ASND News & Events

Wedbush notes that Vertex Pharmaceuticals (VRTX) agreed to acquire Crinetics Pharmaceuticals (CRNX) for $85/share in cash. Crinetics now trades essentially at the deal price, reflecting high confidence in closing. For Vertex, the firm views this as a sound, if modestly dilutive near-term, strategic deal. Wedbush would expect Vertex's underperformance to be temporary as the deal reinforces the durability of its M&A-driven pipeline diversification strategy following recent moves in kidney disease and other rare-disease areas. The firm tells investors to watch other commercial-stage rare/endocrine-disease names such as BioCryst Pharmaceuticals (BCRX) and Ascendis Pharma (ASND) as potential next targets, given the rich premium paid here.

Ascendis Pharma announced new radiographic data from Week 104 from the completed pivotal ApproaCH Trial of once-weekly TransCon CNP in children with achondroplasia. In the trial, TransCon CNP-treated children demonstrated continued improvements in lower extremity alignment through up to two years of treatment, including improvements in tibial-femoral angle. As previously reported, improvements in annualized growth velocity were maintained and ACH-specific height Z-score increased with TransCon CNP treatment through Week 104. Through up to two years of treatment, TransCon CNP was generally well tolerated, with a low rate of ISRs, no symptomatic hypotension, and no acceleration of bone age. Most adverse events in TransCon CNP-treated children were mild or moderate, with none leading to treatment discontinuation or withdrawal from the trial.