Tuesday was a breakout day for a few biotech companies that saw either huge gains or massive losses. With the markets holding near all-time highs, these companies could move the markets one way or the other.
24/7 Wall St. has picked a few of those standouts from Tuesday to highlight. We have included information about each company, as well as recent trading activity and the consensus analyst price target.
Endo International PLC (NASDAQ: ENDP) shares jumped after it came public that the firm’s subsidiaries have reached a settlement in its Track 1 opioid cases. The Track 1 cases assert various claims arising from or otherwise relating to the manufacturing, marketing, distribution, supply, sale, prescribing, use or abuse of branded and generic opioid medications.
Under the settlement in principle, Endo will pay a total sum of $10 million and will provide up to $1 million of its Vasostrict and Adrenalin products free of charge, all to be allocated by and between the two plaintiff counties at their sole discretion.
Further, in the event of a comprehensive resolution of government-related opioid claims, Endo has agreed that the two plaintiff counties will receive the value they would have received under such resolution less the total value of the settlement in principle announced today.
Shares of Endo International traded up about 19% at $3.04 on Tuesday, in a 52-week range of $2.14 to $18.50. The consensus price target is $5.43.
Vivus Inc. (NASDAQ: VVUS) shares jumped after the firm announced positive results from its gastric sleeve study. Specifically, the study demonstrated that patients receiving Qsymia (phentermine and topiramate extended-release) capsules CIV before and after laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy surgery lost more weight and had a greater probability of achieving a body mass index of less than 40 compared with patients undergoing surgery alone without anti-obesity medication.
Jamy Ard, M.D., professor of Epidemiology and Prevention at Wake Forest School of Medicine and lead author on the publication, commented:
Patients with a BMI of 50 or greater generally benefit from bariatric surgery but have higher surgical risk and increased perioperative morbidity compared with patients with lower BMI. In an effort to reduce these risks, we undertook a pilot study to assess the feasibility and impact of using the drug before and after LSG surgery. Study results show that patients taking it lost significantly more weight before surgery and had improved outcomes with respect to weight loss and BMI than those not on AOM. This may allow more patients to avoid a secondary surgical procedure and its attendant risks. These results should be further evaluated in larger studies.
Vivus traded up about 16% at $3.93 a share. The 52-week range is $2.15 to $6.41, and the consensus price target is $10.00.
Synlogic Inc. (NASDAQ: SYBX) shares lost nearly a third on Tuesday when the firm announced that it would be discontinuing its development of SYNB1020, an early-stage clinical product candidate for the treatment of hyperammonemia.
The decision to discontinue the program was based on top-line data from an interim analysis of a Phase 1b/2a study of the Synthetic Biotic medicine in 23 patients with cirrhosis and elevated blood ammonia.
Shares of Synlogic were down about 30% to $3.39, in a 52-week range of $3.15 to $14.59. The consensus analyst target is $20.22.
Sarepta Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: SRPT) shares were crushed after the firm received an update from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Essentially, the firm received a Complete Response Letter (CRL) from the FDA regarding the New Drug Application (NDA) seeking accelerated approval of golodirsen injection for the treatment of Duchenne muscular dystrophyin patients with a confirmed mutation amenable to exon 53 skipping.
The CRL generally cites two concerns: the risk of infections related to intravenous infusion ports and renal toxicity seen in pre-clinical models of golodirsen and observed following administration of other antisense oligonucleotides. Renal toxicity with golodirsen was observed in pre-clinical models at doses that were tenfold higher than the dose used in clinical studies. Renal toxicity was not observed in Study 4053-101, on which the application for golodirsen was based.
Sarepta shares traded down over 16% at $100.39, within a 52-week range of $95.21 to $165.87. The consensus price target is $209.67.
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