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: 

• Trevena (TRVN), 1,645% surge in interest
• Telesis Bio (TBIO), 1,436% surge in interest
• Oncolytics Biotech (ONCY), 890% surge in interest
• Ionis Pharmaceuticals (IONS), 429% surge in interest
• Genprex (GNPX), 330% surge in interest
• CorMedix (CRMD), 294% surge in interest
• Corvus Pharmaceuticals (CRVS), 230% surge in interest
• Organigram (OGI), 210% surge in interest
• Allogene Therapeutics (ALLO), 162% surge in interest
• Avid Bioservices (CDMO), 158% surge in interest

Pipeline and key clinical candidates for these companies:

Trevena is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of medicines for patients with CNS disorders. The company has one approved product in the United States, OLINVYK injection, indicated in adults for the management of acute pain severe enough to require an intravenous opioid analgesic and for whom alternative treatments are inadequate. The company’s pipeline includes three investigational drug candidates: TRV045 for diabetic neuropathic pain and epilepsy, TRV250 for the acute treatment of migraine and TRV734 for maintenance treatment of opioid use disorder.

Telesis Bio says it is “empowering scientists with the ability to create novel, synthetic biology-enabled solutions for many of humanity’s greatest challenges.” The Gibson Assembly method and the first commercial automated benchtop DNA and mRNA synthesis system enable rapid, accurate and reproducible writing of DNA and mRNA for numerous downstream markets, the company has stated.

Oncolytics is a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing pelareorep, an intravenously delivered immunotherapeutic agent. Pelareorep has demonstrated “promising” results in two randomized Phase 2 studies in metastatic breast cancer and Phase 1 and 2 studies in pancreatic cancer, the company says. It acts by inducing anti-cancer immune responses and promotes an inflamed tumor phenotype — turning “cold” tumors “hot” — through innate and adaptive immune responses to treat a variety of cancers.

Ionis has been “a leader in RNA-targeted therapy, pioneering new markets and changing standards of care with its novel antisense technology,” the company says. Ionis currently has three marketed medicines and a promising late-stage pipeline highlighted by cardiovascular and neurological franchises.

Genprex is a clinical-stage gene therapy company focused on developing life-changing therapies for patients with cancer and diabetes. Genprex’s technologies are designed to administer disease-fighting genes to provide new therapies for large patient populations with cancer and diabetes who currently have limited treatment options, the company says.

CorMedix is a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing therapeutic products for the prevention and treatment of life-threatening conditions and diseases. The company is focused on commercializing its lead product DefenCath, which was approved by the FDA on November 15, 2023. CorMedix commercially launched DefenCath in inpatient settings in April 2024 and in outpatient settings in July 2024. CorMedix also intends to develop DefenCath as a catheter lock solution for use in other patient populations.

Corvus Pharmaceuticals is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company that says it is “pioneering the development of ITK inhibition as a new approach to immunotherapy for a broad range of cancer and immune diseases.” The company’s lead product candidate is CPI-818, an investigational, oral, small molecule drug that selectively inhibits ITK and is in a mid-stage clinical trial for patients with T cell lymphoma. Its other clinical-stage candidates are being developed for a variety of cancer indications.

Organigram is focused on producing high-quality, indoor-grown cannabis for patients and adult recreational consumers in Canada, as well as developing international business partnerships to extend the company’s global footprint. Organigram has also developed a portfolio of legal adult-use recreational cannabis brands, including Edison, Holy Mountain, Big Bag O’ Buds, SHRED, Monjour and Trailblazer.

Allogene Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biotechnology company pioneering the development of allogeneic chimeric antigen receptor T cell products for cancer and autoimmune disease. Led by a management team with significant experience in cell therapy, Allogene is developing a pipeline of “off-the-shelf” CAR T cell product candidates with the goal of delivering readily available cell therapy on-demand, more reliably, and at greater scale to more patients.

