Stay ahead of biotech stocks seeing a surge in interest from retail and financial professional investors with this exclusive recap from The Fly These names in the biotech sector are seeing a substantial increase in search activity today, as determined by InvestingChannel. They include:
Pipeline and key clinical candidates for these companies:
Seelos Therapeutics is focused on the development and advancement of novel therapeutics to address unmet medical needs for the benefit of patients with central nervous system, or CNS, disorders and other rare diseases. The company's portfolio includes several late-stage clinical assets targeting indications including Acute Suicidal Ideation and Behavior in Major Depressive Disorder, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, and spinocerebellar ataxia, or SCA, as well as early-stage programs in Huntington's disease, Alzheimer's disease, and Parkinson's disease.
Repligen Corporation develops and commercializes bioprocessing technologies and systems that enable efficiencies in the process of manufacturing biological drugs. The customers served are primarily biopharmaceutical drug developers and contract development and manufacturing organizations, or CDMOs.
Tonix is focused on central nervous system, rare disease, immunology and infectious disease product candidates. Tonix's CNS portfolio includes both small molecules and biologics to treat pain, neurologic, psychiatric and addiction conditions. Tonix's lead CNS candidate, TNX-102 SL, is in mid-Phase 3 development for the management of fibromyalgia with a new Phase 3 study launched in the second quarter of 2022 and interim data expected in the second quarter of 2023. TNX-102 SL is also being developed to treat Long COVID, a chronic post-acute COVID-19 condition. Tonix initiated a Phase 2 study in Long COVID in the third quarter of 2022 and expects interim data in the second quarter of 2023. TNX-1300 is a biologic designed to treat cocaine intoxication and has been granted Breakthrough Therapy designation by the FDA.
Emergent BioSolutions provides solutions for complex and urgent public health threats through a portfolio of vaccines and therapeutics that the company develops and manufactures for governments and consumers. Emergent also offers a range of integrated contract development and manufacturing services for pharmaceutical and biotechnology customers.
Recent news on these stocks:
August 16
Seelos Therapeutics filed to sell 1.95M shares of common stock for holders.
Repligen approached Maravai with a takeover offer, according to a Reuters report.
Stifel said it has "mixed feelings" about the Reuters report of Repligen approaching Maravai Lifesciences (MRVI) about an acquisition. There were no details on a potential price, but a $3B deal would equate to around 10-times 2025 sales, making it Repligen's largest acquisition to date, the analyst told investors in a research note. From a strategic standpoint, Stifel has "mixed feelings, but its "skew is to the less-enthused side of the coin." While product fit would be solid, Maravai's projected growth in 2025 is dilutive to the current 14% forecast Stifel has for Repligen next year, the analyst added. The firm would be more excited to see Repligen get itself back onto the double-digit sales track, outline a plan to get margins heading back towards pre-Covid levels, and put up a few tuck-in acquisitions under the new management. It has a Buy rating on the shares.
Tonix Pharmaceuticals has reiterated its commitment to advance development of its live attenuated virus vaccine, TNX-801, for preventing mpox and other infectious diseases. On August 14, 2024, the World Health Organization, WHO, determined that the upsurge of mpox in a growing number of countries in Africa constitutes a public health emergency of international concern, the second such declaration in the past two years called in response to an mpox outbreak. The current outbreak was caused by Clade 1 monkeypox virus, while the 2022 outbreak was Clade 2 monkeypox virus. Tonix's live virus vaccine candidate, TNX-801, is designed to provide long-term protection from mpox and smallpox with one dose. TNX-801 vaccination demonstrated efficacy in protecting animals from lethal challenge with intratracheal monkeypox virus.
Efforts to produce vaccines to aid the mpox international public health emergency in central and east Africa risk is being hobbled by a lack of orders and logistical challenges, Ian Johnston and Michael Peel of The Financial Times reports. Cases of the outbreak have been detected in 13 African countries and will need 2M vaccine doses by the end of the year to help control the outbreak, according to the African Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. Bavarian Nordic (BVNRY) has 300,000 doses of its Jynneos vaccine available and has enough production capacity to meet the demand, but faces challenges including lack of approval in some affected countries and the need for a cold supply chain, CEO Paul Chaplin told the Financial Times. A shot by Japan's KM Biologics is also recommended by the WHO's immunization advisory group while USA's Emergent BioSolutions also has a vaccine for smallpox, but neither company responded to requests for comment.
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About "Biotech Alert"
The Fly will report on a selection of biotech stocks seeing a surge in interest from retail and financial professional investors, based on data from InvestingChannel.
This Fly exclusive recap reveals the biotech stocks that are seeing a spike in searches among the 20-plus million retail and financial professional investors through InvestingChannel's online financial news media ecosystem.
This increased attention from the investors may be in response to, or advance of, outsized moves for stocks in the biotech sector, which tend to be volatile and prone to sharp swings in share price around binary events such as clinical study results and FDA approvals.
