5 Top Weekly NASDAQ Biotech Stocks: Index Rebounds

The NASDAQ Biotechnology Index (INDEXNASDAQ:NBI) was on a steady increase last week, rising from 3,400.32 points on Monday (March 25) to reach 3,506.17 points as of 1:28 p.m. EST on Friday (March 29), representing a 3.14 percent bump over the five-day trading period.

On Thursday (March 28), pharmaceutical giant Tricida (NASDAQ:TCDA) announced positive data from its long-term clinical trial, called TRCA-301E, that tested patients with chronic kidney disease and metabolic acidosis.

Shares of the company soared by more than 57 percent over Thursday’s trading session to US$37.80.

In terms of small- to mid-cap stocks, a number of companies were on the rise last week, including:

• Aveo Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:AVEO)
• Curis (NASDAQ:CRIS)
• Phasebio Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:PHAS)
• Arcturus Therapeutics (NASDAQ:ARCT)
• Krystal Biotech (NASDAQ:KRYS)

Here’s a closer look at those companies and what may have moved their share prices.

Aveo Pharmaceuticals

Aveo Pharmaceuticals is a company focused on developing cancer treatments and commercializing its lead drug candidate, tivozanib, in North America. The drug is geared towards treating advanced or metastatic renal cell carcinoma.

On Friday, Zacks issued a report revealing that the company will be filing a new drug application with the US Food and Drug Administration for Fotivda, the brand name of tivozanib, to treat advanced renal cell carcinoma.

Shares of Aveo Pharmaceuticals were up 43.32 percent last week to close at US$0.82 on Friday.

Curis

Curis is a company that is also working to develop cancer therapeutics. The company’s lead drug, fimepinostat, is currently undergoing clinical trials in patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma.

Curis started the week offon Monday by announcing that it has entered into an agreement to sell royalty revenues of the drug Erivedge to Oberland Capital Management in an amount up to US$135.7 million.

Meanwhile, on Tuesday (March 26),Curis released its Q4 and 2018 year-end financial results, noting a net loss of US$32.6 million as compared to a net loss of US$53.3 million from the previous year.

Shares of Curis were up 39.86 percent over the five-day trading period to close at US$1.99 on Friday.

Phasebio Pharmaceuticals

Phasebio Pharmaceuticals is a company that develops treatments for orphan diseases.

The company’s lead drug candidate is called PB2452, which is a novel reversal agent for the antiplatelet drug ticagrelor. Phasebio Pharmaceuticals intends to treat patients on ticagrelor who are either undergoing a “major” bleeding episode or who need urgent surgery.

On Tuesday,Phasebio released its Q4 and full-year 2018 financial results, highlights of which include that the company has started its Phase 2b trial of PB1046 to treat patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension.

Over last week’s trading period, shares of Phasebio bumped up 35.86 in value to close the week at US$9.51.

Arcturus Therapeutics

Arcturus Therapeutics is developing RNA therapeutics to treat diseases that have high unmet needs. The ailments the company is focusing on include Hepatitis B, non-alcoholic steatohepatitis, cystic fibrosis and vaccines.

Shares of Arcturus Therapeutics were up 33.72 last week to close Friday at US$6.83. However, the company didn’t have any news last week that could relate to its price hike.

Krystal Biotech

Krystal Biotech is a gene therapy company working on treating dermatological diseases.

The company announced on Friday that the European Medicines Agency awarded it a PRIority MEdicines (PRIME) scheme for its KB103 treatment for dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa.

As a result, the company’s stock was up 30.54 percent last week to close at US$32.90 on Friday.

Data for the 5 Top NASDAQ Biotech Stocks articles is retrieved each Friday at 1:00 p.m. EST using TradingView’s Stock Screener. 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.

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

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

**This article is updated each week. Please scroll to the top for the most recent information**

5 Top Weekly NASDAQ Biotech Stocks: Phasebio Climbs 73 Percent

By Jocelyn Aspa, March 24, 2019

The NASDAQ Biotechnology Index (INDEXNASDAQ:NBI) had a tumultuous week last week, dipping from 3,592.73 points on Monday’s (March 18) open to 3,434.82 points as of Friday (March 22) at 1:10 p.m. EST.

