQB: BVTI), a majority-owned subsidiary of Accentia Biopharmaceuticals, Inc. (OTCQB: ABPI) announced in early May that the new data from the BiovaxID® Phase II mantle cell lymphoma clinical trial conducted by the U.S. National Cancer Institute will be presented by the NCI at the 2012 American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting.

Celldex Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: CLDX) previously noted that interim topline results of the Phase 2b EMERGE study of CDX-011 in patients with advanced breast cancer will be presented in a webcast on May 23, 2012 but it is not going to get in at ASCO as it noted, “Celldex anticipated presenting these topline results at the American Society of Clinical Oncology 2012 Annual Meeting. Due to a clerical error in which the incorrect submission category was inadvertently selected in the on-line ASCO submission form, the abstract for the EMERGE study was not considered for acceptance. Celldex attempted to rectify this clerical error but was informed that no exceptions are made to the submission policy.”  Call this the “ASCO-less ASCO presentation.”

CytRx Corporation (NASDAQ: CYTR) will present data from its Phase 1b/2 clinical trial in patients with advanced solid tumors, primarily soft tissue sarcomas.

Exelixis, Inc. (Nasdaq: EXEL) recently announced that cabozantinib will be the subject of nine presentations at the upcoming Annual Meeting… The company noted that cabozantinib encompasses phase 3 pivotal trials in medullary thyroid cancer (MTC) and metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC).

Galena Biopharma (NASDAQ: GALE) will present “Safety and Long-Term Maintenance of Anti-HER2 Immunity Following Booster Inoculations of the E75 Breast Cancer Vaccine” and it will host a panel called “HER2 Targeted Cancer Therapies” which includes NeuVax update from the Phase 2 and current Phase 3 PRESENT trials.

Generex Biotechnology Corporation (OTCBB: GNBT) will be presenting data on its breast cancer treatment ambitions.

Genomic Health, Inc. (NASDAQ: GHDX) recently announced that 18 abstracts were accepted for presentation at ASCO which will be highlighting Breast, Colon and Prostate progress.

ImmunoGen, Inc. (Nasdaq: IMGN) noted in late-April “At the upcoming ASCO meeting in June, we expect to see not only EMILIA Phase III data and new SAR3419 Phase I data, but also data from the Phase II trial evaluating the safety of trastuzumab emtansine in the adjuvant/neoadjuvant setting.”

Nektar Therapeutics (NASDAQ: NKTR) has two abstracts: one covering a Phase 3 study of NKTR-102 versus Treatment of Physician’s Choice in patients with locally recurrent or metastatic breast cancer previously treated with an anthracycline, a taxane and capecitabine; a second will be NKTR-102 in patients with platinum-resistant ovarian cancer.

NewLink Genetics Corporation (NASDAQ: NLNK) announced in April that data from its HyperAcute(R) Pancreas immunotherapy and its HyperAcute(R) Lung immunotherapy as well as its D-1MT IDO pathway inhibitor will be presented at the annual meeting.

Pharmacyclics, Inc. (NASDAQ: PCYC) will have two oral presentations and one poster discussion session: two oral presentations will highlight the first reporting on data from the ibrutinib (formerly PCI-32765) Phase II CLL single agent trial in treatment naïve patients and the ibrutinib Phase Ib/II CLL combination trial with ofatumumab in relapsed or refractory patients; the poster discussion session will highlight data from the ibrutinib Phase Ib CLL combination trial with bendamustine and rituximab in relapsed or refractory patients.

Seattle Genetics, Inc. (NASDAQ: SGEN) will show updated information on ADCETRIS for patients with relapsed Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) and systemic anaplastic large cell lymphoma (sALCL).

Here was a recent list of other stocks to watch covered by an analyst in the Denver Post.

JON C. OGG