5 Top NASDAQ Biotech Stocks: Cepheid Up 52 Percent

The NASDAQ Biotechnology index (INDEXNASDAQ:NBI)  fell further last week, wrapping up the short week with 2,916.79 points and was down by 3.18 percent.
Last week’s gainers broke higher than 30 percent for the week. Here is a look at how the companies performed.

• Cepheid (NASDAQ:CPHD)
• Cogentix Medical (NASDAQ:CGNT)
• Cellectar Biosciences (NASDAQ:CLRB)
• GTx (NASDAQ:GTXI)
• Retrophin (NASDAQ:RTRX)

Cepheid

As this week’s top gainer, Cepheid gained 52.32 percent over the four day trading period and finished at $52.43 per share. Looking at the broader picture, Cepheid gained 43.53 percent year-to-date.
Cepheid is a molecular diagnostics company that takes fully-integrated systems for testing in the clinical market from development, manufacturing, to marketing, as well as application in the company’s legacy industrial, biothreat and partner markets. At the beginning of the week, Cepheid announced that the USFDA had approved the expanded claims for Xpert TV, a urine-based test for males for Trichomonas vaginalis. Later in the week, Cephaid announced its acquisition by Danaher Corporation for approximately $4 billion.

Cogentix Medical

Cogentix gained 44.26 percent this week over the four day trading period, finishing at $1.76 per share. Year-to-date, Cogentix has gained 36.43 percent.
Cogentix is a Minnesota-based global medical device company involved in the design, development, manufacturing and marketing of innovative proprietary technologies in urology, urogynecology/gyn, ENT and GI markets. Last week, the company entered into a securities purchase agreement with Accelmed Growth Partners for a $25 million equity investment. Accelmed is a top private equity firm focused on the medical device industry, and is Israel’s largest med-tech investor.

Cellectar Biosciences (NASDAQ:CLRB)

Cellectar Biosciences gained 40.28 percent over the four day trading period and ended the week at $3.03 per share.
Cellectar is focused on the development of targeted phospholipid drug conjugates (PDCs) for the treatment and imaging of cancer. In August, the company announced key accomplishments and Q2 financial results which included $7.9 million in cash and cash equivalents, issuance of patents by United States Patent and Trademark Office for CLR 131 and CLR 1600, as well as results from preclinical studies. There has been no further recent news from the company to explain last week’s rise in share price.

GTx Inc.

GTx gained 35.65 percent this week over the four day trading period, finishing at $0.77 per share. Year-to-date, Cogentix has gained 10.46 percent.
GTx is a biopharmaceutical company based in Tennessee with a focus on utilizing hormonal pathways for the treatment of cancer. Last week, GTx achieved the Stage 1 milestone in Phase 2 of its clinical trial of Enobosarm in estrogen receptor positive (ER+), androgen receptor positive (AR+) breast cancer.

Retrophin

Retrophin gained 32.30 percent this week over the four day trading period, finishing at $21.30 per share. Year-to-date, Retrophin has gained 10.42 percent.
Retrophin is an integrated biopharmaceutical company focused on life-changing therapies to people living with rare diseases. Last week, Retrophin delivered positive top-line results from the Phase 2 study of its drug sparsentan for the treatment of a rare kidney disorder that has no approved pharmacologic treatment, that often leads to end-stage renal disease. Results suggest that sparsentan was generally safe and well-tolerated in the study.
 
Data for 5 Top NASDAQ Stocks articles is retrieved each Friday after market close using The Globe and Mail’s market data filter. Only companies with a market capitalization greater than $10 million prior to the week’s gains are included. Companies within the biotechnology and pharmaceutical sectors are considered.
Securities Disclosure: I, Pia Rivera, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.