BioMarin Pharmaceutical Value Stock - Dividend - Research Selection

Description of the company

BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc. (BioMarin, we, us or our) is a global biotechnology company that develops and commercializes innovative therapies for people with serious and life-threatening rare diseases and medical conditions. We select product candidates for diseases and conditions that represent a significant unmet medical need, have well-understood biology and provide an opportunity to be first-to-market or offer a significant benefit over existing products. Our therapy portfolio consists of five products and multiple clinical and pre-clinical product candidates.

Our commercial products are Aldurazyme (laronidase) for Mucopolysaccharidosis I (MPS I), Firdapse (amifampridine phosphate) for Lambert Eaton Myasthenic Syndrome (LEMS), Kuvan (sapropterin dihydrochloride) for phenylketonuria (PKU), Naglazyme (galsulfase) for Mucopolysaccharidosis VI (MPS VI) and Vimizim (elosulfase alpha) for Mucopolysaccharidosis IV Type A (MPS IV A). 

We continue to invest in our clinical and pre-clinical product pipeline by committing significant resources to research and development programs and business development opportunities within our areas of scientific, manufacturing and technical expertise. We are conducting clinical trials on several product candidates for the treatment of various diseases. Our clinical product candidates include Brineura (formerly referred to as cerliponase alfa or BMN 190) for the treatment of late infantile neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis (CLN2), a form of Batten disease; pegvaliase (formerly referred to as PEG PAL), an enzyme substitution therapy for the treatment of phenylketonuria (PKU); vosoritide (formerly referred to as BMN 111), a peptide therapeutic for the treatment of achondroplasia, the leading cause of dwarfism; BMN 270, an AAV VIII vector and Factor VIII gene therapy drug development candidate, for the treatment of hemophilia A; and BMN 250, a novel fusion of alpha-N-acetyglucosaminidase (NAGLU) with a peptide derived from insulin-like growth factor 2 (IGF2), for the treatment of Sanfilippo B syndrome, or mucopolysaccharidosis type IIIB (MPS IIIB). We are conducting or planning to conduct preclinical development of several other product candidates for genetic and other metabolic diseases.

In January 2017, we announced an update to our positive interim results of an open-label Phase 1/2 study of BMN 270 in patients with severe hemophilia A, which were announced at the XXXII International Congress of the World Federation of Hemophilia in July 2016. A total of nine patients with severe hemophilia A received a single dose of BMN 270, seven of whom have been treated at the highest dose of 6 x 1013 vg/kg. According to the World Federation of Hemophilia rankings of severity of hemophilia A, the normal range of Factor VIII activity levels is between 50% and 150%, expressed as a percentage of normal factor activity in blood, and the mild hemophilia A range of Factor VIII activity levels is between 5% and 40%. As of the December 9, 2016 data cutoff, of those seven patients treated at the highest dose, six continued to have Factor VIII levels above 50%, and the seventh continued to have levels above 15%. For the six patients at the high dose and previously on a Factor VIII prophylactic regimen, the mean annualized bleeding rate dropped 91% from 16.3 before the BMN 270 infusion to 1.5 two weeks after being dosed (median annualized bleeding rate dropped from 16.5 to 0). For those same six patients, the mean annualized Factor VIII infusions fell 98% from 136.7 to 2.9 (median annualized Factor VIII infusions fell from 138.5 to 0).

In February 2017, we announced that the European Medicines Agency (EMA) granted access to its Priority Medicines (PRIME) regulatory initiative for BMN 270.  To be accepted for PRIME, an investigational therapy has to show its potential to benefit patients with unmet medical needs based on early clinical data.

In January 2017, we announced preliminary results from a Phase 1/2 trial, which began enrolling patients in April 2016, demonstrating that BMN 250, an investigational enzyme replacement therapy using a novel fusion of recombinant human NAGLU with a peptide derived from IGF2, for the treatment of Sanfilippo B syndrome or MPS IIIB, reduced heparan sulfate levels to normal range in cerebral spinal fluid of MPS IIIB patients. Additionally, patients have safely escalated to 100mg dosage.

In December 2016, we initiated the pivotal Phase 3 study of vosoritide, an analog of C-type Natriuretic peptide, in children with achondroplasia, the most common form of dwarfism. The Phase 3 study is a randomized, placebo-controlled 12-month treatment study in approximately 110 children with achondroplasia, ages 5-14. In October 2016, we provided an update on our Phase 2 study of vosoritide. Results from eight children in cohort 4, who completed six months of daily dosing at 30 µg/kg/daily, experienced a 46% or 2.1 cm/year increase in mean annualized growth velocity from baseline. These data are comparable to those observed at the lower dose of 15 µg/kg/day in cohort 3. Results from 10 children in cohort 3, who completed six months of daily dosing at 15 µg/kg/day, experienced a 50% or 2.0 cm/year increase in mean annualized growth velocity from baseline.

In September 2016, we announced that the EMA validated the Marketing Authorization Application (MAA) for Brineura, an investigational therapy to treat children with CLN2 disease, a form of Batten disease. Validation of the MAA confirmed that the submission was accepted and starts the formal review process by the EMA's Committee for Human Medicinal Products (CHMP). The EMA previously granted our request for accelerated assessment for the MAA. The CHMP opinion and decision from the European Commission (EC) is expected in the third quarter of 2017. Accelerated assessments are granted on the grounds that a product may satisfy an unmet medical need and is of major interest from the point of view of therapeutic innovation and public health.

In July 2016, we announced that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) accepted for review the submission of a Biologics License Application (BLA) for Brineura. During their initial review of the BLA, the FDA requested, and we provided, updated efficacy data from the ongoing extension study. In September 2016, the FDA designated this submission as a major amendment to the application, thus extending the Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA) action date by three months to April 27, 2017. The FDA granted Brineura Priority Review status,

which is designated to drugs that, if approved, would be a significant improvement in treatment or provide a treatment where no adequate therapy exists. Brineura was previously granted orphan drug designation by the FDA and EMA and breakthrough therapy designation by the FDA.