Threshold Pact Crosses Its Own Threshold (THLD)

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By Jon C. Ogg Published
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Threshold Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: THLD) almost screens out as though it was being acquired.  How many times does non-buyout news drive gains north of 70%?  In emerging pharma and biotech, it happens more than in other sectors.  The news this morning is that Merck KGaA has signed a global agreement with Threshold to co-develop and commercialize Phase 3 Hypoxia-Targeted drug TH-302, which is Threshold’s small molecule hypoxia-targeted drug.

As far as what this translates to, Threshold will receive $25 million as an upfront payment and it is set to receive further milestone payments and royalty payments upon certain targets being achieved.  With a market cap of only $63 million and with a recent cash balance of only about $25 million ahead of the news, this is driving home for speculative traders.

After closing at $1.29, the stock’s pre-market surge is a whopping 77% at $2.28. Threshold has a 52-week trading range of $1.20 to $3.34. Threshold has no product revenues as of yet.  We have also already seen over 300,000 shares trade hands in the pre-market and the average daily volume is only 136,000 shares.

JON C. OGG

Photo of Jon C. Ogg
About the Author Jon C. Ogg →

Jon Ogg has been a financial news analyst since 1997. Mr. Ogg set up one of the first audio squawk box services for traders called TTN, which he sold in 2003. He has previously worked as a licensed broker to some of the top U.S. and E.U. financial institutions, managed capital, and has raised private capital at the seed and venture stage. He has lived in Copenhagen, Denmark, as well as New York and Chicago, and he now lives in Houston, Texas. Jon received a Bachelor of Business Administration in finance at University of Houston in 1992. a673b.bigscoots-temp.com.

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