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SKYX Platforms (NASDAQ: SKYX) posts massive 2023 sales increase as demand for their game-changing technology explodes.

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Technology companies are the profit-leading stocks in the market today!

While trendy stocks may come and go with temporary appeal, there’s no substitute for soaring profits when investors scramble to gain a foothold in new opportunities within the tech sector.

Investors have witnessed astronomical moves in technology titans that have revolutionized and transformed our lives as the science behind the platform becomes exponentially “smarter”.

Right now, the most explosive profit opportunity is concentrated in AI technology integration, and the way communication is facilitated between a network of devices to save time, money and even lives.

It’s in this area where One Groundbreaking Company has emerged as the front runner!

SKYX Platforms Corp. (NASDAQ: SKYX)

SKYX Platforms Corp. (NASDAQ: SKYX) is a breakout tech superstar experiencing astounding sales growth with the launch of their SkyPlug Smart platform by making homes and buildings safer and smarter.

2023 Sales Explosion 159,000% increase vs 2022

SKYX reported revenue for the first 3 Quarters in 2023 of $36.6M compared to the same period last year of just under $23,000. This represents year-over-year growth of over 159,000%!

SKYX fits squarely in the category of companies that have exploded onto the rising tide of the smart technology revolution.

SKYX’s SkyPlug Smart Platform is “The New US Safety Standard For Ceilings” which eliminates the need to touch hazardous wires in a ceiling’s electrical outlet box. SKYX’s advanced-safe smart platform technologies enable light fixtures, ceiling fans and other electrically wired products to be installed safely and plugged-in into a ceiling’s electrical outlet box within seconds.

The familiar wall plug experience, now on your ceiling. Plugging in fixtures safely within seconds.

The Massive Sudden Interest in SKYX’s SkyPlug Smart Technology

When investors get wind of revolutionary technology, the results can be dramatic! Many of the market’s sizzling performers are heavily concentrated in the tech sector as worldwide dominance puts these companies on the fast-track to super-charged sales and profits.

SKYX’s SkyPlug system has the extraordinary ability to transform any home or building by combining an easily installed ceiling lighting system with cutting-edge features integrated into the Plug & Play platform.

SKYX’s Plug & Play Platform : A master-level achievement

Game-changing technology of this caliber places the power of SKYX’s SkyHome App directly into the hands of the user to control not only an assortment of built-in lighting features but also a variety of smart-home automation devices based on AI technology, such as: Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, Siri, Android, and iOS.

SKYX SkyPlug smart features include control of light fixtures and ceiling fans via the SkyHome App, through WIFI, Bluetooth Low Energy and voice control. It allows scheduling, energy savings eco mode, dimming, back-up emergency light, night light, light color changing and much more.

SKYX has already reshaped an entire industry by bursting onto the scene with their 2023 sales explosion combined with sizable product orders and backlog for the prior and current quarter this year.

SKYX’s breakthrough technology has quickly transformed a consumer sector that has laid dormant for more than 20 years! As an AI/Home Solutions integrated standout, SKYX has redefined the science behind their success.

SKYX’s overwhelmingly successful product launch in their 2023 breakout year is the definition of perfect timing as the NASDAQ Tech Sector is on a rampage!

The enormous growth wave of App Integration has spurred the booming intersection of AI and Smart Home Technology!

WILD RIDE: The index graph representing a basket of NASDAQ Tech Stocks, usually very volatile, has been on a tear lately.

SKYX FILES WITH NEC FOR SAFETY STANDARDIZATION

SKYX (NASDAQ:SKYX) recently announced that it has filed an application for a mandatory safety standardization with the National Electrical Code (NEC) for its ceiling outlet receptacle platform for homes and buildings.

A mandatory standardization of SKYX’s ceiling outlet platform would enable a robust, safer plug-and-play ceiling installation of light fixtures and ceiling fans without a need to touch electrical hazardous wires and would significantly reduce fires, ladder falls, electrocutions, injuries and deaths due to hazardous electrical wire installations.

