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: 

• Atara Biotherapeutics (ATRA), 458% surge in interest
• Adverum Biotechnologies (ADVM), 49% surge in interest
• BeiGene (BGNE), 25% surge in interest

Pipeline and key clinical candidates for these companies:

Atara Biotherapeutics is “harnessing the natural power of the immune system to develop off-the-shelf cell therapies for difficult-to-treat cancers and autoimmune conditions, including multiple sclerosis, that can be rapidly delivered to patients within days. With cutting-edge science and differentiated approach, Atara is the first company in the world to receive regulatory approval of an allogeneic T-cell immunotherapy,” the company states.

Adverum Biotechnologies is a clinical-stage company that aims to establish gene therapy as a new standard of care for highly prevalent ocular diseases with the aspiration of developing functional cures to restore vision and prevent blindness. Adverum is evaluating its novel gene therapy candidate, ixoberogene soroparvovec, as a one-time, IVT injection for patients with neovascular or wet age-related macular degeneration.

BeiGene is a global biotechnology company that is discovering and developing innovative oncology treatments that are more affordable and accessible to cancer patients worldwide. With a broad portfolio, the company is expediting development of its diverse pipeline of novel therapeutics through its internal capabilities and collaborations.

Recent news on these stocks:

February 5

Adverum Biotechnologies has agreed to sell approximately 106.25M shares of its common stock to a select group of institutional and accredited healthcare specialist investors in a private placement, at a price per share of $1.20, representing a premium of approximately 20% to Adverum’s 30-day volume-weighted average price. The financing is expected to close on February 8, subject to customary closing conditions. Adverum anticipates the gross proceeds from the private placement to be approximately $127.5M, before deducting any offering related expenses. The proceeds from this financing, combined with current cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities, are expected to be sufficient to fund the current operating plan into late 2025. TD Cowen and Truist Securities acted as placement agents on the offering.

February 2

On Wednesday, BeiGene announced that the Governments of Ontario and Quebec have publicly listed Brukinsa, a second generation inhibitor of Bruton’s tyrosine kinase, or BTK, for the treatment of adults living with chronic lymphocytic leukemia, or CLL, the most common form of leukemia in adults. The Regie de l’assurance maladie du Quebec listing came into effect December 13, 2023, and the Ontario Drug Benefit Program added Brukinsa on January 12.

January 31

Atara Biotherapeutics and Pierre Fabre Laboratories, a player in oncology and responsible for worldwide commercialization of tabelecleucel, announced that data from the pivotal Phase 3 ALLELE study of tab-cel, approved in the European Union in adults and children two years of age and older with relapsed or refractory – r/r – Epstein-Barr virus positive post-transplant lymphoproliferative disease, or EBV+ PTLD, following solid organ transplant or hematopoietic cell transplant, were published for the first time online in The Lancet Oncology. The ALLELE study met its primary endpoint. 22 of 43 EBV+ PTLD patients achieved an objective response – 51.2% objective response rate. Those that responded to tab-cel had longer survival, with an estimated one-year overall survival of 84.4% for responders versus 34.8% for non-responders. The median duration of response was 23.0 months and the median overall survival was 18.4 months. Tab-cel was well tolerated with no reports of tumor flare reaction, cytokine release syndrome or immune effector cell-associated neurotoxicity syndrome, and no events of graft-versus-host disease or SOT rejection as related to tab-cel. Tab-cel was granted marketing authorization under the brand name EBVALLO in December 2022 by the European Commission as a monotherapy for the treatment of adult and pediatric patients two years of age and older with r/r EBV+ PTLD who have received at least one prior therapy. In the U.S., Atara plans to submit a biologics license application to the FDA for tab-cel for the treatment of EBV+ PTLD in Q2.

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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.