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: 

• Organigram Holdings (OGI), 1,695% surge in interest
• Celldex Therapeutics (CLDX), 1,618% surge in interest
• BioNTech (BNTX), 70% surge in interest
• Vertex Pharmaceuticals (VRTX), 70% surge in interest

Pipeline and key clinical candidates for these companies:

Organigram is focused on producing high-quality, indoor-grown cannabis for patients and adult recreational consumers in Canada, as well as developing international business partnerships to extend the company’s global footprint. Organigram has also developed a portfolio of legal adult-use recreational cannabis brands, including Edison, Holy Mountain, Big Bag O’ Buds, SHRED, Monjour and Trailblazer.

Celldex is a clinical stage biotechnology company leading the science at the intersection of mast cell biology and the development of transformative therapeutics for patients. The company’s pipeline includes antibody-based therapeutics which have the ability to engage the human immune system and/or directly affect critical pathways to improve the lives of patients with severe inflammatory, allergic and autoimmune and other devastating diseases.

BioNTech is “pioneering novel therapies for cancer and other serious diseases.” BioNTech and its collaborators are developing multiple mRNA vaccine candidates for a range of infectious diseases alongside its oncology pipeline. BioNTech has established a broad set of relationships with multiple global pharmaceutical collaborators, including Genmab (GMAB), Sanofi (SNY), Genentech, a member of the Roche Group (RHHBY), Regeneron (REGN), Genevant, Fosun Pharma, and Pfizer (PFE).

Vertex is a global biotechnology company that invests in scientific innovation to create transformative medicines for people with serious diseases. The company has multiple approved medicines that treat the underlying cause of cystic fibrosis and has several ongoing clinical and research programs in CF. Beyond CF, Vertex has a robust clinical pipeline of investigational therapies across a range of modalities in other serious diseases where it has deep insight into causal human biology, including sickle cell disease, beta thalassemia, APOL1-mediated kidney disease, acute and neuropathic pain, type 1 diabetes and alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency.

Recent news on these stocks:

November 7

Celldex Therapeutics announced that it is proposing to offer and sell, subject to market conditions, shares of its common stock in an underwritten public offering. Celldex intends to use the net proceeds from the offering to continue clinical and preclinical development of its product candidates, including current and future development of barzolvolimab, growing its bispecific antibody platform and clinical candidates, funding ongoing efforts to develop additional clinical pipeline products and for general corporate purposes. Jefferies and Leerink Partners are acting as the joint book-running managers for the proposed offering.

November 6

Organigram Holdings announced a C$124.6M follow-on strategic equity investment from BT DE Investments, a wholly-owned subsidiary of BAT (BTI). Subject to the receipt of certain regulatory approvals, approval from Organigram’s shareholders and other conditions, BAT will subscribe for 38.68M shares at a price of C$3.2203 per share, for gross proceeds of C$124.6M across three tranches. BAT will subscribe for 12.89M shares on the closing of the first tranche for gross proceeds of C$41.5M with the remaining 25.79M shares to be subscribed for in two further equal tranches on or around August 30, 2024 and February 28, 2025.

BioNTech reported Q3 EPS of EUR 0.67 vs. EUR 6.98 last year, and reported Q3 revenue of EUR 895.3M vs. EUR 3.46B last year. “Over the last quarter, we complemented our investigational pipeline with ADC candidates, initiated later-stage clinical trials and presented significant data across modalities including cancer vaccines, cell therapies, ADCs and immune checkpoint modulators. Our strategy focuses on assembling a diverse toolbox of complementary technologies to deliver novel therapies, aiming to improve the standard-of-care for cancer patients,” said Prof. Ugur Sahin, M.D., CEO and Co-Founder of BioNTech. “We combine our internal innovation engine with a high-performance partnership model to transform healthcare and improve patients’ quality of life.”

Vertex Pharmaceuticals reported Q3 EPS of $3.98, consensus $3.97. “Vertex has delivered another strong quarter across the business. We remain relentless in our commitment to reach more patients with our cystic fibrosis medicines, while preparing for the potential launch of exa-cel in multiple geographies,” said Reshma Kewalramani, M.D., Chief Executive Officer and President of Vertex. “Our R&D pipeline continues to make remarkable progress and we have a milestone-rich period coming up, with multiple major, near-term milestones, including completion of the Phase 3 pivotal trials for the vanzacaftor triple in cystic fibrosis and VX-548 in acute pain, as well as the Phase 2 VX-548 study data read-out in diabetic peripheral neuropathy.”

Hear more from InvestingChannel by signing up for The Spill.

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.