SKYX’s code team is led by Mark Earley, former head of the National Electrical Code (NEC), and Eric Jacobson, former President and CEO of the American Lighting Association (ALA). As part of the mandatory application, SKYX’s code team has submitted significant supporting data regarding hazardous incidents that occur due to electrical wire installations.

After years of rigorous standardization progress, SKYX’s management and code team strongly believe that it has met the necessary safety conditions and has significant hazardous data support for a compelling case for its ceiling outlet receptacle to become a mandatory safety standardization for ceilings in homes and buildings.

The Power of the Platform: The Future is Now

Beyond SKYX’s technological sophistication is the product revenue propelled by ownership of Nearly Half of all U.S. Lighting Websites! 

SKYX website portfolio now spans 64 websites for lighting and home décor products – including most leading U.S. lighting brands.

The Company’s intellectual property portfolio is armed with a total of 77 issued and pending patents, 23 of which are issued patents covering SKYX’s advanced and smart technologies.

By maintaining control of the products, patents, and technology, SKYX drives the revenue stream with both hands on the wheel.

Rather than being burdened by third-party costs, or bloated R & D budgets that can slice margins razor-thin, technology first-movers specializing in life-changing and life-saving achievements to full retail product distribution are low maintenance and streamlined — all the way to the bottom-line!

Genius is a tricky thing to define, but when you come across a company flexing their muscle right from the outset, you know it when you see it.

ON THE BRINK OF A BREAKOUT

It has never been more apparent than in the last few years that omitting quality, undervalued, up-and-coming technology players from your investment selections is a sure sign of an unbalanced and underperforming portfolio.

SKYX is one of the best-orchestrated consumer products plays we’ve seen in years, and because their technological wizardry is truly emerging as a ‘must-have’, the rate of growth can be breathtaking.

SKYX is getting picked up on the radar screens of Wall Street Analysts who can no longer ignore their rapid development. A Buy Recommendation for SKYX has been initiated with analyst coverage from WestPark Capital along with a Target Price of $7. This represents over 300% stock gains from SKYX’s current trading level.

SKYX, as evidenced by a chain of consummated deals, demonstrates a wealth of expertise in a vital area so heavily relied upon by an industry expanding globally at an unprecedented pace.

With revenue exploding and products that are tested and produced in accordance with world-class standards, the strength of the Company is only just beginning to reflect in the overall market tempo.

Uncovering Wall Street gems and profiting from special situations is all about timing. Learning of such opportunities in the earliest stages of growth vastly improves the leverage of your position. As we’ve seen now more than ever, accumulating positions in the streaking NASDAQ tech sector enables profit-minded investors to build real wealth. The key is to jump in before the stock gathers momentum, hits its stride, and never looks back.

 

Lithium price soars to all-time high as supply struggles to feed EV growth

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The surge in prices of lithium, the key battery material used to power electric cars, is seemingly unstoppable.

Lithium carbonate hit a fresh record of 500,500 yuan ($71,315) a ton in China Friday, according to data from Asian Metal Inc. Prices more than tripled in the past year, inflating the cost of batteries used in electric vehicles, with recent gains driven by strong demand and disruptions at a domestic producing hub.

Consumer support for new-energy vehicles has been gathering pace amid a global transition away from fossil fuels. The China Passenger Car Association has raised its forecast for sales of EVs to a record 6 million this year, double the total in 2021, while battery usage in the nation is also expected to almost double, according to Bloomberg Intelligence.

Deep, lithium-rich water is extracted from below the surface and left to evaporate for the lithium to be easily sourced.

Meanwhile, a power crunch during August in Sichuan province — home to more than one-fifth of China’s lithium production — caused two weeks of electricity cuts, hampering supply in an already-squeezed market.

“EV production and sales have held steady in recent months,” according to Rystad Energy, a research firm, which added there are concerns over whether China’s power crisis could return this winter when demand for heating rises. “This could lead to new power shortages and hit lithium operations,” it wrote, expecting prices to stay firm around this level through to the end of the year.

