Alkermes Plc (ALKS), Quest Diagnostics Inc (DGX): This Week in Biotech

Not all of this week’s news was clinical in nature. Consider Quest Diagnostics Inc (NYSE:DGX), for instance, which took the opportunity on Thursday to sell its small single-digital royalty stake in Pharmacyclics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PCYC) and Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)’s experimental rare blood cancer drug ibrutinib for $485 million in cash to Royalty Pharma. It certainly wasn’t a bad deal for Quest Diagnostics Inc (NYSE:DGX) which acquired its royalties to ibrutinib through its acquisition of Celera in 2011. The sale netted Quest Diagnostics Inc (NYSE:DGX) a gain after taxes, which it will record as a one-time gain in its upcoming quarter results and use to help fuel diagnostic research.

Also of note (and don’t say I didn’t warn you!), Regulus Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:RGLS) lost nearly 17% of its value this week after pricing a dilutive secondary offering of 4.5 million shares at $9.50 — roughly 20% below its closing value when the week started. Considering that Regulus Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:RGLS)’ entire pipeline is currently in the preclinical stage of its existence, now is a poor time for shareholders to be chasing shares higher. I’d suggest waiting until we receive at least some early-stage clinical results before betting on the promise of its pipeline.

The article This Week in Biotech originally appeared on Fool.com is written by Sean Williams.

Fool contributor Sean Williams has no material interest in any companies mentioned in this article. You can follow him on CAPS under the screen name TMFUltraLong, track every pick he makes under the screen name TrackUltraLong, and check him out on Twitter, where he goes by the handle @TMFUltraLong.The Motley Fool owns shares of, and recommends, Johnson & Johnson. It also recommends Quest Diagnostics.

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