Couldn't Make It To Leerink's Global Healthcare Conference? Here Are The Highlights From Day One

Leerink's Global Healthcare Conference kicked off Wednesday and will continue through Thursday. Here is a summary of what Leerink's analysts are saying about some of the notable companies who presented at on Wednesday.

Universal Health Services

• Universal Health Services, Inc. (NYSE: UHS)'s chief financial officer stated there hasn't been any notable fallout following a BuzzFeed article alleging improper clinical practices.
• Repeal and Replace isn't expected to have any downside on the company's behavioral segment.
• Repeal and Replace could spur growth in acute as states like Florida and Texas see increased funding for Medicaid expansion.
• The analysts reiterated Universal Health as the top pick in the healthcare sector.

GW Pharmaceuticals

• GW Pharmaceuticals PLC- ADR (NASDAQ: GWPH)'s management team expressed their confidence that an NDA filing for the middle of 2017 for its Epidiolex therapy.
• GW isn't certain if the U.S. Food and Drug Administration will hold a panel for Epidiolex but is preparing for one nevertheless.
• GW continues to look for avenues for IP protection based on either earlier preclinical work or from the ongoing EAP study.

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Celgene

• Celgene Corporation (NASDAQ: CELG)'s management believes that the current drug pricing environment demonstrates the need for companies to show a strong value proposition.
• Management added that discussions with payers remain objective and constructive if a company can show the benefit to patients.
• Shifting to company specific discussions, Celgene said that Revlimid is viewed as not a single asset but part of the myeloma franchise.
• Celgene is targeting growth in every year through the 2020 to 2030 period.
• Celgene said its 2020 guidance targets have been de-risked and will update its internal model "when they have data" to change the model.

Biogen

• Biogen Inc (NASDAQ: BIIB)'s management team said that its MS business is stable on a global volume basis.
• Tecfidera is fully ramping up in many countries.
• Biogen expects its Ocrevus therapy to compete directly with high-efficiency drugs such as Tysabri.
• Biogen sees its recent settlement with Forward Pharma A/S (NASDAQ: FWP) as being more of an insurance policy against a worse-case outcome and not an admission of defeat.
• Biogen confirmed that some payers are restricting access to its Spinraza therapy until more data is added to the label.