Avid Bioservices is a dedicated contract development and manufacturing organization, or CDMO, focused on development and CGMP manufacturing of biologics. Avid’s services include CGMP clinical and commercial drug substance manufacturing, bulk packaging, release and stability testing and regulatory submissions support. For early-stage programs, the company provides a variety of process development activities, including upstream and downstream development and optimization, analytical methods development, testing and characterization.

Recent news on these stocks:

September 10

Telesis Bio announced that it has notified the Nasdaq Stock Market of its decision to delist the company’s shares of common stock and deregister the common stock under Section 12(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Telesis intends to file a Form 25 with the Securities and Exchange Commission to remove its common stock from listing on the Nasdaq Global Select Market on or about September 20. As a result, Telesis expects that the last trading day of its Common Stock on the Nasdaq Global Select Market will be on or about September 30.

Corvus Pharmaceuticals announced that it has initiated a registrational Phase 3 clinical trial of soquelitinib for patients with relapsed/refractory peripheral T-cell lymphoma, PTCL. The clinical trial is a randomized, controlled study that will evaluate the efficacy and safety of soquelitinib compared to standard of care chemotherapy. “The initiation of the soquelitinib Phase 3 trial for relapsed PTCL is an important milestone for Corvus and for patients suffering with this disease,” said Richard A. Miller, M.D., co-founder, president and chief executive officer of Corvus. “Soquelitinib has a unique mechanism of action based on selective ITK inhibition, which we believe has potential for the treatment of T cell lymphomas, as well as for solid tumors and a broad range of immune diseases.”

RBC Capital raised the firm’s price target on Avid Bioservices to $12 from $8 and kept an Outperform rating on the shares. The company’s Q1 results missed on revenue and EBITDA, but its bookings were “well ahead of estimates”, with “broad-based” contributions coming from a combination of new customers, early and late-stage work and even a commercial mandate, the analyst told investors in a research note. The management also said the increased mix of early work this quarter should slightly accelerate the near-term burn rates, which improves visibility on the management’s reaffirmed $160M-168M FY25 revenue guidance, RBC added.

September 9

Ionis Pharmaceuticals announced a proposed underwritten public offering of $500M of its common stock. Ionis intends to use the net proceeds from the offering to fund its independent commercial launches, late-stage clinical programs, earlier pipeline programs, and research and development activities, as well as for working capital and general corporate purposes. The offering is subject to market and other conditions, and there can be no assurance as to whether or when the offering may be completed, or as to the actual size or terms of the offering. Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs & Co. are acting as joint book-running managers for the offering.

CorMedix as entered into a multi-year commercial supply contract with a global healthcare company for the supply of DefenCathto its facilities in the U.S. The company, which provides healthcare services to more than 2,000 clinics in the United States, expects to initially target the utilization of DefenCath in up to 4,000 patients nationally, that would be prioritized based upon medical need. CorMedix received NDA approval of DefenCath under the Limited Population Pathway for Antibacterial and Antifungal Drugs on November 15, 2023, and began commercialization of the product in the inpatient setting on April 15, 2024. Outpatient reimbursement of DefenCath from the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services took effect on July 1st, and CorMedix subsequently commenced the shipment of orders in July. CorMedix anticipates shipments for DefenCath under this agreement to begin in the fourth quarter.

September 4

Genprex announced its intention to transfer the company’s diabetes clinical development program and its diabetes gene therapy assets into a new, wholly-owned subsidiary. NewCo would focus on developing and commercializing GPX-002, a diabetes gene therapy drug candidate for the treatment of Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes. The planned spin-out transaction would allow both Genprex and NewCo to enhance each company’s focus on meeting the needs of their respective markets, patients and stakeholders. The spin-out, if completed as presently contemplated, would result in NewCo focusing on developing GPX-002, while Genprex would retain its oncology clinical development programs and other oncology pipeline assets. The decision to pursue the reorganization demonstrates Genprex’s strong ongoing commitment to the company’s streamlined, focused strategies and ongoing research and development prioritization initiative. The potential formation and transfer of the clinical development program into the wholly-owned subsidiary is currently anticipated to occur by the end of 2024, subject to adequate financing, the satisfaction of customary conditions and final approval from the Genprex management and board.

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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.