Biotech and pharma companies were on the move Wednesday. A few made absolutely massive gains on the day, giving more credence to the Trump rally and positive sentiment for the health care sector in general. Although some of the companies may not be the largest in the sector, they were some of the most heavily traded on Wednesday.
These companies 24/7 Wall St. has picked stood out from the rest on Tuesday morning. We have included information about each company, as well as recent trading activity and the consensus price target.
Most of these moves are influenced by clinical trials or U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) decisions. And as we have said before, these have the potential to make or break companies in the health care sector. 24/7 Wall St. also has put together an FDA calendar for some key decisions and catalysts coming out in January and February.
Evoke Pharma
Shares of Evoke Pharma Inc. (NASDAQ: EVOK) jumped on Wednesday after the company provided additional data from its Phase 3 trial of Gimoti, its nasal delivery of metoclopramide for the relief of symptoms associated with acute and recurrent diabetic gastroparesis in adult women.
Although the Phase 3 trial failed to reach its primary endpoint, data also demonstrated that patients with moderate to severe symptoms, which included 51% of patients enrolled in the study, responded statistically significantly better when treated with Gimoti than those treated with placebo at multiple time points in the Intent-to-Treat (ITT) and Per Protocol populations. There were also clinically and statistically significant improvements in nausea and abdominal pain, which are two of the more severe and debilitating symptoms of gastroparesis.
Evoke shares were trading up 35% to $2.81 on Wednesday, with a consensus analyst price target of $7.04 and a 52-week trading range of $1.35 to $11.11.
Interpace Diagnostics
Despite announcing a direct offering, Interpace Diagnostics Group Inc. (NASDAQ: IDXG) watched its shares rise. The company will sell certain institutional investors an aggregate of 375,000 shares of common stock at a price of $6.75 per share and an aggregate of 255,000 pre-funded warrants to purchase common stock, at a purchase price of $6.74 per share. The net proceeds from this offering are expected to be $3.7 million, compared with a market cap of $16.5 million. The company intends to use the net proceeds from the offering to repay indebtedness and for working capital and general corporate purposes.
Shares of Interpace were last seen up 10% at $8.27. The consensus price target is $3.00, and the 52-week range is $0.07 to $14.25.
CymaBay Therapeutics
After CymaBay Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: CBAY) reported that it entered into a key exclusive license agreement with Kowa Pharmaceuticals America, its shares made a handy gain on Wednesday. Specifically, this agreement is for the U.S. commercialization of arhalofenate for the treatment of gout that both lowers serum uric acid and suppresses flares.
Under the terms of the agreement, CymaBay will receive up to $15 million in upfront and near-term milestone payments and is eligible to receive up to an additional $190 million in payments based on the achievement of specific development, regulatory and sales milestones.
CymaBay shares were up 41%, at $2.69 in a 52-week range of $0.82 to $3.04. The consensus analyst target is $6.50.
Orexigen Therapeutics
Orexigen Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: OREX) watched its shares scale up after the company unveiled its “Brains Behind Weight Loss” program. This is a national direct-to-consumer advertising campaign demonstrating to patients how the brain plays an important role in weight loss. Essentially, this campaign will underscore how Orexigen’s drug Contrave (naltrexone HCl/bupropion HCl) is believed to work on two important areas of the brain that can influence weight loss. Contrave is currently the number one prescribed weight loss brand in the United States.
Shares of Orexigen traded up nearly 20% at $2.46. The consensus price target is $11.67. The 52-week range is $1.65 to $19.80.
Agile Therapeutics
Despite a report of positive late-stage top line results, Agile Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: AGRX) shares got more than halved. This company posted Phase 3 results from its Twirla trial, a low-dose combined hormonal contraceptive patch. Agile plans to resubmit its New Drug Application (NDA) for Twirla in the first half of 2017 on the basis of these results and other information related to the manufacture of the drug.
The company used the Pearl Index as the efficacy measure for the Secure study. This index is used as a way to measure contraceptive fails over a calculated 100 woman-years (i.e., 100 women over one year, or 10 women over 10 years) of using the product. Agile scored a 4.80 on the Pearl Index, which did beat out the confidence interval of 95%. Despite these favorable results, just over half (51.4%) of the participants had to prematurely discontinue the study.
Agile was trading down about 55% at $2.21, with a consensus price target of $16.20 and a 52-week range of $1.82 to $9.04.
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