Tuesday’s Biggest Biotech Movers

By Chris Lange Updated Jan 11, 7:39AM EST · Published Jul 16, 12:45PM EDT

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Tuesday’s Biggest Biotech Movers — © metamorworks / Getty Images

Tuesday was a breakout day for a few biotech companies that saw solid gains. With the markets at all-time highs, these companies could help push things higher.

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.

Melinta Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: MLNT) shares jumped on Tuesday after the firm reported preliminary and unaudited financial results and provided a corporate update for the second quarter.

One of the main highlights was that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently accepted for priority review a supplemental New Drug Application (sNDA) for Baxdela (delafloxacin) seeking to expand the current indication to include adult patients with community-acquired bacterial pneumonia. The FDA has assigned a Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA) action date (proposed review deadline) of October 24, 2019.

Shares of Melinta traded up about 6% to $4.43, in a 52-week range of $1.62 to $31.45. The consensus price target is $11.00.

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Atara Biotherapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: ATRA) shares dipped after the firm announced an updated development plan for the Phase 3 tab-cel (tabelecleucel) program for patients with Epstein-Barr virus-associated post-transplant lymphoproliferative disease (EBV+ PTLD).

Based on Atara’s recent discussions with the FDA, the company plans to initiate a tab-cel biologics license application (BLA) submission for patients with EBV+ PTLD in the second half of 2020.

Shares of Atara were down about 14% at $15.60, in a 52-week range of $15.52 to $43.95. The consensus price target is $42.29.

AvroBio Inc. (NASDAQ: AVRO) shares pushed higher after the company announced the first kidney biopsy result and additional positive data from two ongoing clinical trials of its AVR‑RD‑01 investigational gene therapy in Fabry disease. To date, eight patients have been dosed in the trials: three patients in the Phase 2 FAB-2011 trial and five patients in the Phase 1 FACTs2 trial.

Dr. Mark Thomas of the Department of Nephrology at Royal Perth Hospital and Clinical Professor at the University of Western Australia Medical School, the lead investigator for the FAB-201 trial, noted:

I believe today’s data indicate that AVR-RD-01 is substantially reducing the build-up of Gb3 substrate in kidney tissue to potentially effective clearance levels. This, along with the sustained reduction in Gb3 and lyso-Gb3 in plasma observed to date, could translate into substantially improved patient outcomes over the current standard of care.

Shares of AvroBio were last seen up about 17% at $19.20, with a 52-week range of $11.85 to $53.70. The consensus analyst target is $39.00.
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About the Author Chris Lange →

Chris Lange is a writer for 24/7 Wall St., based in Houston. He has covered financial markets over the past decade with an emphasis on healthcare, tech, and IPOs. During this time, he has published thousands of articles with insightful analysis across these complex fields. Currently, Lange's focus is on military and geopolitical topics.

Lange's work has been quoted or mentioned in Forbes, The New York Times, Business Insider, USA Today, MSN, Yahoo, The Verge, Vice, The Intelligencer, Quartz, Nasdaq, The Motley Fool, Fox Business, International Business Times, The Street, Seeking Alpha, Barron’s, Benzinga, and many other major publications.

A graduate of Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas, Lange majored in business with a particular focus on investments. He has previous experience in the banking industry and startups.