Piper Jaffray analyst Richard Purkiss upgraded Merck (MRK) to Overweight saying he expects the FDA will conditionally approve the use of Keytruda plus chemo by May 10. Keytruda's adoption in first-line lung cancer would then be "substantially brought forward" to the initial detriment of Bristol-Myers (BMY), AstraZeneca (AZN) and Roche (RHHBY), Purkiss tells investors in a research note. The earlier than expected boost to Keytruda sales increases the analyst's 2017-2019 earnings forecasts for Merck by 12%-18%. Purkiss raised his price target for the shares to $72 from $63. The stock closed yesterday up $1.71 to $61.63.

Bearish flow noted in AstraZeneca with 3,362 puts trading, or 1.7x expected. Most active are 4/26 weekly 70 puts and May-24 70 calls, with total volume in those strikes near 3,600 contracts. The Put/Call Ratio is 1.72, while ATM IV is up nearly 2 points on the day. Earnings are expected on April 25th.

Bristol Myers Squibb and Cellares, a development and manufacturing organization dedicated to clinical and industrial-scale cell therapy manufacturing, announced a worldwide capacity reservation and supply agreement for the manufacture of CAR T cell therapies in a transaction valued up to $380M in upfront and milestone payments. As part of the agreement, Cellares will optimize, automate, and tech-transfer select Bristol Myers Squibb CAR T cell therapies onto its automated and high-throughput manufacturing platform, the Cell Shuttle. Cellares will dedicate multiple Cell Shuttle and Cell Q systems with fully automated, high-throughput quality control for Bristol Myers Squibb's exclusive use. The Cell Shuttles and Cell Qs will be deployed in Cellares' Smart Factories in the U.S., EU, and Japan. This agreement expands upon the existing collaborations between Bristol Myers Squibb and Cellares. In August 2023, Bristol Myers Squibb participated in Cellares' Series C financing to launch the first IDMO Smart Factory in an effort to meet the demand for cell therapies globally. That same month, Bristol Myers Squibb joined Cellares' Technology Adoption Partnership Program to evaluate the Cell Shuttle's automated manufacturing capabilities.