5 Top NASDAQ Biotech Stocks: Atossa Genetics and BioTelemetry Top Gainers

Unable to maintain its position above 3,000 points, last week the NASDAQ Biotechnology index (INDEXNASDAQ:NBI) fell 9 percent, ending the week at 210.58 points lower than the week before. That said, NBI closed on Friday at 2,805.35 points, a 2.6 percent drop for the day.  
Still, not all companies saw declines over the week. While no company posted gains to echo Eleven Therapeutics from the previous week’s session, here is a look at the top five companies for the sector. Last week’s gainers included:

• Atossa Genetics (NASDAQ:ATOS)
• BioTelemetry (NASDAQ:BEAT)
• StemCells (NASDAQ:STEM)
• Biostage (NASDAQ:BSTG)
• ARCA biopharma (NASDAQ:ABIO)

Here’s a look at how these five companies did this week.

Atossa Genetics

Coming in as the week’s top gainer, Atossa Genetics may have closed lower on Friday, but still managed to be the week’s top gainer in the sector, posting a 43.40 percent gain over five days. The company has increased almost 19 percent year-to-date. Last week, Atossa was up 43.40 percent last week.
Focused on breast health, Atossa Genetics hasn’t released any recent news since the end of March. Prior to that, the company announced that it would be opening its first phase 2 clinical trial of intraductal fulvestrant administration in women with ductal carcinoma in situ or breast cancer.
The company ended the week at $0.38.

BioTelemetry

Formerly known as CardioNet, BioTelemetry is a leading wireless medical technology company focused on delivering information to improve quality of life and reduce costs of care. BioTelemetry provides cardiac monitoring services, original equipment manufacturing and has a primary focus on cardiac monitoring devices and centralized cardiac core laboratory services.
Last week, the company announced better-than-expected Q1 results, posting the highest quarterly revenue in its history of $48.6 million. This marked a 12 percent increase over the previous year.
Following the news, BioTelemetry rallied, setting a new 100-day high. Over the week, the company gained 32.85 percent.

StemCells

Currently in the clinical development phase with its proprietary HuCNS-Sc – purified human neural stem cells – to treat diseases of the central nervous systems. The company recently presented data from its ongoing Phase II Pathway™ Study of HuCNS-SC cells for the treatment of chronic cervical spinal cord injuries. The six-month results from Cohort I, indicated that muscle strength had improved in five of the six patients with four of these five patients also demonstrating improved performance on functional tasks assessing dexterity and fine motor skills. StemCells anticipates releasing detailed final 12-month results on the first open-label cohort later in Q2.
Last week, StemCells was up 26.64 percent without any material news. Year-to-date, the company has posted a loss of 19.42 percent.

Biostage

Focused on regenerative medicine, Biostage looks to regenerate and restore organ function of the esophagus, trachea, or bronchus damaged by cancer, trauma, infection or congenital disease. The company’s novel Cellframe technology is engineered to stimulate the body’s signaling pathways, as well as it’s natural healing process in order to regenerate and restore organ function.
Following a name change at the end of March, Biostage —formerly Harvard Apparatus — started trading under the symbol BSTG. Last week the company took the number four spot on the list of top five gainers. Over the five day trading session, Biostage gained 19.66 percent. The company had no material news last week to account for the increase.

ARCA biopharma

Rounding off the top five last week was ARCA biopharma, whose lead product candidate, GencaroTM, is a investigational, pharmacologically unique beta-blocker and mild vasodilator. The candidate is being developed for the prevention of atrial fibrillation in patients with heart failure and reduced left ventricular ejection fraction in a genetically defined subpopulation. The company’s latest press release is from April 18 where it announced that the 75th patient had been enrolled in its Genetic-AF Phase 2B/3 clinical trial. The company anticipates enrolling 150 patients by the year end.
On the NASDAQ last week, ARCA biopharma gained just shy of 16 percent.

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