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: 

• Leap Therapeutics (LPTX), 195% surge in interest
• BridgeBio Pharma (BBIO), 154% surge in interest
• Emergent Biosolutions (EBS), 118% surge in interest
• Madrigal Pharmaceuticals (MDGL), 93% surge in interest
• Marker Therapeutics (MRKR), 92% surge in interest

Pipeline and key clinical candidates for these companies:

Leap Therapeutics is focused on developing targeted and immuno-oncology therapeutics. Leap’s most advanced clinical candidate, DKN-01, is a humanized monoclonal antibody targeting the Dickkopf-1 protein. DKN-01 is being developed in patients with esophagogastric, gynecologic, and colorectal cancers. Leap has entered into a strategic collaboration with BeiGene (BGNE) for the rights to develop DKN-01 in Asia excluding Japan, Australia, and New Zealand.

BridgeBio Pharma is a commercial-stage biopharmaceutical company founded to discover, create, test and deliver transformative medicines to treat patients who suffer from genetic diseases and cancers with clear genetic drivers. BridgeBio’s pipeline of development programs ranges from early science to advanced clinical trials, the company has stated.

Emergent provides solutions for complex and urgent public health threats through a portfolio of vaccines and therapeutics that the company develops and manufactures for governments and consumers. Emergent also offers a range of integrated contract development and manufacturing services for pharmaceutical and biotechnology customers.

Madrigal Pharmaceuticals is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company pursuing novel therapeutics for nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, or NASH, a liver disease with high unmet medical need. Madrigal’s lead candidate, resmetirom, is a once daily, oral, thyroid hormone receptor-beta selective agonist designed to target key underlying causes of NASH in the liver.

Marker Therapeutics is a clinical-stage immuno-oncology company specializing in the development of next-generation T cell-based immunotherapies for the treatment of hematological malignancies and solid tumor indications. “Because Marker does not genetically engineer its T cell therapies, we believe that our product candidates will be easier and less expensive to manufacture, with reduced toxicities, compared to current engineered CAR-T and TCR-based approaches, and may provide patients with meaningful clinical benefit. As a result, Marker believes its portfolio of T cell therapies has a compelling product profile, as compared to current gene-modified CAR-T and TCR-based therapies,” the company says.

Recent news on these stocks:

June 23

Raymond James lowered the firm’s price target on Leap Therapeutics to $17 from $20 and kept an Outperform rating on the shares following the reverse stock split and approval of preferred stock conversion incurred during the acquisition of Flame Biosciences. Raymond James thinks risk/reward setup is favorable with several catalysts in the next 12 months and sufficient cash to fund operations into mid-2025, the analyst told investors in a research note.

June 20

BridgeBio Pharma presented updated six month results from Cohort 5 in PROPEL2, a Phase 2 trial of the investigational therapy infigratinib in children with achondroplasia, demonstrating a continued potentially best-in-class efficacy and safety profile at the Endocrine Society, ENDO, 2023 Annual Conference. Infigratinib is an oral small molecule designed to inhibit FGFR3 and target achondroplasia at its source. The updated six month results for 12 patients in Cohort 5 include: The mean increase from baseline in AHV is significant and robust at +3.38 cm/year; 83% of the children were responders, based on the criteria defined for the study with a change from baseline AHV of at least 25%, with a mean of +4.08 cm/year; Preliminary data suggests the Cohort 5 dose level may be having a positive effect on the upper and lower body segment ratio; Changes in linear growth are supported by an increase in collagen X marker, an independent, real-time biomarker of bone growth, supporting a true biologic effect from infigratinib; This increase in growth translated into an increase in z-score of +0.29 standard deviation scores compared to achondroplasia growth charts; Treatment has been well tolerated, with no serious adverse events, or treatment emergent AEs that led to treatment discontinuation. In addition to the Cohort 5 data being shared, the Phase 2 data from the previous four cohorts was also discussed during the presentation. Treatment in all cohorts has been well tolerated with no SAEs or any AEs requiring treatment discontinuation. The AEs most frequently reported are considered common conditions in the pediatric population, particularly in children with achondroplasia. The Phase 2 trial was designed to identify the dose of infigratinib that will be explored in the Phase 3 trial. Based on the positive results to date, BridgeBio is underway in enrolling children in the run-in for a Phase 3 trial.

Leap Therapeutics announced that it will effect a 10-for-1 reverse stock split of its issued and outstanding common stock, effective on June 20. Leap expects its common stock to begin trading on a split-adjusted basis on the Nasdaq Capital Market as of the commencement of trading on June 21.

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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.