5 Top Weekly NASDAQ Biotech Stocks: Eleven Biotherapeutics Up 45 Percent

Last week, the NASDAQ Biotechnology Index (INDEXNASDAQ:NBI) was down by 0.1 percent as of 2:30 p.m. EST on Friday (April 27).

Overall, companies on the index saw decent returns, with the top gainers making up a well-rounded list of pharmaceutical and biotech stocks.

Most companies on the list last week didn’t have any major news over the trading period that would explain their share price increases.

With that in mind, the five biotech stocks on the NASDAQ that increased the most last week were:

• Eleven Biotherapeutics (NASDAQ:EBIO)
• EyePoint Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:EYPT)
• Avid Bioservices (NASDAQ:CDMO)
• Cerecor (NASDAQ:CERC)
• Celldex (NASDAQ:CLDX)

Here’s a closer look at those companies.

Eleven Biotherapeutics

Eleven Biotherapeutics is first on our weekly NASDAQ biotech stocks list. The company, which focuses on oncology, is developing cancerous tumor-targeting antibody fragments that are genetically fused to cytotoxic protein payloads called targeted protein therapeutics.

Although the company didn’t have any news last week, on April 12 it shared preclinical data ahead of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) annual meeting. The first presentation was for VB6-845d, and the second was for engineering and characterization of anti-PSMA humabody proteins.

In response to the presentation, on April 18 HC Wainwright’sp Swayampakula Ramakanth issued a note to investors maintaining a “buy” rating for the company with a $2 price target, citing the AACR highlight in a note to investors.

Last week, shares of Eleven increased 45 percent to reach $2.16 as of 1:00 p.m. EST.

EyePoint Pharmaceuticals

Next is EyePoint Pharmaceuticals, whose share price had increased 41.14 percent to reach $2.37 as of 1:00 p.m. EST Friday.

EyePoint is the rebrand of pSivida (NASDAQ:PSDV) following its acquisition of Icon Bioscience, which was announced at the end of March. As the company’s name suggests, EyePoint works on developing and commercializing ophthalmic products. So far, the company has developed three of only four US Food and Drug Administration-approved treatments for back-of-the-eye diseases.

Much like the company above, EyePoint didn’t have any news over last week’s trading period that would explain its share price increase. However, on April 18, EyePoint Pharmaceuticals shared two abstracts for presentations at the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology 2018 meeting, which is set to take place at the end of April.

One focuses on the safety and efficacy of intravitreal in treating non-infectious posterior segment uveitis — a chronic inflammatory disease affecting the posterior of the eye. The other looks at recurrences of the disease in connection with EyePoint’s Phase 3 study of fluocinolone acetonide insert.

Avid Bioservices

Last week Avid Bioservices’ share price had increased 18.9 percent to reach $4.42 as of 1:00 p.m. EST on Friday, making it the middle company on our top weekly NASDAQ biotech stocks list.

Avid develops and manufactures biopharmaceuticals while offering its services to other companies. On Tuesday (April 24), Avid provided an update on its ongoing expansion development capabilities and laboratory infrastructure. The company has begun expanding its laboratory space within its CDMO campus in California. This will help the company increase new customer acquisition efforts while supporting current agreements.

Prior to that, Avid’s most recent news came on March 22, when the company announced that it had won six leadership awards from the 2018 Contract Manufacturing Organization.

Cerecor

Cerecor is trying to create medicine for some of the global top sources of time lost to disabilities, such as mental and behavioral disorders, focusing on the CNS. Over last week’s trading period, shares of Cerecor had increased by 44.81 percent to reach $3.99 as of 3:00 p.m. EST on Friday.

Though Cerecor hasn’t released much company news over the last several weeks, it released its 2017 financial report on April 2, reporting a profit of $25.81 million, largely the result of a $25-million sale from its lead candidate, CERC-501, to Janssen Pharmaceuticals in August 2017.

“We are entering 2018 with strong momentum and will work to continue our growth as we continue to execute on key business objectives,” Peter Greanleaf, CEO of Cerecor, said in a press release. “Such as the recent acquisition of the marketed pediatric portfolio from Avadel Pharmaceuticals and entering our lead compound, CERC-301, into a Phase I safety study for Neurogenic Orthostatic Hypotension.

Celldex

Last on our five top weekly NASDAQ biotech stocks list is Celldex, which is developing therapeutics to address unmet needs for devastating diseases. Some of the drug candidates in Celldex’s pipeline include indications for multiple solid tumors, head and neck squamous cell cancer, malignant melanoma and ovarian cancer.

The company’s share price increased 15.89 percent last week to reach $0.75 as of 1:00 p.m. EST. Although Celldex didn’t have any news over last week’s trading period, it did release positive data during its presentation at the AACR annual meeting on April 20.

“Of particular interest is the potential correlation of clinical benefit with those patients who previously were treated with PD-1 blockade therapy, suggesting SBRT and CDX-301 may be able to reboot the immune system for an effective anti-tumor response,” said Tibor Keler, executive vice president and chief scientific officer of Celldex Therapeutics.

Don’t forget to follow us at @INN_LifeScience for real-time updates!

Data for 5 Top NASDAQ Biotech Stocks articles is retrieved each Friday at 10:00 a.m. PST using The Globe and Mail’s market data filter. Only companies with a market capitalization greater than $50 million and lower than $500 million prior to the week’s gains are included. Companies within the biotechnology and pharmaceutical sectors are considered.

Securities Disclosure: I, Gabrielle Lakusta, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.

