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: 

• Verrica Pharmaceuticals (VRCA), 9,258% surge in interest
• Bridgebio Pharma (BBIO), 103% surge in interest
• Aileron Therapeutics (ALRN), 82% surge in interest

Pipeline and key clinical candidates for these companies:

Verrica is a dermatology therapeutics company developing medications for skin diseases requiring medical interventions. On July 21, 2023, Verrica’s lead product, Ycanth, became the first treatment approved by the FDA to treat pediatric and adult patients with molluscum contagiosum, a highly contagious viral skin infection affecting approximately 6 million people in the United States, primarily children. VP-102 is also in development to treat common warts and external genital warts, two of the largest unmet needs in medical dermatology. Verrica is developing VP-103, its second cantharidin-based product candidate, for the treatment of plantar warts. Verrica has also entered a worldwide license agreement with Lytix Biopharma AS to develop and commercialize VP-315 for dermatologic oncology conditions.

BridgeBio Pharma is a commercial-stage biopharmaceutical company founded to discover, create, test and deliver transformative medicines to treat patients who suffer from genetic diseases and cancers with clear genetic drivers. BridgeBio’s pipeline of development programs ranges from early science to advanced clinical trials, the company has stated.

Following its acquisition of Lung Tx, Aileron is shifting its disease focus to advancing a pipeline of first-in-class medicines to address significant unmet medical needs in orphan pulmonary and fibrosis indications. Aileron’s lead product candidate, LTI-03, is in a Phase 1b clinical trial for the treatment of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. LTI-03 is a novel, synthetic peptide with a dual mechanism targeting alveolar epithelial cell survival as well as inhibition of profibrotic signaling. Aileron’s second product candidate, LTI-01, is a proenzyme that has completed Phase 1b and Phase 2a clinical trials for the treatment of loculated pleural effusions. LTI-01 has received Orphan Drug Designation in the US and EU and Fast Track Designation in the U.S.

Recent news on these stocks:

December 15

Verrica Pharmaceuticals announced that its development and commercialization partner, Torii Pharmaceutical Co., reported positive top-line results from its Phase 3 trial of TO-208 for the treatment of Molluscum Contagiosum in Japan. The Phase 3 trial was conducted in Japan and is a double blind, randomized and parallel-group comparison study to evaluate the efficacy and safety of TO-208 in comparison to placebo, when applied once every 21 days for up to four applications in patients with molluscum. The top-line results show that the proportion of subjects achieving complete clearance of all treatable molluscum lesions at the completion of the confirmatory study, the primary endpoint of efficacy, was statistically significant versus placebo. TO-208 was well tolerated during the study. “We are obviously excited by the positive results from this confirmatory Phase 3 trial for TO-208 for the treatment of molluscum in Japan, which underscores the consistent safety and efficacy of VP-102 and FDA-approved YCANTH,” said Ted White, CEO of Verrica Pharmaceuticals. “We believe Torii is an ideal partner to bring the product to people with molluscum in Japan, and these positive results take us one step closer towards achieving our goal of addressing this large and underserved patient population.” In March 2021, Verrica and Torii signed an exclusive licensing agreement for the development and commercialization of VP-102 in Japan. Torii intends to submit a manufacturing and marketing application for the product in Japan, based on the results of the Phase 3 trial and other studies currently being conducted.

December 13

BridgeBio Pharma announced that the first child has been dosed in PROPEL 3, a Phase 3 clinical trial studying the efficacy and safety of infigratinib in children with achondroplasia. Both the U.S. FDA and the EU EMA indicated the trial design for PROPEL 3 would be acceptable as a registrational study to support a marketing application for the treatment of children with achondroplasia. PROPEL 3 is a global, one-year, 2:1 randomized, double-blinded placebo-controlled clinical trial, which will evaluate the efficacy and safety of infigratinib in children with achondroplasia aged 3 to less than18 years with open growth plates. The primary endpoint will be change from baseline in AHV, with secondary endpoints including proportionality, height Z-score, and impact on medical complications and quality of life.

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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.