Biotech Alert: Searches spiking for these stocks today

These names in the biotech sector are seeing a substantial increase in search activity today, as determined by InvestingChannel. They include:

• Coherus Bio (CHRS), 162% surge in interest
• PTC Therapeutics (PTCT), 143% surge in interest

Pipeline and key clinical candidates for these companies:

Coherus is a commercial-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the research, development and commercialization of immunotherapies to treat cancer and the commercialization of its portfolio of FDA-approved therapeutics. Coherus’ strategy is “to build a leading immuno-oncology franchise funded with cash generated through net sales of its diversified portfolio of FDA-approved therapeutics,” the company says.

PTC is a biopharmaceutical company that says it is “focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of clinically differentiated medicines that provide benefits to patients with rare disorders.” The company adds: “PTC’s ability to innovate to identify new therapies and to globally commercialize products is the foundation that drives investment in a robust and diversified pipeline of transformative medicines. PTC’s mission is to provide access to best-in-class treatments for patients who have little to no treatment options.”

Recent news on these stocks:

October 27

Coherus BioSciences and Shanghai Junshi Biosciences announced that the FDA approved LOQTORZI in combination with cisplatin and gemcitabine for the first-line treatment of adults with metastatic or recurrent locally advanced NPC, and as monotherapy for the treatment of adults with recurrent, unresectable, or metastatic NPC with disease progression on or after platinum-containing chemotherapy. The approval was based on results of the JUPITER-02 Phase 3 study and the POLARIS-02 Phase 2 study and is irrespective of a patient’s PD-L1 status. LOQTORZI is a next-generation, programmed death receptor-1 monoclonal antibody that blocks PD-1 ligands PD-L1 and PD-L2 with high potency at a unique site on the PD-1 receptor, enabling the immune system to activate and kill the tumor. LOQTORZI is expected to be available in the United States in Q1 of 2024.

Citi downgraded PTC Therapeutics to Sell from Neutral with a price target of $17, down from $29, following the company’s Q3 arnings and pipeline update. Although the new royalty agreement with Royalty Pharma improves PTC’s near-term financial position, the upfront cash comes at the expense of future Evrysdi royalties, which Citi previously viewed as one of the company’s key growth drivers, the analyst tells investors in a research note. Further, PTC announced new regulatory and development headwinds, such as requests for additional trials and program timeline delays, impacting sepiapterin, vatiquinone, and Upstaza, says the firm. Citi says that with “substantially increased uncertainty” across virtually all PTC’s key pipeline programs, it models more conservative probabilities of success for various programs accordingly.

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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.