China held a meeting to review developments on Thursday and asked the top companies to help stabilize prices, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. Producers should not collude on pricing and not quote prices that deviate a lot from costs, it said. The government will take steps to encourage exploration, stabilize imports and promote recycling, it added.

On Thursday, Soc. Quimica & Minera de Chile SA, the world’s No. 2 lithium producer, predicted a “very tight market” in the years ahead. SQM sees “slightly higher” prices this quarter from the previous three months and expects prices to stay at similar levels in the fourth quarter, according to a presentation to investors in New York.

Battery-makers and the automobile industry have been rushing to lock in reliable and stable supplies of lithium. Still, the raw-material price hikes are likely to stoke inflation concerns and add cost pressures to the supply chain.

A battery-making unit of China’s top producer, Ganfeng Lithium Co., told customers last week that prices for new orders would be reassessed amid a substantial hike in power-cell costs. The company supplies small polymer lithium batteries for smart wearable products and Bluetooth headset batteries for companies including Xiaomi Corp.

New GM App Lets You Order Starbucks While You Drive

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Thanks to the invention of cupholders, we can all safely drink coffee while we drive.
And now, thanks to a new app from GM, we can safely order coffee from Starbucks (SBUX) and Dunkin’ Donuts (DNKN) while we drive.

The new technology will let drivers do everything from ordering hot wings to booking a hotel room or reserving a table at Applebee’s — all without even having to pull over.

If you own a 2017 or 2018 model year Chevrolet, Buick, GMC or Cadillac, you might see a new icon on your vehicle’s central computer screen Tuesday morning. It’s labeled Marketplace.

With a few pokes of your finger you can order food or drinks, or reserve a table at one of several restaurants that have teamed up with GM.

The new GM Marketplace App will allow users to make purchases and reservations from behind the wheel.

“For most retailers and consumer brands the daily commute is the only time not accessible in a consumers’ day,” said Santiago Chamorro, GM’s vice president for Connected Customer Experience, in an announcement. “Marketplace gives merchants the ability to more safely engage with drivers and passengers in a meaningful way that provides true value for our customers.”

In other words, until someone invents a way for you to buy stuff in your sleep, it is now possible to make a purchase at any given minute of the day.

The system relies on “machine learning,” taking cues your location and from how you’ve used the Starbucks or Dunkin’ Donuts apps on your phone to decide which menu items to offer.

Jake Fisher, head of auto testing for Consumer Reports, had a chance to try out the system on a Buick.

“It does seem distracting,” he said. But he admitted that it might not be much more distracting than all the other interactive widgets cars already have. Many cars come equipped with music apps such as Pandora or reservation apps like OpenTable, both of which let drivers poke through digital lists.

These sorts of systems will probably become even more convenient, Fisher said, as the technology improves and more companies sign on. But making the systems work better just means that more people will use them, thereby increasing the potential for distraction.

Vendors featured on the app include Wingstop, TGI Fridays, Shell, ExxonMobil, Priceline.com, Parkopedia, IHOP and Delivery.com.

GM (GM) itself is also a vendor. Drivers can buy 4G data packages, extend their OnStar subscription and receive offers for parts and services while driving.

You won’t have to purchase a data plan to use Marketplace, though. It will be available to everyone with a late model GM car that has the required hardware. Over the next 12 to 18 months, the service will be rolled out to a total of about 4 million GM vehicles on U.S. roads.

TransCanada Recovers 44,400 Gallons Of Oil From Keystone Pipeline Spill Site

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TransCanada Corp said on Friday it has recovered 44,400 gallons, or 1,057 barrels, of oil from the Keystone pipeline spill site at Amherst, South Dakota.

The company had shut down its 590,000 barrel-per-day Keystone pipeline, which links Alberta’s oil sands to U.S. refineries, on Nov. 16 after a 5,000-barrel spill. It has not yet set an expected restart date for the pipeline, which is one of Canada’s main crude export pipelines.

Additional excavation will be conducted beyond Sunday for soil remediation purposes, the Calgary-based company said, adding, it has about 170 personnel round-the-clock on the site engaged in clean-up activities.

