Novartis AG (NVS - Free Report) announced positive data on arthritis drug Cosentyx from two phase III studies at the Annual European Congress of Rheumatology (EULAR 2017), in Madrid.

Cosentyx, fully human monoclonal antibody, is already approved in the U.S. and EU for the treatment of moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis. The drug is also approved in the EU for the treatment of adults with ankylosing spondylitis (AS) who have responded inadequately to conventional therapy, such as non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. The drug is also instrumental for the treatment of active psoriatic arthritis (PsA) in adults when the response to disease modifying anti-rheumatic drug therapy is unsatisfactory.

In Jan 2016, Cosentyx obtained the FDA approval for the treatment of adults with active ankylosing spondylitis and for the treatment of adults with active psoriatic arthritis.

The data shows sustained improvement in the signs and symptoms for active AS at three years. The new data also revealed that Cosentyx provides rapid and sustained pain relief in patients with PsA out to 2 years.

Data from the phase III study, MEASURE 1 extension study, showed 80% of AS patients consistently achieved an ASAS 20 response at 3 years, in tandem with previous findings from the FUTURE 1 study on Cosentyx for active PsA. Additionally, a 2-year post-hoc analysis of the FUTURE 2 study evaluated Cosentyx in PsA, where 99% patients reported moderate-to-extreme pain or discomfort before initiating treatment. At week 3, half of the treated with Cosentyx reported clinically meaningful improvements in pain of over 20%, as measured by Visual Analogue Scale.

Meanwhile, patient recruitment is underway for the new head-to-head clinical trial, EXCEED, to evaluate the superiority of Cosentyx versus AbbVies (ABBV - Free Report) Humira in PsA.

Novartis has outperformed the Zacks classified industry over the last six months. The stock has rallied 12.2% compared with the Large Cap Pharmaceuticals industrys gain of 4.5%.

The uptake of Cosentyx has been strong and the company has grabbed market shares from rivals, Humira and Amgens (AMGN - Free Report) Enbrel. Cosentyx achieved blockbuster status in 2016 recording over $1 billion of sales.

Novartis expects the next growth phase to begin in 2018 driven by Cosentyx (in all three indications psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis and ankylosing spondylitis) Entresto, and Kisqali and a deep pipeline with candidates like CTL019, BAF312, AMG 334, RTH258. Going forward, we expect that the approval of new drugs and label expansion of existing ones will bode well for Novartis.

Zacks Rank & Key Pick

Novartis currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

A better-ranked stock in healthcare sector include VIVUS, Inc. (VVUS - Free Report) which sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can seethe complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

VIVUSs loss per share estimates lessened from 50 cents to 39 cents for 2017 in the last 30 days. The company posted positive earnings surprises in all four trailing quarters with average beat of 233.69%.

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