Boston- based Biopharmaceutical Company stock Outperforms

The shares of the Boston based vertex Biopharmaceutical company Stock (VRTX) rallied 1.20% to $216.61 Thursday. This proved to be an all-around favorable trading session for the stock market, with the S&P 500 Index SPX rising 1.06% to 4,159.12 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA rising 0.55% to 34,084.15. This rise broke a three-day losing streak.

Boston based Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. closed $89.47 below its 52-week high ($306.08), which the company reached on July 7th.The stock outperformed some of its competitors Thursday, as Johnson & Johnson JNJ, +0.58% rose 0.58% to $171.07, Merck & Co. Inc. MRK, +0.38% rose 0.38% to $79.66, and AbbVie Inc. ABBV, +1.09% rose 1.09% to $117.11. Trading volume (1.4 M) remained 113,719 below its 50-day average volume of 1.5 M.

Concert Pharmaceuticals Inc has sold potential future milestones relating to VX-561 under the 2017 asset purchase agreement to Boston based Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated for $32 million. Roger Tung, President and CEO of Concert Pharmaceuticals said that this transaction provided an opportunity to secure non-dilutive capital and strengthened our balance sheet as we continue to advance CTP-543, our lead asset for alopecia areata, through its Phase 3 program.

Under the asset purchase agreement, Vertex acquired worldwide development and commercialization rights to VX-561 for cystic fibrosis. In 2017, Concert received a one-time cash payment of $160 million on closing the asset purchase, with the potential for $90 million in future milestones. Following receipt of the $32 million, no further milestone obligations remain.