Preliminary inspections of the damaged section will be completed on site by both TransCanada and U.S. Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) staff, then sent to Washington, D.C., for an investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board’s Metallurgical Laboratory, the company said.

“As a safety precaution, TransCanada sampled one residential water well yesterday at a location about 1.5 miles from the site to alleviate any concerns — all test results were normal,” TransCanada added.

The size of the spill is estimated at 210,000 gallons.

The cause of the leak is under investigation, according to the company’s website. TransCanada crews detected a drop in pressure at about 6 a.m. CT Thursday morning and shut down the pipeline, which runs from Hardesty, Alberta, to Cushing, Okla., and Wood River/Patoka, Ill.

In its statement, TransCanada said, “The section of pipe along a right-of-way approximately 35 miles (56 kilometres) south of the Ludden pump station in Marshall County, South Dakota was completely isolated with 15 minutes and emergency procedures were activated.”

Biotech Stock Rockets To Record On Gene Therapy Trial In Children

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Audentes Therapeutics (BOLD) rocketed to an all-time high Thursday (1/11/18) after its gene therapy showed promising results in a Phase 1 and Phase 2 trial of three children with a muscular disorder.

By the closing bell on the stock market today, Audentes had leapt 14.9% to close at 40.81, easily setting an intraday and closing high during the session. Shares broke out of a cup-with-handle earlier this week after rising above a buy point at 32.98.

The therapy, known as AT132, was tested in three patients with what’s known as X-linked myotubular myopathy, a condition that affects muscles used in movement. The condition is generally evident at birth. All patients in the trial were under the age of five.

Audentes Therapeutics (BOLD) 1-Year Chart

Patient progress was measured using a neuromuscular evaluation that peaks at 64 points. A nine-month-old patient achieved a 93% improvement on that scale, rising to 56 from 29 at baseline. The patient also achieved several age-appropriate milestones by week 12.

Another patient, age 4.1, improved an 11-point improvement in neuromuscular function by week eight. The third patient, age 2.6, only saw a two-point improvement, but that followed just four weeks after treatment. That patient was also sicker than the other two.

There were a total of six adverse events in the trial, two of which were serious and occurred in the third, sicker patient. Of the four non-serious adverse events, two were determined to be treatment-related.

Leerink analyst Joseph Schwartz increased his expectations for AT132 success to 60%, up from 40% previously. He also sees the trial having a positive read through to Audentes’ other programs and boosted his expectations for each of those by 5% apiece.

Schwartz raised his price target on Audentes to 46 from 29 and kept his outperform rating. He sees Audentes’ AT132 bringing in $180 million in peak sales in 2029 and expects the announcement Thursday to help inch the company toward a regulatory filing.

Image result for audentes therapeutics

He notes BioMarin Pharmaceuticals’ (BMRN) drug Brineura, a treatment for Batten’s disease, gained approval after a single Phase 1 and Phase 2 study. The first gene therapy, Luxturna from Spark Therapeutics (ONCE), was approved on a nontraditional mobility assessment.

“Since X-linked myotubular myopathy afflicts young children with no approved therapy, it is formally possible that AT132 benefits from the halo effect of the evolving FDA under (Commissioner) Scott Gottlieb,” he said in a note to clients.

Piper Jaffray analyst Christopher Raymond boosted his price target on Audentes to 45 from 36 with an overweight rating. He noted respiratory improvements in the trial with the first patient achieving normal levels by week 12.

NVIDIA And GE Partner To Bring AI-Assisted Data Analytics And Visualization To Healthcare

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Artificial Intelligence and machine learning might be all the buzz when it comes to emerging technologies like self-driving cars and smart assistants, like Cortana or Siri. However, there’s no more valuable a use for machine learning and AI, than in the healthcare field, where the average hospital generates some 50 petabytes of data annually but only a very small percentage of it is able to be analyzed fully or acted upon.

