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: 

• Altamira Therapeutics (CYTO), 15,822% surge in interest
• Stoke Therapeutics (STOK), 4,718% surge in interest
• Mesoblast (MESO), 4,583% surge in interest
• Salarius Pharmaceuticals (SLRX), 817% surge in interest
• Ampio Pharmaceuticals (AMPE), 725% surge in interest
• Sutro Biopharma (STRO), 634% surge in interest
• Neu Base Therapeutics (NBSE), 518% surge in interest
• Esperion Therapeutics (ESPR), 421% surge in interest
• BioLine RX (BLRX), 242% surge in interest

Pipeline and key clinical candidates for these companies:

Altamira Therapeutics is currently active in three areas: the development of RNA therapeutics for extrahepatic therapeutic targets via the OligoPhore/SemaPhore platforms; nasal sprays for protection against airborne allergens and, where approved, viruses or for the treatment of vertigo; and the development of therapeutics for intratympanic treatment of tinnitus or hearing loss.

Stoke Therapeutics is a biotechnology company dedicated to addressing the underlying cause of severe diseases by upregulating protein expression with RNA-based medicines. Stoke’s first compound, STK-001, is in clinical testing for the treatment of Dravet syndrome, a severe and progressive genetic epilepsy.

Mesoblast refers to itself as “a world leader in developing allogeneic cellular medicines for the treatment of severe and life-threatening inflammatory conditions.” The company states: “Mesoblast has a strong and extensive global intellectual property portfolio with protection extending through to at least 2041 in all major markets… Rexlemestrocel-L is in development for advanced chronic heart failure and chronic low back pain. Two products have been commercialized in Japan and Europe by Mesoblast’s licensees, and the company has established commercial partnerships in Europe and China for certain Phase 3 assets.”

Salarius Pharmaceuticals is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing therapies for patients with cancer in need of new treatment options. Salarius’ product portfolio includes seclidemstat, its lead candidate, which is being studied as a potential treatment for pediatric cancers, sarcomas and other cancers with limited treatment options, and SP-3164, an oral small molecule protein degrader being developed for the treatment of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Salarius has received financial support from the National Pediatric Cancer Foundation to advance the Ewing sarcoma program.

Ampio Pharmaceuticals is focused on the development of a potential treatment for osteoarthritis as part of its OA-201 program. The OA-201 development program is seeking to advance Ampio’s unique and proprietary small molecule formulation to take forward through pain and chondroprotection pre-clinical studies and the next phases of drug development. Ampio’s primary strategy is to address the large and attractive opportunity for treatment of osteoarthritis of the knee and other joints.

Sutro Biopharma is a clinical-stage company focused on the discovery and development of precisely designed cancer therapeutics, to transform what science can do for patients. Sutro’s fit-for-purpose technology, including cell-free XpressCF, provides the opportunity for broader patient benefit and an improved patient experience. Sutro has multiple clinical stage candidates, including luveltamab tazevibulin, or luvelta, a registrational-stage folate receptor alpha (FolRα)-targeting ADC in clinical studies.

NeuBase Therapeutics is a biotechnology company developing Stealth Editors to perform in vivo gene editing without triggering the immune system.

Esperion discovers, develops, and commercializes innovative medicines and combinations to lower cholesterol, especially for patients whose needs aren’t being met by the status quo.

BioLineRx is a pre-commercial-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on oncology. The company’s lead development program, motixafortide, a novel selective inhibitor of the CXCR4 chemokine receptor, may support diverse therapeutic approaches in oncology and other diseases. APHEXDA was successfully evaluated in a Phase 3 study in stem cell mobilization for autologous transplantation for multiple myeloma patients, has reported positive results from a pre-planned pharmacoeconomic study in the U.S., and has had its NDA submission accepted by the FDA with an assigned PDUFA date of September 9, 2023.

Recent news on these stocks:

March 28

A Stoke Therapeutics 5.556M share secondary offering priced at $13.50. The deal size was increased to $125M in common stock from $75M in common stock. JPMorgan acted as sole book running manager for the offering.

March 26

Mesoblast announced that FDA has informed the company that following additional consideration the available clinical data from its Phase 3 study MSB-GVHD001 appears sufficient to support submission of the proposed biologics license application, or BLA, for remestemcel-L for treatment of pediatric patients with steroid-refractory acute graft versus host disease. Mesoblast intends to file the resubmission during the next quarter, seeking to address all remaining product characterization issues.

Wedbush lowered the firm’s price target on Sutro Biopharma to $8 from $12 and kept an Outperform rating on the shares following quarterly results. The company continues to make progress with its lead asset luvelta, a FolRalpha-targeting ADC. Luvelta has the potential to address several indications, the firm noted.

H.C. Wainwright lowered the firm’s price target on Sutro Biopharma to $12 from $16 and kept a Buy rating on the shares. The analyst said Luvelta continues its path across multiple oncologic indications. The firm continues to believe that data from the upcoming study may be able to show clear activity in a much broader patient population compared to Elahere. The firm dropped the price target to reflect the termination of BioNova’s collaboration agreement to develop STRO-001 in China and Sutro’s decision to not pursue development of STRO-001 further.

March 25

Altamira Therapeutics entered into a collaboration agreement with Univercells Group to evaluate the use of the company’s proprietary SemaPhore platform for the delivery of mRNA vaccines. Univercells is a global life sciences company creating platforms for developing and manufacturing biologics, including mRNA vaccines and therapeutics, in a simple, scalable and cost-efficient way. Under the terms of the agreement, Univercells will test in vitro and in vivo a proprietary mRNA vaccine delivered with Altamira’s SemaPhore nanoparticle platform. Should the experiments prove successful, Univercells and Altamira intend to discuss and negotiate a commercial agreement for the development and manufacturing of nanoparticle-based mRNA vaccines using Univercells’ production platform.

Ampio announced that its board determined to voluntarily delist its common stock from the NYSE American and deregister its common stock in order to terminate and suspend its reporting obligations under the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934, as amended.

March 22

Esperion announced that the United States FDA has approved broad new label expansions for NEXLETOL Tablets and NEXLIZET Tablets based on positive CLEAR Outcomes data that include indications for cardiovascular risk reduction and expanded LDL-C lowering in both primary and secondary prevention patients. In addition, the enhanced labels support the use of NEXLETOL and NEXLIZET either alone or in combination with statins. They also include new indications for primary hyperlipidemia, alone or in combination with a statin, and are the only LDL-C lowering non-statin drugs indicated for primary prevention patients. The company’s pending label expansions in Europe remain on track, with a positive opinion received from the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use on March 21. The company anticipates a final determination by the European Medicines Agency in the second quarter of 2024.

Daiichi Sankyo (DSNKY) and Esperion Therapeutics jointly announced that the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use, or CHMP, of the European Medicines Agency has adopted positive opinions for the label update of both bempedoic acid, marketed as Nilemdo, and the bempedoic acid / ezetimibe fixed dose combination, marketed as Nustendi, recommending their approval as treatments to reduce low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, or LDL-C, and cardiovascular risk. “We are thrilled with the positive CHMP opinion, which reflects the significant cardiovascular risk reduction benefit that the bempedoic acid global franchise brings to patients worldwide. This latest regulatory milestone further bolsters our efforts to work towards delivering innovative treatment options to manage cardiovascular risk for patients with elevated LDL-C,” said Sheldon Koenig, President and CEO, Esperion. The European Commission will review the CHMP opinions and is expected to deliver its final decision in the mid of the year 2024, the companies stated.

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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.