5 Top Weekly NASDAQ Biotech and Pharma Stocks: Abeona Rises 66 Percent

The NASDAQ Biotechnology Index (INDEXNASDAQ:NBI) had another lackluster week, opening last Tuesday (September 3) after the long weekend at 3,219.88 points before settling at 3,229.42 points as of 1:32 p.m. EDT on Friday (September 6).

Over the short trading week, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) awarded Magenta Therapeutics (NASDAQ:MGTA) Regenerative Medicine Advance Therapy designation on Wednesday (September 4) for its cell therapy to treat inherited metabolic disorders.

The company’s treatment, MGTA-456, is geared at making sure these diseases don’t progress by providing stem cells that can reproduce a patient’s immune system.

On that note, the five top biotech and pharma stocks last week were as follows:

• Abeona Therapeutics (NASDAQ:ABEO)
• Marinus Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:MRNS)
• Ardelyx (NASDAQ:ARDX)
• Emmaus Life Sciences (NASDAQ:EMMA)
• Neon Therapeutics (NASDAQ:NTGN)

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

Abeona Therapeutics

Abeona Therapeutics’ area of focus is creating gene and cell therapies for a range of serious diseases. It has a clinical program for EB-101, a gene cell therapy to treat recessive dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa. Other programs include ABO-102 and ABO-101, which are gene therapies to treat a range of Sanfilippo syndromes.

On Tuesday, the company announced it has retained Jeffries as its financial advisor. The firm will help Abeona plan out how it will advance its missions, including clinical and pre-clinical programs.

Shares of Abeona were up 65.93 percent last week to US$2.92 as of 1:53 p.m. EDT on Friday.

Marinus Pharmaceuticals

Marinus Pharmaceuticals is currently working on its clinical-stage drug candidate to treat conditions such as epilepsy, anxiety and depression.

Its portfolio includes therapies to treat these conditions for patients who have not responded to other medication.

Marinus had no news last week that could explain its share price increase. Over the four day trading period, the company’s share price rose 49.14 percent to US$1.71 as of 2:08 p.m. EDT on Friday.

Ardelyx

Ardelyx currently has a Phase 3 clinical program for its drug tenapanor, which is formulated to treat hyperphosphatemia in patients with chronic kidney disease. The company has also successfully finished a Phase 3 program of the same drug to treat irritable bowel syndrome with constipation; it has now been submitted to the FDA for a new drug application for the condition. The application has been given a target action date of September 12.

The company announced on Tuesday positive results from its Amplify Phase 3 study of tenapanor in chronic kidney disease patients. According to the release, the study successfully reached its primary and secondary endpoints.

Shares of Ardelyx rose 39.6 percent last week to US$4.98 as of 2:21 p.m. EDT on Friday.

Emmaus Life Sciences

Emmaus Life Sciences is a company focused on developing treatments for rare or orphan diseases. In particular, the company’s lead product, Endari, has been commercialized to treat sickle cell disease.

On Tuesday, Emmaus was granted a patent from the European Patent Office to treat diverticulosis. This patent falls in line with the company’s other patents in regions such as the US, Japan, Australia, Mexico, China, Indonesia, South Korea and Russia. Emmaus has patents pending in other countries, including Brazil and India.

Shares of Emmaus increased 29.66 percent last week to hit US$4.20 as of 2:24 p.m. EDT on Friday.

Neon Therapeutics

Closing out the list is Neon Therapeutics, a company working on cancer treatments that direct the immune system towards neoantigens.

The company’s neoantigen platform includes vaccines and T cell therapies. Its candidate NEO-PV-01 aims to treat metastatic melanoma, non-small cell lung cancer and bladder cancer. Similarly, NEO-PTC-101 aims to target solid tumors while NEO-SV-01 is geared towards breast cancer.

Neon Therapeutics announced on Thursday (September 5) a publication in the journal Immunity, noting a breakthrough in predicting what neoantigens will appear in MHC class II molecules in tumors.

Shares of Neon Therapeutics rose by 28.74 percent last week to reach US$3.20 as of 2:47 p.m. EDT on Friday.

Data for 5 Top NASDAQ Biotech and Pharma Stocks articles is retrieved each Friday at 1:00 p.m. EDT using TradingView’s stock screener. Only companies with a market capitalization greater than US$50 million and lower than US$500 million prior to the week’s gains are included. Companies within the biotechnology and pharmaceutical sectors are considered.

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