And when it comes to healthcare, that can literally be the difference between saving a life or losing one. NVIDIA has carved out a large percentage of the AI accelerator market with its powerful Tesla GPUs in a variety of applications, beyond just machine vision for self driving cars. Data center deployments for deep learning GPUs are NVIDIA’s stranglehold currently, where Tesla enables a myriad of industrial applications that harness the power of AI in the cloud.

NVIDIA Tesla P100 GPU

NVIDIA Tesla P100 GPU

GE stepped out in a joint release with NVIDIA in support of NVIDIA GPU Cloud (NGC) technology, powering the first medical devices for improved patient care, earlier diagnosis and two times faster processing of medical imaging data. At the 103rd annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA), GE announced the new NVIDIA GPU-powered Revolution Frontier CT, a CAT scan system that is “two times faster in imaging processing than its predecessor, due to its use of NVIDIA’s AI computing platform.

The Revolution Frontier is FDA cleared and expected to deliver better clinical outcomes in liver lesion detection and kidney lesion characterization because of its speed – potentially reducing the need for unnecessary follow-ups, benefitting patients with compromised renal function and reducing non-interpretable scans with Gemstone Spectral Imaging Metal Artefact Reduction (GSI MAR).”

GE Healthcare Revolution CT System

GE Healthcare Revolution CT System

That sounds like a lot of heavy lifting, and it is, but faster image processing and analysis can save lives. GE Healthcare and NVIDIA also announced the following:

NVIDIA Platform Powers 4D Ultrasound Visualization: 

The Vivid E95 4D Ultrasound System, on display at RSNA, uses NVIDIA GPUs to provide fast, accurate visualization and quantification while streamlining workflows across the cSound™ imaging platform. NVIDIA GPUs accelerate reconstruction and visualization of blood flow and improve 2D and 4D imaging for Echo Lab and Interventional deployments.

New GE Healthcare Applied Intelligence Powered by NVIDIA Technology: 

Modules of the new analytics platform will use NVIDIA GPUs, the NVIDIA ® CUDA ® parallel computing platform and the NVIDIA GPU Cloud container registry to accelerate the creation, deployment and consumption of deep learning algorithms in new healthcare analytic applications that will be seamlessly integrated into clinical and operational workflows and equipment.

Image result for nvidia ai

So fortunately, as artificial intelligence continues to advance, and deep learning enables us to create amazing new services and devices like self-driving cars, we’re also realizing the dawn of AI-assisted healthcare big data analytics. And more importantly, it provides actionable data, to improve quality of life and life expectancy. Could it be our robot overlords may just have our best interest at heart after all? If GE Healthcare and NVIDIA have anything to say about, perhaps they do.

Tech Start-Up Using AI To Detect Cancer Before Humans Can For $1

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Medical scans provide doctors with the visual information they need to spot any disease or disorder that a patient might have.

The problem is, these scans are expensive, and human medical professionals might not be able to recognize very early signs of certain diseases, like cancer, until it’s too late.

That’s what Zebra Medical Vision, an Israeli start-up, is trying to solve. It is using artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms that can read a scan and detect anything untoward before humans can.

And it wants its product to go global into poorer emerging markets. On Friday, the company announced that all of its algorithms will be available for use for $1 per scan. So, each time a hospital uses the algorithm to study a medical scan it will be charged $1.

“The business model is aimed at all customers. We have initial customers that we informed will pay less than they are currently as we wanted a business model that can scale outside of the Western world,” Eyal Gura, chairman of Zebra Medical Vision, told CNBC by phone ahead of the announcement.

“We recently scored accounts in Africa and India.”

Wall Street, New York, NY, United States of America

The aim, Gura said, is to provide next-generation health care technology into emerging markets.

Zebra recently did a test with the University of Oxford in the U.K. looking at osteoporosis, a fragile bone condition that is susceptible to fractures. Britain’s National Health Service (NHS) runs a fracture prevention program, but this is aimed at preventing secondary fractures only.

One of the leads on this program, Kassim Javaid, used Zebra’s algorithm to detect vertebral fractures, which Zebra said is missed 60 percent of the time. Javaid said in a report that Zebra’s algorithm discovered 95 percent of vertebral fractures from scans.

