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Scholar Rock's Early FDA Approval on Spinal Muscular Atrophy Drug Seen as 'Positive Surprise,' UBS Says

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Scholar Rock Holding (SRRK) won early regulatory approval of Isembyld to treat spinal muscular atrophy, a "positive surprise" that lifts a key regulatory hurdle, UBS Securities said Sunday in a report.

Isembyld was approved with a broad label for patients aged 2 years and older ahead of its Prescription Drug User Fee Act date on Sept. 30, and the commercial rollout is expected to be gradual, generating $5 million in revenue this year, in line with market expectations, the report said.

UBS expects uptake to accelerate as reimbursement pathways become more streamlined, generating peak sales of $1.5 billion to $2 billion, "particularly given the substantial unmet need" in spinal muscular atrophy.

While Isembyld's label notes an imbalance in fracture rates between the treatment group and placebo group in the late-stage study, the overall benefits outweigh the risks, the report said.

UBS maintained its buy rating on Scholar Rock's stock and its $60 price target.

Price: $53.61, Change: $-1.80, Percent Change: -3.25%

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AstraZeneca Says Late-Stage Etcamah Breast-Cancer Trial Misses Main Goal

AstraZeneca (AZN) said Friday its late-stage trial testing Etcamah with palbociclib, a widely used breast-cancer therapy, did not meet its primary goal of improving progression-free survival.The company said it observed a numerical improvement in first-line treatment of patients with estrogen receptor-positive, HER2-negative advanced breast cancer who had not received any systemic treatment for advanced disease.The trial compared Etcamah plus palbociclib with an aromatase inhibitor plus palbociclib, AstraZeneca said.The safety profile of Etcamah in combination with palbociclib was consistent with the known safety profile of each medicine, the company said.AstraZeneca shares fell 3.3% in after-hours trading.

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Sector Update: Financial Stocks Higher Late Afternoon

Financial stocks were advancing in late Friday afternoon trading, with the NYSE Financial Index rising 0.9% and the State Street Financial Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLF) up 0.7%.The Philadelphia Housing Index was climbing 1.2%, and the State Street Real Estate Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLRE) added 0.7%.Bitcoin (BTC-USD) was increasing 1% to $77,301, and the yield for 10-year US Treasuries rose 3.1 basis points to 4.975%.In economic news, the US consumer price index rose 0.4% month on month, the fastest pace since May and above July's 0.1% gain, the Bureau of Labor Statistics data showed Friday. The move matched the Bloomberg-polled consensus. Core inflation, which excludes the more volatile food and energy components, jumped to a four-month high of 0.3%, exceeding market projections for an unchanged 0.2% growth.The University of Michigan's preliminary consumer sentiment index fell to 47.8 in September from 51.7 in August, larger than an expected decrease to 51.0 in a survey compiled by Bloomberg.In corporate news, Jefferies Financial (JEF) is on track for its best advisory quarter on record, though the strength will have limited pull-through to earnings amid trading headwinds, UBS said in a note. The firm kept its neutral rating on the stock but trimmed its price target to $61 from $65. Jefferies shares were down 3.6%.Blackstone (BX) plans to buy many more tensor processing units from Alphabet (GOOGL) unit Google than initially outlined, The Information reported. The private equity and real estate giant's spending on TPUs could be several "multiples" beyond the $5 billion it announced under a joint venture with Google in May, the report said. Blackstone shares rose 2.4%.KKR (KKR) and Francisco Partners have agreed to buy minority stakes in Italian software company TeamSystem from its main investor Hellman & Friedman, Reuters reported. KKR shares were up 0.2%.Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) warehouses could receive huge volumes of arabica coffee from Brazil, with two trade majors processing the certification of their stocks, Reuters reported. ICE Futures US runs the arabica coffee contract, and majors Olam and Louis Dreyfus are seeking to certify thousands of bags of coffee at the exchange in time for the December contract, sources told Reuters. Olam is processing up to 200,000 bags, according to the report. Intercontinental Exchange shares added 1.1%.

$BX$ICE$JEF$KKR
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Top Cryptocurrencies Rise; Bitcoin Holds Above $77,000 Level

Major digital assets rose Friday, with Bitcoin (BTC-USD) holding above the $77,000 level.The CoinDesk Market Index, which tracks dozens of digital assets including Bitcoin, rose 0.9% in the past 24 hours. The Nasdaq 100 rose 1%, the S&P 500 added 0.9%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average increased 1%.Bitcoin gained 0.1% to $77,236, according to CoinMarketCap data. The most popular cryptocurrency's 24-hour trading volume rose 20.8% to $37 billion.Ethereum (ETH-USD), the second-largest digital asset by market value, rose 3% to $2,540.XRP (XRP-USD) gained 0.2%, BNB (BNB-USD) rose 1.3%, and Solana (SOL-USD) increased 1.7%. Dogecoin (DOGE-USD) added 0.3%, while Cardano (ADA-USD) declined 1.8%.The total market value of the cryptocurrency industry rose 0.5% in the past 24 hours to $2.64 trillion, with trading volume rising 20% to $107.54 billion.Price: $77328.41, Change: $+792.46, Percent Change: +1.04%

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