Shares of Aptevo Therapeutics Inc. more than doubled late Thursday after the tiny Seattle-based biotech company said it ended a partnership with German biotech company MorphoSys AG for a prostate cancer drug candidate and plans to develop the drug on its own. Aptevo shares soared 134% to $3.11 after hours. Aptevo said it ended a commercialization and development partnership with MorphoSys and plans to advance the drug APVO414 through early-stage clinical trials for the treatment of metastatic castration resistant prostate cancer. Separately, Aptevo said it’s agreed to sell three of its marketed products to Saol Therapeutics for $65 million, plus milestone payments and accounts receivable payments of up to $9.5 million. Those products are WinRho SDF for autoimmune platelet disorder, Hepatitis B drug HepaGam B and varicella zoster virus treatment Varizig.
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