Gilead Buys Kite, The Future Of CAR-T, And A Visit To The New Whole Foods

• (0:35) - Hurricane Harvey and North Korea Tensions
• (2:30) - Gilead's Acquisition of Kite Pharma: What Is CAR-T Therapy?
• (4:45) - Novartis CAR-T Cell Therapy Receives Approval By FDA
• (6:50) - CAR-T Biotech Stocks On The Rise
• (10:40) - Is This A New Era For Biotech?
• (15:15) - Price Cutting On Whole Foods Products
• (19:20) - Amazon Echoes and Instacart Indirect Competition
• (23:45) - Upcoming Rewards Program For Prime Members
• (26:00) - Episode Roundup: Podcast@Zacks.com

On today’s episode of the Zacks Friday Finish Line, Content Writer Ryan McQueeney and Editor Maddy Johnson take on this week’s biggest stories, including Gilead’s acquisition of Kite Pharma, the future of the CAR-T therapy industry, and Amazon’s changes to Whole Foods stores.

Make sure to subscribe and leave the show a rating on iTunes!

It was a busy week in the biotech sector, so Maddy and Ryan welcomed an expert guest, Brad Loncar, to recap the latest major events. Brad is the creator of the Loncar Cancer Immunotherapy Index, which tracks the combined performance of several major companies that are developing therapies to treat cancer by harnessing the body’s own immune system.

This makes Brad the perfect person to discuss the Gilead’s (NASDAQ:GILD) massive $11.9 billion takeover of Kite Pharma (NASDAQ:KITE) , as well as the milestone of Novartis’ (NYSE:NVS) CAR-T cancer therapy. Maddy and Ryan also asked Brad about the impact that these events have had on other CAR-T develops, such as Juno Therapeutics (NASDAQ:JUNO) and Bluebird Bio (NASDAQ:BLUE) , and Brad shared some key info that every bio tech investor needs to know right now.

Finally, Maddy and Ryan also discussed their recent trip to a Whole Foods WFM store to investigate the changes made by Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) this week. Make sure to tune in to the show to hear their reactions, and check out some pictures from the visit below:

As a reminder, if you feel that we missed something, or if you want us to cover a different story, shoot us an email at podcast@zacks.com. Make sure to check out all of our other audio content at zacks.com/podcast, and remember to subscribe and leave us a rating on iTunes.

As always, thanks for listening to this episode of the Zacks Friday Finish Line, and check back for even more news from the investment and financial world!

Want more stock market analysis from this author? Make sure to follow @Ryan_McQueeney on Twitter!

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