Biotech Alert: Searches spiking for these stocks today

These names in the biotech sector are seeing a substantial increase in search activity today, as determined by InvestingChannel. They include: 

• Deciphera Pharmaceuticals (DCPH), 16,200% surge in interest
• Geron Corp (GERN), 111% surge in interest
• X4 Pharmaceuticals (XFOR), 105% surge in interest
• Mesoblast (MESO), 59% surge in interest
• Altimmune (ALT), 41% surge in interest
• Aquestive Therapeutics (AQST), 23% surge in interest

Pipeline and key clinical candidates for these companies:

Deciphera says it is focused on discovering, developing, and commercializing “important new medicines to improve the lives of people with cancer.” The company is leveraging its proprietary switch-control kinase inhibitor platform to develop “a broad portfolio of innovative medicines,” it says.. In addition to advancing multiple product candidates from its platform in clinical studies, QINLOCK -Deciphera’s switch-control inhibitor for the treatment of fourth-line GIST – is approved in Australia, Canada, China, the European Union, Hong Kong, Israel, Macau, New Zealand, Singapore, Switzerland, Taiwan, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

Geron is a late-stage biopharmaceutical company pursuing therapies with the potential to extend and enrich the lives of patients living with hematologic malignancies. Its investigational first-in-class telomerase inhibitor, imetelstat, “harnesses Nobel Prize winning science in a treatment that may alter the underlying course of these diseases,” the company says.

X4 Pharmaceuticals is focused on the discovery and development of novel therapies for people with diseases of the immune system. The company’s lead clinical candidate is mavorixafor, a small molecule antagonist of chemokine receptor CXCR4 that is being developed as an oral, once-daily therapy.

Mesoblast refers to itself as “a world leader in developing allogeneic cellular medicines for the treatment of severe and life-threatening inflammatory conditions.” The company states: “Mesoblast has a strong and extensive global intellectual property portfolio with protection extending through to at least 2041 in all major markets… Rexlemestrocel-L is in development for advanced chronic heart failure and chronic low back pain. Two products have been commercialized in Japan and Europe by Mesoblast’s licensees, and the company has established commercial partnerships in Europe and China for certain Phase 3 assets.”

Altimmune is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company that says it is focused on developing “innovative next-generation therapeutics for the treatment of patients with liver diseases and obesity.” The company’s lead product candidate, pemvidutide, is a GLP-1/glucagon dual receptor agonist that is being developed for the treatment of obesity and NASH. In addition, Altimmune is developing HepTcell, an immunotherapeutic designed to achieve a functional cure for chronic hepatitis B.

Aquestive Therapeutics is a pharmaceutical company advancing medicines to solve patients’ problems with current standards of care and provide transformative products to improve their lives. Aquestive has five commercialized products marketed by its licensees in the U.S. and around the world, and is the exclusive manufacturer of these licensed products. Aquestive is advancing a late-stage proprietary product pipeline focused on treating diseases of the central nervous system and an earlier stage pipeline for the treatment of severe allergic reactions, including anaphylaxis.

Recent news on these stocks:

April 30

Baird downgraded Geron to Neutral from Outperform with an unchanged price target of $4.50. After the stock’s recent run-up, the firm sees Geron’s risk/reward as balanced. The analyst continues to believe that imetelstat has nearly a 100% probability of approval into the June 16 FDA action date. However, this is now already priced into the stock, the analyst tells investors in a research note. Baird thinks Geron is unlikely to trade much higher from here over the coming months unless the company is acquired, and it is “unable to get high conviction in this happening.”

