Puma to Unpack Drug Study
Puma Biotechnology Inc. on Monday morning will reveal additional details from a pivotal study of its breast cancer drug at the American Society of Clinical Oncology’s annual meeting in Chicago.
The Westwood firm’s much anticipated presentation should shed more light on its breast cancer therapy. The drug generated positive topline results as revealed by Puma last year, but then disappointed investors earlier this month when the firm released an abstract in advance of the Chicago conference, in which the study’s placebo group saw such positive results that the drug had little room to establish its efficacy.
Puma shares, which had skyrocketed almost 300 percent to $233.43 a share on the initial data released last July, fell to $170.67 earlier this month after the abstract was published. Puma’s presentation Monday will likely move the stock one way or another, depending on what investors make of the details.
It appears many will be watching. Puma, which has a market cap of $6.3 billion, is holding an investor event at the Renaissance Chicago Downtown Hotel ballroom Monday evening and had to turn people away, according to TheStreet.
LAX Passenger Traffic Keeps Climbing
Los Angeles International Airport continued its record pace in April, according to figures released Friday.
Last month, 5.9 million passengers moved through the airport, an increase of 3 percent of the same month last year. International traffic ticked up 4.2 percent to 1.6 million passengers, while the number of domestic travelers increased 2.7 percent to 4.4 million.
Mail was the big mover last month, with a 22.3 percent increase in mail cargo compared to the same month a year ago. Other air cargo climbed 7.4 percent from a year ago.
LAX ranks fifth among U.S. airports and 14th globally in air cargo tonnage moved. More than half of cargo moving through the airport is carried in passenger aircraft, which means airlines serving LAX can offer some of the lowest airfares available to travelers, according to LAX officials. In addition to passenger jets, an additional 14 cargo airlines operate at LAX.
Zipcar and Metro Partner Up
Carsharing company Zipcar and the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority are teaming up on a pilot project to make it easier for commuters to get around. Transit riders will now be able to pick up and drop off Zipcars at 10 Metro park-and-ride locations.
Zipcar, based in Boston, allows customers to rent cars on a daily or hourly basis. Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said Metro’s new partnership with the firm will help transit riders make what transit officials call first- and last-mile connections – that is, getting to and from Metro rail stations at the beginning and end of a trip.
Among the Metro stations where riders will be able to reserve Zipcars are El Segundo, La Cienega/Jefferson and Westlake/MacArthur Park.
This is the latest move by local officials to make Los Angeles more friendly to carsharing services. City of Los Angeles officials recently announced plans to set aside some metered parking spaces for Zipcar, a move that should help the service expand to new neighborhoods. Until now, it has largely been limited to college campuses where Zipcars have designated private parking spots.