The four-year-old start-up is now talking to the NHS about implementing this, according to Gura. Zebra’s technology can currently detect disorders such as lung disease and it is working on developing new detection algorithms.

Zebra Medical Vision is not the only company in the space and will face competition from giants such as Microsoft, as well as newer entrants such as AIdoc Medical.

Will U.S. shale ruin the oil party (again)?

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Crude oil is hotter this year than the Dow, the Nasdaq and even bitcoin.

It has surged 7% so far in 2018 and hit a three-year high of $64.81 a barrel on Monday, reflecting confidence that an epic supply glut may finally be over because of production cuts by OPEC and Russia.

“The market has gone really high, really fast,” said Michael Tran, energy strategist at RBC Capital Markets. “The oil market has reached the healthiest state in several years.”

But is the infamously boom-and-bust oil industry setting itself up for disappointment? Crude is so high that it could trigger a “drill, baby, drill” mentality from U.S. shale oil producers who will once again flood the market with supply and drive down prices.

That’s exactly what happened in early 2017, derailing a rally in crude and setting up months of pain.

U.S. shale producers need oil to be expensive enough to give them incentive to pump, and prices have once again reached that sweet spot.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration was already forecasting record high U.S. oil production in 2018. Rystad Energy, a Norwegian research firm. is even more optimistic, predicting America will surpass Russia and Saudi Arabia later this year as the world’s No. 1 oil producer.

“Significant growth from U.S. production can play spoiler and torpedo the oil market,” Tran said.

That would be good news for American drivers. The average gallon of gasoline fetched $2.53 on Monday, compared with $2.34 a year ago, according to AAA.

crude oil prices

The smart money seems unfazed by the fracking threat and thinks oil will go even higher. Bullish bets on crude oil as measured by the CFTC hit a record high last week, while bets against oil tumbled to their lowest since June 2014, according to research firm JBC Energy.

“No one wants to miss out on this rally,” said Matt Smith, director of commodity research at ClipperData.

But Smith and JBC Energy warned that extremes in financial positioning can quickly reverse.

The bullish bets are a “clear red flag” that could lead to a “snowballing effect” where selling begets more selling, JBC analysts wrote.

For now, the oil bulls are clearly in control. The big driver: Oil stockpiles have shrunk significantly, relieving the overarching concern that caused crude to crash to $26 a barrel in early 2016. U.S. oil inventories have dropped by 13% over the past year, according to the EIA.

The diminished stockpiles make oil prices more susceptible to sudden disruptions in the oil market. Late last year, crude soared because of temporary supply outages in Libya and the North Sea. In the past few years, those types of disturbances had little impact because the supply glut acted as a cushion.

oil stockpile glut

Another positive for oil prices: The appetite for crude oil is strong. The U.S. and global economies are growing faster, driving demand for gasoline, diesel and jet fuel.

Crude has also benefited from a paradigm shift in the oil market. In late 2015, Congress repealed a 40-year ban on oil exports, which meant American producers suddenly had customers around the world to buy their excess supply. U.S. oil exports soared to record highs, further easing the oversupply problem.

Now everyone is wondering whether U.S. frackers in Texas, North Dakota and elsewhere will unleash another flood of shale oil that keeps a lid on prices.

The bulls are hoping that U.S. shale companies have learned their lesson and will show more discipline. They also note that the sharp drop in oil stockpiles means it would take a lot more shale to disrupt the market this time.

After speaking to a range of oil producers, Goldman Sachs analyst Brian Singer said many are signaling caution about ramping up output aggressively. “Most emphasized the importance of discipline,” Singer wrote in a recent report.

JBC Energy, on the other hand, said it expects U.S. crude to “overwhelm the market” once again. The firm pointed out that the Baker Hughes tally of active U.S. oil rigs jumped last week by the most since June.

Tran, the RBC analyst, predicted a “very strong production response from U.S. producers” because they’ve become “anti-fragile.”

Each time U.S. shale gets knocked down, Tran said, “it comes back faster and more efficient than ever before.”