April 29

Deciphera announced that it has entered into a definitive merger agreement with ONO Pharmaceutical, under which ONO will acquire all outstanding shares of Deciphera common stock for $25.60 per share in cash through a tender offer followed by a merger of Deciphera with a wholly-owned subsidiary of ONO, for a total equity value of $2.4B. The boards of directors of both companies have unanimously approved the transaction. Together, ONO and Deciphera will accelerate their shared vision to deliver innovative new drugs and serve patients around the world. Deciphera brings specialized research and development capabilities in kinase drug discovery, well-established commercial and sales platforms in the United States and Europe, and global clinical development capabilities. In addition to Qinlock – Deciphera’s switch-control inhibitor for the treatment of fourth-line gastrointestinal stromal tumor, or GIST, which is approved in the United States and over 40 other countries, Deciphera also brings a potential medicines, including vimseltinib, DCC-3116 and multiple additional oncology candidates. The acquisition is structured as a tender offer and subsequent merger of Deciphera with a wholly-owned subsidiary of ONO. Under the terms of the definitive merger agreement, ONO will acquire all outstanding shares of Deciphera for $25.60 per share in cash for a total equity value of approximately $2.4B. The purchase price represents a premium of 74.7% to Deciphera’s closing share price of $14.65 on April 26 and a premium of 68.8% to Deciphera’s 30-trading-day volume weighted average price as of April 26. ONO will promptly commence the tender offer, and it will expire 20 business days after its commencement, unless otherwise extended. If the tender offer conditions are not satisfied, ONO may be required to extend the tender offer under certain circumstances. Upon the successful completion of the tender offer, ONO’s wholly-owned subsidiary will merge with and into Deciphera, with Deciphera continuing as the surviving corporation and a wholly-owned subsidiary of ONO, and any shares of common stock of Deciphera not tendered into the offer will receive the same USD per share price payable in the tender offer. The acquisition is expected to close in the third quarter of 2024, subject to customary closing conditions, including U.S. antitrust clearance and the tender of a majority of Deciphera’s outstanding shares of common stock. In connection with the execution of the merger agreement, certain stockholders of the company owning approximately 28% of the outstanding shares of Deciphera Common Stock have entered into tender and support agreements pursuant to which they will tender all of their owned shares in the offer. Upon completion of the acquisition, Deciphera will operate as a standalone business of ONO Group, from its headquarters in Waltham, Massachusetts. In light of the acquisition, Deciphera will not host a first quarter 2024 earnings call.

X4 Pharmaceuticals announced that the FDA has approved XOLREMDI capsules for use in patients 12 years of age and older with WHIM syndrome to increase the number of circulating mature neutrophils and lymphocytes.

Guggenheim downgraded Altimmune to Neutral from Buy with no price target. The lack of a partner emerging five months from the end of Phase 2 “presents an overhang that can no longer be ignored,” contends the analyst, who argues that a partnership for lead asset pemvidutide looks “increasingly unlikely” and that the opportunity to successfully fund pemvidutide’s future in either obesity or fatty liver disease is “growing increasingly tenuous.”

Aquestive Therapeutics announced the FDA has approved Libervant Buccal Film for the acute treatment of intermittent, stereotypic episodes of frequent seizure activity that are distinct from a patient’s usual seizure pattern in patients with epilepsy between 2 to 5 years of age. “We are thrilled to have received FDA approval for Libervant in patients between the ages of two and five,” said Daniel Barber, Chief Executive Officer of Aquestive. “Patients have been waiting years for Libervant, the first and only FDA approved orally-administered rescue product for the treatment of seizure clusters. Our first priority is to provide and maintain availability of Libervant to the intended patient population. I am pleased to announce that we are currently able to accept and fill non-Medicaid prescriptions. We expect to expand our distribution capabilities over the coming weeks and months. I am also pleased with our continued track record of success with the FDA. We respect the FDA’s mission to protect public health and we will always seek to partner with the FDA wherever possible.”

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About “Biotech Alert”

The Fly will report on a selection of biotech stocks seeing a surge in interest from retail and financial professional investors, based on data from InvestingChannel.

This Fly exclusive recap reveals the biotech stocks that are seeing a spike in searches among the 20-plus million retail and financial professional investors through InvestingChannel’s online financial news media ecosystem.

This increased attention from the investors may be in response to, or advance of, outsized moves for stocks in the biotech sector, which tend to be volatile and prone to sharp swings in share price around binary events such as clinical study results and FDA approvals.