***This article is updated weekly. Scroll to the top for the most recent information***

5 Top Weekly NASDAQ Biotech Stocks: vTv Increases 163 Percent

By Gabrielle Lakusta, April 22, 2018

Last week, the NASDAQ Biotechnology Index (INDEXNASDAQ:NBI) decreased by 1.64 percent, moving from 3,221.65 to 3,332.37 as of 2:30 p.m. EST on Friday (April 20).

Overall, companies on the index saw decent returns and make up a well-rounded list of pharmaceutical and biotech stocks for investors. News which may have initiated the companies’ share price was everything from conference announcements to negative clinical trial results.

With that in mind, the five top biotech stocks on the NASDAQ that increased the most last week include:

• vTv Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VTVT)
• Teligent (NASDAQ:TLGT)
• EyePoint Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:EYPT)
• Catalyst Biosciences (NASDAQ:CBIO)
• Eleven Biotherapeutics (NASDAQ:EBIO)

Here’s a closer look at the companies to see what may have moved their share prices last week.

vTv Therapeutics

First on our weekly NASDAQ biotech stocks list is vTv Therapeutics with a dramatic 163.75 percent increase over the last week, bringing its share price to $2.15 as of 2:43 p.m. EST on Friday. This clinical-stage pharmaceutical company has a range of pre-clinical small molecule drug candidates for central nervous system disorders and cancer, among others.

While the company didn’t have any news during last week’s trading period, it announced the week prior on April 9 top-line Phase 3 clinical results for its STEADFAST trial, which explained the investigational azeliragon for Alzheimer’s disease didn’t meet its co-primary endpoints. In turn, the company is discontinuing all studies involving the drug, while continuing to analyze the data from the trial.

Teligent

Teligent is a leading generic pharmaceutical company and second on our weekly NASDAQ biotech stock list.

With 28 abbreviated new drug applications the company projects the applications represent a total addressable market of $2 billion. Currently the company has a portfolio of prescription topical medicines and a growing amount of hospital-based injectable products.

After a dip in share price to $2.68 at the beginning of April, the company’s share price gained more momentum with a 26.86 percent increase last week to $3.57 as of 2:48 p.m. EST on Friday. The news that may have triggered this increase was likely the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for ciclopirox shampoo—adding the company’s FDA approval to three for the year so far. The generic antifungal product was originally developed by Medicis (NYSE:MRX) back in 2003.

“We now have twenty-eight topical generic pharmaceutical products in the US portfolio, in addition to our four US injectable products,” Teligent CEO Jason Grenfell-Gardner said in the press release.

EyePoint Pharmaceuticals

EyePoint is the rebrand of pSivida (NASDAQ:PSDV) following the acquisition of Icon Bioscience, which was announced at the end of March. As the company’s name suggests, EyePoint works on developing and commercializing ophthalmic products. So far, the company has developed three of only four US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved treatments for back-of-the-eye diseases.

The share price of EyePoint increased 19.86 percent to $1.72 as of 1 p.m. EST Friday, landing the company middle on our top NASDAQ biotech stocks list.

On Wednesday (April 18), EyePoint Pharmaceuticals shared two abstracts for presentations at the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology 2018 meeting, taking place at the end of April. One will be discussing safety and efficacy of intravitreal, treating non-infectious posterior segment uveitis—a chronic inflammatory disease affecting the posterior segment of the eye. The other will be discussing the recurrences of the disease in connection with EyePoint’s Phase 3 study of fluocinolone acetonide insert.

Catalyst Biosciences

Catalyst has a focus on developing medicines for serious conditions, one of which is a pipeline are for hemostasis, to manage blot clots for the rare blood disorder.

Although the company didn’t have any news last week, the company received approval from the Korean Ministry of Food and Drug Safety on April 12 for the sixth cohort to the Phase 1 clinical trial of CB 2679d for individuals with severe hemophilia B. It was approved based on the positive data from the Cohort 5 trial.

“The addition of this sixth cohort will allow us to build on the progressive increase in Factor IX activity levels, from severe to mild hemophilia, that we observed after six daily subcutaneous doses in Cohort 5 of this Phase 1/2 trial,” Nassim Usman, CEO of Catalyst said.

Shares of Catalyst increased 14.22 percent last week to $27.66 as of 2:59 p.m. EST on Friday.

Eleven Biotherapeutics

Last on our weekly 5 top NASDAQ biotech stocks list is a company that hasn’t been on the list in close to two years–Eleven Biotherapeutics. The company focuses on biologics oncology is developing cancerous tumor targeting antibody fragments genetically fused to cytotoxic protein payloads called targeted protein therapeutics (TPTs).

News that may have triggered a share price increase for Eleven could have been the preclinical data presented at the American Association for Cancer Research Annual (AACR) Meeting on April 16 and 18. The first presentation was for VB6-845d, tumor cell killing elicits biologic features of immunogenic cell death, and the second for engineering and characterization of anti-PSMA humabody proteins. Then, on April 18 H.C. Wainwright Swayampakula Ramakanth issued a note to investors maintaining a “buy” rating for the company with a $2 price target.

Over the past trading week Eleven’s share price increased 10.96 percent to $1.73 as of 3:00 p.m. EST.

Don’t forget to follow us at @INN_LifeScience for real-time updates!

Data for 5 Top NASDAQ Biotech Stocks articles is retrieved each Friday at 10:00 a.m. PST using The Globe and Mail’s market data filter. Only companies with a market capitalization greater than $50 million and lower than $500 million prior to the week’s gains are included. Companies within the biotechnology and pharmaceutical sectors are considered.

Securities Disclosure: I, Gabrielle Lakusta, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.