How Minerva Neursciences Is Outsmarting Insomia

Minerva Neurosciences Inc. (NASDAQ: NERV) saw its shares jump on Monday after the firm announced results from a trial related to an insomnia treatment. Specifically, the results came from the clinical trial (ISM2005) of seltorexant (MIN-202) in patients with insomnia disorder.

Ultimately, the trial demonstrated highly statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvement on latency to persistent sleep (LPS) at Night 1, the primary endpoint of the study. The mean decrease from baseline at Night 1 in LPS was 15 minutes for placebo, 30 minutes for seltorexant 5 mg, 50 minutes for 10 mg and 48 minutes for 20 mg.

In terms of the key secondary endpoint, WASO-6 at Night 1, the mean improvement from baseline at Night 1 was 15 minutes for placebo, 23 minutes for seltorexant 5 mg, 43 minutes for 10 mg and 45 minutes for 20 mg. Also, multiple secondary endpoints were improved versus placebo and standard of care zolpidem, which is available under the brand name Ambien.

Professor Thomas Roth, director of the Sleep Disorders and Research Center at Henry Ford Hospital, commented:

The findings from this study demonstrate that seltorexant significantly improves sleep induction and prolongs sleep duration. The results also demonstrate that seltorexant showed a significantly greater improvement in these sleep parameters compared to zolpidem.

Trump To Announce Major Iran Sanctions Monday

President Donald Trump is set to announce the latest round of sanctions on Iran targeting the Islamic nation’s nuclear weapons program on Monday.

“Iran cannot have Nuclear Weapons! Under the terrible Obama plan, they would have been on their way to Nuclear in a short number of years, and existing verification is not acceptable,” Trump said on Twitter.

He said he looks forward to the day that sanctions come off Iran, and they become a productive and prosperous nation again. “The sooner the better.”

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who is in Saudi Arabia for talks on Iran, said Washington’s diplomatic isolation and economic pressure campaign against Tehran will intensify until it decides to forgo violence and “meet our diplomacy with diplomacy.”

The immediate provocation behind additional sanctions is the shooting down of a US drone and oil tanker attacks in Gulf of Oman, both of which the US government blames on Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps.

The New York Times reported that an open war between the United States and Iran was averted after Trump changed his decision at the last minute to order a military attack on the Islamic nation Thursday in retaliation to targeting its drone.

The US is set to deploy 1,000 additional troops to the Middle East.

Earlier, the Washington Post had reported that Iran’s computer systems that control rocket and missile launchers were disabled in a US cyber-attack in response to the shooting down of the US drone and attacks on oil tankers.

Bitcoin Crosses $9,000, Highest Since May 2018

Bitcoin price hit a new 2019 high, and moved above the $9,000 mark for the first time in more than a year.

Bitcoin, which was on a strong recovery path from its 2018 lows, nearly reached the important benchmark on May 27, but then dwindled.

It lost heavily since then, hitting as low as $7500, shedding around $1400.

Bitcoin reversed the trend, and has been on a steady rise all along the past week.

On Sunday, it reached the highest point since May 2018 – $9345.

After paring its gains slightly, the most popular cryptocurrency is trading at CoinDesk’s bitcoin price index for $9209 on Monday.

The softcoin improved by 1.37 percent, or $124, within the last 24 hours.

BTC’s improvement of 15.61 percent, or $1242 on weekly chart is the biggest leap in recent times.

And it is 25.74 percent, or $1882, higher from where it was valued 30 days ago.

Looking back to the start of the year, Bitcoin is 150 percent stronger now.

The latest surge in price is perhaps influenced by reports that Facebook is set to launch its own cryptocurrency very soon.

Pier 1’s stock tumbles to pace NYSE losers, to extend selloff after reverse split

Shares of Pier 1 Imports Inc. PIR, -23.54% tumbled 22% in morning trading, enough to pace the NYSE’s decliners, as they extend losses following last week’s announcement of a 1-for-20 reverse stock split. The reverse split went into effect during Thursday’s trading session, effectively lifting Wednesday’s closing price from 68 cents to $13.60. The struggling home decor retailer said the idea behind the split was to regain compliance with the NYSE’s minimum bid listing rule, in order to maintain listing. But since the split, the stock has now plunged 35%. The stock is headed for the lowest close since Jan. 4. It has plummeted 86% over the past 12 months, while the SPDR S&P Retail ETF XRT, -0.76% has lost 16% and the S&P 500 SPX, +0.05% has gained 7.2%.

Bristol-Myers to shed psoriasis drug to win approval for Celgene deal

Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. BMY, -7.45% said it would divest itself of Otezla, a psoriasis treatment owned by Celgene Corp., CELG, -5.01% to win approval from regulators and help smooth the path for the companies’ pending merger.

The divestiture seeks to address the U.S. Federal Trade Commission’s concerns about the marketed and pipeline products of psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis treatments from the two companies. In March, the commission requested more information as part of its antitrust review of the companies’ $74 billion deal.

If the FTC agrees with the conditions of the divestiture, Bristol-Myers said it expects the Celgene transaction to be completed as soon as the end of the year or the start of 2020.

The New York biopharmaceutical company also said Monday it finished its pre-notification process with the European Commission and submitted a formal application for clearance of the deal.

An expanded version of this report appears on WSJ.com.

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