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: 

• IGM Biosciences (IGMS), 1,876% surge in interest
• Mustang Bio (MBIO), 1,343% surge in interest
• Citius Pharmaceuticals (CTXR), 521% surge in interest
• BioNTech (BNTX), 182% surge in interest
• Vir Biotechnology (VIR), 177% surge in interest
• Allogene Therapeutics (ALLO), 176% surge in interest
• Arbutus Biopharma (ABUS), 190% surge in interest
• Moderna (MRNA), 152% surge in interest
• Compugen (CGEN), 125% surge in interest

Pipeline and key clinical candidates for these companies:

IGM Biosciences is a clinical-stage biotechnology company committed to developing and delivering a new class of medicines to treat patients with cancer, autoimmune and inflammatory diseases and infectious diseases. IGM’s pipeline of clinical and preclinical assets is based on the IgM antibody, which has 10 binding sites compared to conventional IgG antibodies with only 2 binding sites. IGM also has an exclusive worldwide collaboration agreement with Sanofi to create, develop, manufacture, and commercialize IgM antibody agonists against oncology and immunology and inflammation targets.

Mustang Bio is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on translating today’s medical breakthroughs in cell and gene therapies into potential cures for difficult-to-treat cancers. Mustang aims to acquire rights to these technologies by licensing or otherwise acquiring an ownership interest, to fund research and development, and to outlicense or bring the technologies to market. Mustang has partnered with top medical institutions to advance the development of CAR-T therapies.

Citius Pharmaceuticals is a late-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of first-in-class critical care products, with a pipeline of anti-infectives in oncology, adjunct cancer care, stem cell therapy and unique prescription products. Its diversified pipeline of therapies targeting unmet medical needs includes three potential first-and-only prescription treatments in their indications, and a next-generation single-donor, allogeneic, clonal and scalable stem cell therapy program.

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).

Vir Biotechnology is an immunology company focused on combining cutting-edge technologies to treat and prevent infectious diseases and other serious conditions. Vir has assembled two technology platforms that are designed to stimulate and enhance the immune system by exploiting critical observations of natural immune processes. Its current clinical development pipeline consists of product candidates targeting hepatitis B and hepatitis delta viruses, influenza A and B, human immunodeficiency virus and COVID-19. Vir has several preclinical candidates in its pipeline, including RSV/MPV and HPV.

Allogene Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biotechnology company pioneering the development of allogeneic chimeric antigen receptor T cell products for cancer and autoimmune disease. Led by a management team with significant experience in cell therapy, Allogene is developing a pipeline of “off-the-shelf” CAR T cell product candidates with the goal of delivering readily available cell therapy on-demand, more reliably, and at greater scale to more patients.

Arbutus Biopharma is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company leveraging its extensive virology expertise to identify and develop novel therapeutics with distinct mechanisms of action, which can be combined to provide a functional cure for patients with chronic hepatitis B virus. The company’s pipeline of internally developed, proprietary compounds includes an RNAi therapeutic, imdusiran and an oral PD-L1 inhibitor, AB-101. Imdusiran is currently in two Phase 2a combination clinical trials. AB-101 is currently being evaluated in a Phase 1a/1b clinical trial.

Moderna has transformed from a research-stage company advancing programs in the field of messenger RNA, or mRNA, to “an enterprise with a diverse clinical portfolio of vaccines and therapeutics across seven modalities, a broad intellectual property portfolio and integrated manufacturing facilities that allow for rapid clinical and commercial production at scale,” the company states. Most recently, Moderna’s capabilities have come together to allow the authorized use and approval of vaccines against the COVID pandemic. The company is pursuing the development of therapeutics and vaccines for infectious diseases, immuno-oncology, rare diseases, cardiovascular diseases and auto-immune diseases.

Compugen is a clinical-stage drug discovery and development company utilizing a broadly applicable, predictive computational discovery platform to identify novel drug targets and new biological pathways and develop therapeutics in the field of cancer immunotherapy. Recognizing the potential of immuno-oncology to shift the cancer treatment landscape, the company chose to focus on the discovery of new drug targets to extend the reach of cancer immunotherapies to new patient populations.

Recent news on these stocks:

May 22

After Biogen (BIIB) announced the acquisition of HI-Bio, whose lead asset felzartamab is a CD38 targeting antibody, RBC Capital said this provides additional support for a CD38-targeting approach for inflammatory disorders, which the firm calls “a positive” for IGM Biosciences, which recently pivoted both imvotamab and ‘2664 into the immunology and inflammation, or I&I, space. The firm, which argues that Biogen’s acquisition of HI-Bio and its CD38 antibody for I&I “provides another vote of confidence in non-CAR-T cell B-cell depleting approaches,” believes IGM’s I&I potential is “widely underappreciated” and it keeps an Outperform rating and $20 price target on the shares.

May 21

Citius Pharmaceuticals announced positive topline results of its pivotal Phase 3 clinical trial of Mino-Lok, a novel antibiotic lock solution designed to salvage catheters in patients with central line-associated infections – CLABSI – or catheter-related bloodstream infections – CRBSI -. The study met its primary endpoint with a statistically significant improvement in the time to failure event in patients receiving Mino-Lok compared to Control arm patients receiving clinician-directed anti-infective lock solution. The data demonstrate that Mino-Lok is well-tolerated.

Oppenheimer lowered the firm’s price target on Allogene Therapeutics to $13 from $14 and kept an Outperform rating on the shares. Allogene obtained development and commercialization oncology rights to the EU and UK for its CD19-directed allogeneic cell therapies from Servier and expects the Phase 2 ALPHA3 1st-line Consolidation Large B-cell Lymphoma trial to start in mid-2024 and Phase 1 Relapsed/Refractory Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia data by YE24, the analyst told investors in a research note.

Truist analyst Asthika Goonewardene lowered the firm’s price target on Compugen to $4 from $5 but kept a Buy rating on the shares after its Q1 results. The firm noted that it was “dismayed” to learn that Compugen’s efforts to develop COM701+COM902 in a particularly tough indication for immunotherapy – Colorectal cancer with liver metastases – is not conducive of further development, serving as a reminder that while AI is an attractive way to identify potential drug targets, actual drug development is difficult, the analyst tells investors in a research note. Truist adds that the quarter’s silver lining is that Compugen has its engine-derived collaboration to provide near-term milestones and extend the cash runway.

May 17

Moderna has won a case against Pfizer and BioNTech at the European Patent Office in its ongoing legal dispute to recoup pandemic profits, The Financial Times’ Oliver Barnes and Ian Johnston reported. The EPO’s Opposition Division ruled to uphold the validity of one of two disputed patents, according to the report. “We are pleased to announce that the European Patent Office decided to maintain the validity of Moderna’s EP949 patent, one of the key patents currently asserted against Pfizer and BioNTech in various European national courts,” Moderna told the publication, which notes that Pfizer has a nine-month window to lodge an appeal, which it said it may do.

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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.