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: 

• Corbus Pharma (CRBP), 8,238% surge in interest
• Alpine Immune Sciences (ALPN), 186% surge in interest
• Jaguar Health (JAGX), 109% surge in interest
• NovaBay Pharmaceuticals (NBY), 40% surge in interest
• Mereo BioPharma (MREO), 31% surge in interest

Pipeline and key clinical candidates for these companies:

Corbus Pharmaceuticals is an oncology company “committed to connecting innovation to our purpose of improving lives by developing new medicines that target the nexus between the immune system and cancer.” Corbus’ current pipeline includes anti-integrin monoclonal antibodies that block activation of TGF-beta and small molecules that activate or inhibit the endocannabinoid system.

Alpine Immune Sciences says it is “committed to leading a new wave of immune therapeutics.” Alpine is seeking to create first- or best-in-class multifunctional immunotherapies via unique protein engineering technologies to improve patients’ lives, the company states. Alpine has entered into strategic collaborations with global biopharmaceutical companies and has a diverse pipeline of clinical and preclinical candidates in development, the company adds.

Jaguar Health is a commercial stage pharmaceuticals company focused on developing novel, plant-based, sustainably derived prescription medicines for people and animals with GI distress, including chronic, debilitating diarrhea. Jaguar Health’s wholly owned subsidiary, Napo Pharmaceuticals, focuses on developing and commercializing proprietary plant-based human pharmaceuticals from plants harvested responsibly from rainforest areas. Their crofelemer drug product candidate is the subject of the OnTarget study, an ongoing pivotal Phase 3 clinical trial for prophylaxis of diarrhea in adult cancer patients receiving targeted therapy.

NovaBay Pharmaceuticals develops and sells eyecare and skincare products. NovaBay’s leading product, Avenova Antimicrobial Lid & Lash Solution, is often prescribed by eyecare professionals for blepharitis and dry-eye disease and is also available directly to eyecare consumers through online distribution channels such as Amazon.

Mereo BioPharma is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of innovative therapeutics for rare diseases. The company has two rare disease product candidates, setrusumab for the treatment of Osteogenesis Imperfecta, or OI, and alvelestat for the treatment of severe alpha-1-antitrypsin deficiency-associated lung disease and Bronchiolitis Obliterans Syndrome.

Recent news on these stocks:

January 26

Corbus Pharmaceuticals announced that data from the first-in-human clinical study of CRB-701 is being presented as a poster by the Company’s development partner CSPC Pharmaceutical Group at the 2024 American Society of Clinical Oncology Genitourinary Cancers Symposium. The Phase 1 dose escalation study is being conducted in China and is enrolling participants with metastatic urothelial cancer as well as participants with other solid tumors prospectively confirmed to have nectin-4 positive tumors. Safety: CRB-701 was well-tolerated with the majority of adverse events being grade one or two and reversible. No adverse events above grade three were observed. There have been no dose discontinuations or reductions in the study to date. There has been a singular participant that experienced a temporary dose interruption. No cases of drug-related peripheral neuropathy or skin rash have been reported to date. PK: Single dose PK suggested that TAb, ADC and MMAE increase in an approximate dose proportional manner. No obvious accumulation was observed on cycle 3, day 1. When compared to the exposures achieved with enfortumab vedotin at 1.25 mg/kg Q1W x21 days, CRB-701 consistently demonstrated lower free MMAE concentrations. Efficacy: Dose level 5 and above represents the predicted therapeutically relevant doses based on allometric scaling. A mixed tumor population receiving doses of 2.7 mg/kg or 3.6 mg/kg demonstrated an ORR of 43% and a disease control rate of 71%. The longest observed response to date is 11 cycles and ongoing. All nectin-4 positive mUC and cervical patients at doses greater than or equal to 2.7 mg/kg that were assessable at the time of the December 2023 data-cut off demonstrated levels of disease control and represent the CRB-701 responsive population to date.

Wedbush raised the firm’s price target on Alpine Immune Sciences to $35 from $26 and kept an Outperform rating on the shares after Vera Therapeutics (VERA) reported updated data from the Phase 2b ORIGIN study evaluating atacicept, a WT- TACI BAFF/APRIL antagonist, in IgAN with follow-up through 72 weeks. The firm sees positive readthrough from these longer term data to Alpine’s povetacicept, as it confirms the potential utility of BAFF/APRIL inhibitors as a disease-modifying therapy with long-term use, the analyst told investors in a research note.

Oppenheimer raised the firm’s price target on Alpine Immune Sciences to $33 from $30 and kept an Outperform rating on the shares. The firm has increased conviction in BAFF/APRIL targeting therapies, including povetacicept, and their potential to redefine the IgAN treatment paradigm following Phase 2b data from Vera, the analyst told investors in a research note.

January 25

Jaguar Health announced that a dog study evaluating the effects of crofelemer in providing symptomatic relief of diarrhea associated with the irreversible pan-human epidermal growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor neratinib has been published in the peer-reviewed journal PLOS ONE. The study, titled Effects of orally administered crofelemer on the incidence and severity of neratinib-induced diarrhea in female dogs, was conducted by Jaguar family company Napo Pharmaceuticals in collaboration with Puma Biotechnology. “We are very pleased with the results of this prophylactic study, which was undertaken to ‘model’ the human situation with neratinib,” said Lisa Conte, Jaguar’s president and CEO. “Crofelemer, our novel, oral, plant-based, non-opioid antidiarrheal prescription medication, is also the subject of OnTarget, Jaguar’s pivotal Phase 3 clinical trial for the follow-on indication of the preventative treatment of cancer therapy-related diarrhea, an indication we also refer to as chemotherapy-induced overactive bowel – which includes symptoms such as unpredictable and/or chronic debilitating diarrhea and GI urgency. Diarrhea, which has the potential to cause dehydration, infections, and non-adherence to treatment in cancer patients, is a growing unmet medical need in the age of targeted cancer therapies.” Conte added, “This neratinib study was the first of three studies over the past several years that provide scientific rationale for the use of crofelemer in humans for treatment of CTD. This continuum of datapoints highlights the neglected and growing need for prophylaxis of diarrhea in cancer patients. Prophylactic therapies exist to help prevent chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting in cancer patients, but no antidiarrheal medications are currently approved for treatment of CTD. Interestingly, there is currently one available product for diarrhea in dogs undergoing cancer treatment: Canalevia-CA1, our FDA conditionally approved prescription drug for the treatment of chemotherapy-induced diarrhea in dogs.”

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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.