These names in the biotech sector are seeing a substantial increase in search activity today, as determined by InvestingChannel. They include:
- Avrobio (AVRO), 7,053% surge in interest
- Hoth Therapeutics (HOTH), 1,540% surge in interest
- Galectin Therapeutics (GALT), 1,051% surge in interest
- Celyad (CYAD), 849% surge in interest
- Autolus Therapeutics (AUTL), 800% surge in interest
Pipeline and key clinical candidates for these companies:
Avrobio targets the root cause of genetic disease by introducing a functional copy of the affected gene into the patient’s own hematopoietic stem cells, with the goal of durably expressing the therapeutic protein throughout the body, including the central nervous system. The company’s pipeline includes clinical programs for Gaucher disease and cystinosis, as well as preclinical programs for Hunter syndrome and Pompe disease.
Hoth Therapeutics refers to itself as "a catalyst in early-stage pharmaceutical research and development, elevating drugs from the bench to pre-clinical and clinical testing." Hoth "collaborates and partners with a team of scientists, clinicians, and key opinion leaders to seek out and investigate therapeutics that hold immense potential to create breakthroughs and diversify treatment options," the company states.
Galectin Therapeutics’ lead drug belapectin, formerly known as GR-MD-02, is a carbohydrate-based drug that inhibits the galectin-3 protein which is directly involved in multiple inflammatory, fibrotic, and malignant diseases. The lead development program is in non-alcoholic steatohepatitis, or NASH, with cirrhosis, and belapectin has Fast Track designation by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for NASH with advanced fibrosis. Additional development programs are in treatment of combination immunotherapy for advanced melanoma and other malignancies.
Celyad Oncology is focused on the discovery and development of chimeric antigen receptor T cell, or CAR T, therapies for cancer. The company is developing a pipeline of allogeneic, or off-the-shelf, and autologous, or personalized, CAR T cell therapy candidates for the treatment of both hematological malignancies and solid tumors.
Autolus is developing next-generation, programmed T cell therapies for the treatment of cancer. Autolus has a pipeline of product candidates in development for the treatment of hematological malignancies and solid tumors. Those include, Obe-cel, a CD19 CAR T cell investigational therapy designed to overcome the limitations in clinical activity and safety compared to current CD19 CAR T cell therapies; AUTO1/22, a novel dual targeting CAR T cell-based therapy candidate based on obe-cel; and AUTO4, a programmed T cell product candidate in clinical development for T cell lymphoma.
Recent news on these stocks:
February 9
Celyad announced the publication of the data from the haematological arm of the THINK study which evaluated CYAD-01 in relapsed or refractory acute myeloid leukaemia, or AML, and myelodysplastic syndromes, or MDS, or multiple myeloma, or MM, patients. The findings were published in the journal The Lancet Haematology. CYAD-01 is the company’s first autologous CAR T-cell candidate, based on the natural killer receptor NKG2D, assessed clinically. The completed THINK study was an open-label, dose-escalation Phase 1 study for patients with r/r AML, MDS, or MM, after at least one previous line of therapy. Patients were recruited from five hospitals in the USA and Belgium. The Lancet Haematology publication includes data from the 16 patients treated with CYAD-01 in the dose escalation segment of the study, which evaluated three dose levels of CYAD-01 using a schedule of three infusions at two-week intervals in the absence of any preconditioning chemotherapy. Overall, CYAD-01 showed favorable safety data with signs of clinical activity with three of the 12 evaluable AML/MDS patients presenting an objective response. Importantly, the THINK study is one of the first completed dose-escalation CAR T-cell studies in r/r AML/MDS. Unlike the majority of the studies evaluating CAR T-cell therapy candidates, the THINK study evaluated multiple infusions of CYAD-01 as a stand-alone product candidate. This feature is of particular interest considering the median older age and the poorer general condition of patients with r/r AML or MDS at diagnosis. Although the need to improve the anti-tumour activity is warranted, these data in a difficult-to-treat patient population potentially provide the proof-of-concept of targeting NKG2D ligands by a CAR T-cell product candidate, and support the further development of NKG2D-based CAR T-cell therapies.
February 8
Avrobio is said to be working with bankers to explore a potential sale after being approached by Novartis (NVS) about a takeover, a source told Street Insider. The price offered is "said to be more than quadruple the current market price," the source claimed, according to the blog report.
Hoth Therapeutics announced proof-of-concept data generated using cognitive and behavioral assessments in an Alzheimer’s disease mouse model, supporting the therapeutic cognitive potential of HT-ALZ after chronic oral dosing of 20mg/kg and 40mg/kg of HT-ALZ The research was conducted as part of the company’s Sponsored Research Agreement with Washington University in St. Louis. HT-ALZ is a therapeutic in development under the 505 pathway for the treatment of dementia related to Alzheimer’s disease, or AD. Hoth reports that the longer treatment before beginning of testing is improving performance of more mice in the water maze and appears to have a positive effect on anxiety-like behavior in the elevated plus maze. The groups of mice treated with the higher doses, 20mg/kg and 40mg/kg of HT-ALZ, appear to have the most benefit, with the 20mg group already showing significant improvement in spatial memory in the water maze. The elevated plus maze test is one of the most widely used tests for measuring anxiety-like behavior. The test is based on the natural aversion of mice for open and elevated areas, as well as on their natural spontaneous exploratory behavior in novel environments.
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 15-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.
Published first on TheFly
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