Biotech Alert: Searches spiking for these stocks today

Stay ahead of biotech stocks seeing a surge in interest from retail and financial professional investors with this exclusive recap from The Fly

These names in the biotech sector are seeing a substantial increase in search activity today, as determined by InvestingChannel. They include: 

• OncoSec Medical (ONCS), 413% surge in interest
• TG Therapeutics (TGTX), 279% surge in interest
• Altamira Therapeutics (CYTO), 234% surge in interest
• Cocrystal Pharma (COCP), 223% surge in interest
• Eloxx Pharmaceuticals (ELOX), 143% surge in interest

Pipeline and key clinical candidates for these companies:

OncoSec Medical is focused on developing intratumoral immunotherapies to stimulate the patient’s immune system to target cancer cells and eradicate disease. OncoSec’s lead immunotherapy investigational product candidate – TAVO, tavokinogene telseplasmid – enables the intratumoral delivery of DNA-based interleukin-12, a naturally occurring protein with immune-stimulating functions. OncoSec’s clinical pipeline is utilizing TAVO as a potential treatment for multiple cancer indications either as a monotherapy or in combination with checkpoint inhibitors; with the latter potentially enabling OncoSec to address a great unmet medical need in oncology: anti-PD-1 non-responders.

TG Therapeutics is focused on the acquisition, development and commercialization of novel treatments for B-cell diseases. In addition to a research pipeline including several investigational medicines, TG has received approval from the FDA for Briumvi, for the treatment of adult patients with relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis, to include clinically isolated syndrome, relapsing-remitting disease, and active secondary progressive disease.

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.

Cocrystal Pharma is a clinical-stage biotechnology company discovering and developing novel antiviral therapeutics that target the replication process of influenza viruses, coronaviruses (including SARS-CoV-2), hepatitis C viruses and noroviruses.

Eloxx Pharmaceuticals’ lead investigational product candidate, ELX-02, is a small molecule drug candidate designed to restore production of full-length functional proteins. It is in clinical development, focusing on cystic fibrosis. The FDA has granted Fast Track designation for ELX-02 for the treatment of CF patients with nonsense mutations. In addition, ELX-02 has also been granted Orphan Drug Designation for the treatment of CF patients with nonsense mutations by the FDA and orphan medicinal product designation by the European Commission.

Recent news on these stocks:

April 12

Altamira Therapeutics announced the publication of the detailed results from its TRAVERS Phase 2 trial with AM-125 in surgery-induced acute vestibular syndrome. The peer-reviewed article was published in Otology & Neurotology, one of the leading journals in scientific and clinical inner ear research. The randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled TRAVERS trial enrolled a total of 124 patients, at more than ten study sites across Europe, who suffered from AVS following surgery for the removal of a tumor.

April 10

OncoSec Medical announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement for the purchase and sale of an aggregate of 1,582,932 shares of its common stock, or common stock equivalents in lieu thereof, at a purchase price of $1.25 per share, or common stock equivalent in lieu thereof, in a registered direct offering priced at-the-market under Nasdaq rules. The company has also agreed to issue in a concurrent private placement unregistered warrants to purchase up to an aggregate of 1,582,932 shares of common stock. The warrants will have an exercise price of $1.12 per share, are immediately exercisable upon issuance, and will expire five and one-half years from the date of issuance. The gross proceeds to the company from the offering are expected to be approximately $2M, before deducting the placement agent’s fees and other offering expenses payable by the company. The company intends to use the net proceeds from this offering as working capital for general corporate purposes. H.C. Wainwright is acting as the exclusive placement agent for the offering.

BofA questioned the relevance of Briumvi tracking to a Q1 beat, and believes a TG Therapeutics move is "overdone." BofA attributed the strength in TG Therapeutics shares to scripts and sales data reported on Symphony Health Tracker that points to a March jump in sales of Briumvi compared to February, but the firm questions the reliability of the WAC AMT data point and questions the relevance as it contends that sales of about $4.5M "is still a small number" versus the about $1.7B reported by Roche (RHHBY) for Ocrevus in Q4. While acknowledging that investors are likely looking for ways to gauge the strength of the Briumvi launch, the firm views the stock reaction to the Symphony data as "overdone" and keeps an Underperform rating and $6 price target on TG Therapeutics shares.

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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.

Keywords: biotech, biotech sector, biotech alert, investingchannel, XBI, SPDR S&P Biotech ETF