Merrimack Pharmaceuticals Inc (MACK) May Be Right For Your Portfolio

Competitors

Merrimack faces some competition in the pancreatic cancer space. Two competing companies are Celgene Corporation (NASDAQ:CELG) and Threshold Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:THLD). Celgene announced in January of 2013 that patients who took the company’s drug Abraxane with Gemcitabine lived for 8.5 months longer, compared to those who took Gemcitabine alone and survived only 6.7 months. That’s a life extension of 1.8 months of patients who took Abraxane, which is better than standard care alone. Threshold has a drug that is currently in a phase 3 trial for pancreatic cancer, but in it’s phase 2 trial it reported a better life extension than Celgene’s Abraxane. Threshold reported a life extension of 9.2 months for patients treated with TH-302 compared to Gemcitabine alone at 6.7 months. Obviously Merrimack will have some competition in this space, but the company’s success or failure all depends on what they finally report in their phase three result of MM-398.

Final Thoughts

Merrimack Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:MACK) has an array of cancer drugs in its pipeline that could bring lots of value for long term investors. It has been able to provide an initial public offering to provide adequate funding for their late stage trials and other administrative expenses. The pancreatic cancer market will grow to $1.2 billion dollars in 2015 and that could bring a huge opportunity for long term investors in Merrimack Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:MACK). If all goes well with MM-398 then the company’s valuation will be reevaluated to be higher because of the market potential for the drug. Investors should be aware of the fact that pancreatic cancer is the hardest form of cancer to treat, so the chances that the results will be outstanding will be small, but patience is needed in this biotech name.

The article Merrimack May Be Right For Your Portfolio originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Terry Chrisomalis.

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