Top 3 Canadian Pharma Stocks of 2023

Year-to-date gain: 36.17 percent; market cap: C$31.29 million; current share price: C$0.64

Antibe Therapeutics is developing novel therapeutics targeting the treatment of pain and inflammatory bowel disease. Antibe’s lead drug candidate is Otenaproxesul, a hydrogen sulfide-releasing derivative of naproxen for treating acute pain indications. It is a non-opioid painkiller that also avoids the gastrointestinal damage and bleeding caused by non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs.

In February, the pharmaceutical company announced that is preparing to start Phase 2 clinical trials of Otenaproxesul in 2023's third quarter; it expects Phase 2 top-line data within 12 months.

Year-to-date gain: 12.5 percent; market cap: C$83.71 million; current share price: C$0.90

Aptose Biosciences is a clinical-stage precision medicine company developing a pipeline of small-molecule cancer therapeutics targeting unmet medical needs in oncology, focusing specifically on hematology initially.

The company has two clinical-stage oral kinase inhibitors under development for hematologic malignancies: tuspetinib, which is in Phase 1/2 trials, and luxeptinib, currently in Phase 1 a/b trials.

In late January, Aptose began dosing patients in its Phase 1/2 clinical trial of tuspetinib. It is an oral mutation-agnostic tyrosine kinase inhibitor being developed for the treatment of relapsed or refractory acute myeloid leukemia.

Year-to-date gain: 7.41 percent; market cap: C$39.45 million; current share price: C$0.145

Resverlogix is a late-stage clinical leader in epigenetics developing first-in-class therapies for patients suffering from chronic diseases, including cardiovascular disease and post-COVID-19 conditions known as “long COVID.” The lead epigenetic candidate in the company’s clinical pipeline is isapabetalone, designed for the treatment of cardiovascular disease and associated comorbidities.

Through its partnership with life science commercial services provider EVERSANA, Resverlogix is working to rapidly commercialize apabetalone for cardiovascular disease, long COVID and pulmonary arterial hypertension in Canada and the US. The company is finalizing the Phase 3 study protocol of apabetalone for long COVID and is looking to launch the trial in the first half of 2023.

In early March, Resverlogix shared two peer-reviewed studies that highlight apabetalone's possible benefits for the treatment of the aforementioned indications.