New Drug Melts Away Heart-Clogging Fat With Just One Dose

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A new drug designed for tackling cancer and diabetes has been found to melt away fat that clogs up arteries.

Researchers from the University of Aberdeen claim that just a single dose of the new drug Trodusquemine can completely reverse the effects of Atherosclerosis. Atherosclerosis is the build-up of fatty plaque inside arteries which in turn can cause a number of different heart problems. In particular, it is the condition that causes heart attacks and strokes.

All humans have some level of fatty streaks in their arteries which develop further with age, according to Mirela Delibegovic, a professor at the university, who is helping to lead the study.

Her team at the University of Aberdeen tested mice and found that those given either a single a dose or a regular treatment of Trodusquemine, then had less fatty plaques in their arteries.

Wall Street, New York, NY, United States of America”These have only been tested at pre-clinical level, in mice, so far but the results were quite impressive and showed that just a single dose of this drug seemed to completely reverse the effects of arthrosclerosis,” Delibegovic said.

She added the next step was to conduct human trials.

The drug is already undergoing separate trials for treating breast cancer and diabetes, where it inhibits an enzyme called PTP1B.

The researchers found that it also stimulated the action of another protein (AMPK), which effectively mimics exercise and reduces chronic inflammation.

The £236,000 ($308,000) study to further investigate the drug’s effect on Atherosclerosis was funded by the British Heart Foundation.

Biotech Gains First-Ever FDA Approval For Gene Therapy To Treat Eye Disease

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Spark Therapeutics (NASDAQ: ONCE) gained the first Food and Drug Administration approval for a gene therapy on Tuesday — a one-time treatment for an eye disease that generally progresses to complete blindness.

The therapy, dubbed Luxturna, is the first gene therapy approved for a genetic disease and the only treatment approved for an inherited retinal disease, according to a press release from Spark.

Leerink analyst Joseph Schwartz kept a market perform rating on Spark, but boosted his price target to 52 from 49 following the approval. The approval was expected considering an FDA advisory committee unanimously recommended the therapy in October.

Image result for spark therapeutics gene therapy eye disease

But it could pave the way for more approvals in gene therapy, Schwartz said in a note.

“Luxturna’s approval further supports the positive precedent that may benefit subsequent gene therapy candidates,” he said. “The approval of Luxturna marks a shift towards the regulatory agency enabling disruptive therapies that could benefit rare diseases.”

The therapy is approved to treat patients with the disease known as confirmed biallelic RPE65-mediated inherited retinal disease. Spark also has potential gene therapies in hemophilia A and hemophilia B in its pipeline.

Image result for spark therapeutics gene therapy eye disease

Spark’s approval puts it in the rare position of being the first to commercialize a new drug in a new class. Management has said Luxturna could go for north of $1 million per patient based on the value it provides as a one-time treatment, Schwartz said.

“We currently model a conservative $600,000 per patient, so it appears there could be upside considering management’s recent commentary,” he said, noting the $1 million mark could influence patient uptake.

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SKYX Platforms (NASDAQ: SKYX) posts massive 2023 sales increase as demand for their game-changing...

Technology companies are the profit-leading stocks in the market today! While trendy stocks may come and go with temporary appeal, there's no substitute for soaring...

Lithium price soars to all-time high as supply struggles to feed EV growth

The surge in prices of lithium, the key battery material used to power electric cars, is seemingly unstoppable. Lithium carbonate hit a fresh record of...

New GM App Lets You Order Starbucks While You Drive

Thanks to the invention of cupholders, we can all safely drink coffee while we drive. And now, thanks to a new app from GM, we...

TransCanada Recovers 44,400 Gallons Of Oil From Keystone Pipeline Spill Site

TransCanada Corp said on Friday it has recovered 44,400 gallons, or 1,057 barrels, of oil from the Keystone pipeline spill site at Amherst, South...

Biotech Stock Rockets To Record On Gene Therapy Trial In Children

Audentes Therapeutics (BOLD) rocketed to an all-time high Thursday (1/11/18) after its gene therapy showed promising results in a Phase 1 and Phase 2...