It was designed to treat patients whose lung cancer is driven by the ALK oncogene.
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Doctors said that numerous other companies, including Novartis, Ariad and Cephalon are working on ALK blocking drugs.
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Other competitors in the transportation sector include: Southwest Airlines (LUV), JetBlue Airways (JBLU), and Alaska Air Group (ALK).
This trendline has guided the shares higher since late February, and could continue to act as a technical springboard for ALK during the near term.
Pfizer was able to get FDA approval for this drug based on a small trial with patients who were shown to have ALK dependent lung cancer.
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Most notably, we completed U.S. and Japanese filings for crizotinib in ALK-positive non-small cell lung cancer and U.S. and EU filings for axitinib in advanced renal cell carcinoma.
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In another trial reported today in the New England Journal of Medicine, doctors reported that 57% of 82 lung cancer patients with the ALK gene alteration experienced dramatic tumor shrinkage with the Pfizer drug.
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Another carrier favored by Neidl is Alaska Air Group (nyse: ALK - news - people ), the holding company of Alaska Airlines, which serves cities along the west coast of Canada, the U.S. and Mexico.
Separately, Pfizer said that the Food and Drug Administration has approved Xalkori capsules, which the company calls the first-ever drug targeting anaplastic lymphoma kinase, or ALK, for the treatment of locally advanced or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer that is ALK-positive.
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Among the largest underlying components of IWO, in trading today Alaska Air Group, Inc. ( NYSE: ALK) is up about 2.8%, Athenahealth Inc ( NASD: ATHN) is trading flat, and CommVault Systems Inc ( NASD: CVLT) is higher by about 1%.
Among the largest underlying components of IWO, in trading today Alaska Air Group, Inc. ( NYSE: ALK) is off about 0.2%, Athenahealth Inc ( NASD: ATHN) is off about 0.9%, and CommVault Systems Inc ( NASD: CVLT) is lower by about 0.5%.
In order to meet the demands and expectations of oncologists, regulators and payers, the sponsor of the next ALK inhibitor will need to prove not only that its drug is effective, but the sponsor also will need to run comparator studies of its new drug against Xalkori.
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