One of the top stories of the week was Sage Therapeutics (NASDAQ:SAGE)receiving the first-ever US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for its postpartum depression treatment, Zulresso. The drug will be available as an IV injection to treat adult women living with postpartum depression.

Sage Therapeutics said Zulresso will be available towards the end of June once scheduling by the US Drug Enforcement Administration has been completed, which should occur within 90 days of the approval.

On that note, a number of small- to mid-cap life-science-related stocks were on the rise last week, including:

• PhaseBio Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:PHAS)
• Iterum Therapeutics (NASDAQ:ITRM)
• Catalyst Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:CPRX)
• Aravive (NASDAQ:ARAV)
• ConforMIS (NASDAQ:CFMS)

Here’s a closer look at those companies and what may have moved their share prices during the week.

PhaseBio Pharmaceuticals

First is PhaseBio Pharmaceuticals, which is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company working on developing and commercializing novel therapies for orphan diseases. The company’s lead product candidate is PB2452, which is a reversal agent for the antiplatelet drug ticagrelor. PhaseBio’s second drug candidate is PB1046, which is a protein treatment for pulmonary arterial hypertension.

On Sunday (March 17),the company revealed that the New England Journal of Medicine published results from its Phase 1 clinical trial of PB2452. The trial evaluated the safety, efficacy and pharmacokinetics of IV PB2452 as a ticagrelor reversal agent in healthy people. It showed that the drug reversed the antiplatelet effects of ticagrelor without any “serious adverse events.”

Shares of PhaseBio Pharmaceuticals were up 72.85 percent last week to US$6.49 as of 2 p.m. EST on Friday.

Iterum Therapeutics

Second on the list is Iterum Therapeutics, which is a company focused on developing anti-infectives to deal with multi-drug-resistant pathogens. The company is working on advancing its first compound, sulopenem, in a Phase 3 clinical trial with oral and IV forms.

Thecompany announced on Tuesday (March 19), that it received qualified infectious disease product approval from the FDA for sulopenem in four indications as well as fast-track designation.

Shares of Iterum Therapeutics rose 34.13 percent to reach US$7.27 as of 2:17 p.m. EST on Friday.

Catalyst Pharmaceuticals

Middle of the pack is Catalyst Pharmaceuticals, which is focused on helping patients with rare and ultra-rare diseases including Lambert-Eaton myasthenic syndrome (LEMS), congenital myasthenic syndromes, MuSK antibody positive myasthenia gravis (MuSK-MG) and spinal muscular atrophy type 3 (SMA3).

Catalyst also has a new-drug application for firdapse, which is designed to treat LEMS and has officially been approved by the FDA.

Thecompany released its Q4 and year-end financial results on Monday, which highlighted Catalyst enrolling the first patient in a SMA3 proof-of-concept trial in addition to the first patient being enrolled in a MuSK-MG Phase 3 trial.

As a result, it’s no surprise that the company’s shares were on the move last week, up 33.89 percent to US$3.98 as of 2:44 p.m. EST on Friday.

Aravive

Next is Aravive, which is a company working to develop therapies that focus on vital survival pathways for cancer. The company’s lead product, AVB-500, is designed to treat women with ovarian cancer. Readouts of the safety, pharmacodynamic and pharmacokineticdata for the Phase 1b portion are expected in Q3 2019.

Aravive announced on Tuesday that its lead candidate from a non-clinical ovarian cancer study was highlighted in a presentation at the Society of Gynecologic Oncology’s 50th Annual Meeting on Women’s Cancer, which took place in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Last week, shares of Aravive increased 33.72 percent to hit US$8.22 as of 2:52 p.m. EST on Friday.

ConforMIS

Rounding out our list is ConforMIS, a company that develops knee and hip replacements customized to each patient.

The company’s three main products include the iTotal, which is a custom-made cruciate-retaining and posterior-stabilizing knee replacement; the iUni and iDuo, which are patient-specific knee-replacement options; and the iJig instrumentation, which is a3D-printed surgical instrumentation specific to each patient.

ConforMIS didn’t have any news last week that could relate to its increase in share price. Over the five-day trading period, the company’s stock was up 28.65 percent to US$2.42 as of 2:58 p.m. EST on Friday.

Data for the 5 Top NASDAQ Biotech Stocks articles is retrieved each Friday at 1:00 p.m. EST using TradingView‘s stock screener. 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.

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

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