AVXS Making News For The Right Reasons, ONVO Pushing Ahead, XOMA Rises 14%

(RTTNews) - Shares of AveXis Inc. (AVXS) jumped over 12% on Wednesday on news that the company's experimental drug AVXS-101 for the treatment of spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) Type 1 in pediatric patients has been granted Breakthrough Therapy Designation by the FDA.

AVXS-101 is under phase I development in SMA Type 1. The company expects to report 13.6 months of data for all patients in the ongoing SMA Type 1 Phase 1 trial in the first quarter of 2017.

An interim analysis of data from the phase I trial of AVXS-101, presented in May of this year, demonstrated a favorable safety profile in patients studied, with no new treatment-related safety or tolerability concerns being identified.

The company went public on the NASDAQ Global Select Market on February 11, 2016, offering its shares at a price of $20 each.

The stock has thus far hit a low of $16.11 and a high of $47.76. AVXS closed Wednesday's trading at $40.65, up 12.89%.

Grocery-store operator Kroger Co. (KR) on Wednesday said that its subsidiary Axium Pharmacy Holdings Inc. will acquire the outstanding shares of Modern HC Holdings Inc. to create a combined specialty pharmacy.

The combined specialty pharmacy will operate as a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Kroger Co.

Financial terms were not disclosed. The transaction is subject to certain regulatory approvals, including from the FTC.

KR closed Wednesday's trading at $36.40, up 0.52%.

Nearly two years after the commercial release of living 3D human liver tissues, Organovo Holdings Inc. (ONVO), a pioneer in bioprinting, is expected to commercialize its second tissue, the kidney proximal tubule, in the third calendar quarter of 2016.

The company has already signed the first customer orders to study the effects of drug exposure on the kidney proximal tubule.

ONVO closed Wednesday's trading at $4.20, up 8.81%.

XOMA Corp.'s (XOMA) investigational drug XOMA 358 has been granted Orphan Drug Designation by the European Medicines Agency for the treatment of congenital hyperinsulinism.

Congenital hyperinsulinism, or CHI, is a rare genetic disorder in which the insulin cells of the pancreas (beta cells) secrete inappropriate and excessive insulin.

XOMA 358 is in phase 2 development for CHI with clinical sites in the United States and European Union (EU) actively enrolling patients.

XOMA closed Wednesday's trading at $0.57, up 14.93%.