2 Biotech Stocks That Exploded 500%+ in the Last 3 Years

2 Biotech Stocks That Exploded 500%+ in the Last 3 Years June 26, 2017
By Mark Terry, BioSpace.com Breaking News Staff

Biotech stocks are notoriously volatile. But sometimes what comes with that volatility is sky-high returns. Keith Speights, writing for The Motley Fool, examines two biotech stocks that have had over 500 percent growth in the last three years.

1. Eagle Pharmaceuticals

Headquartered in Woodcliff Lake, NJ, Eagle Pharmaceuticals focus is on improving existing drug formulations. The company’s stock has grown more than 530 percent in the last three years, although Speights notes “it’s been a wild ride” for shareholders.

On March 27, Eagle announced that their 505(b)(2) New Drug Application (NDA) for Ryanodex (dantrolene sodium) for exertional heat stroke had been accepted for filing and given a priority review designation by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The PDUFA data for the NDA is July 23, 2017.

The company stock took a big jump in February 2015, when it licensed bendamustine hydrochloride to Israel’s Teva , which won approval from the FDA in December 2015 for chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and indolent B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL). A week later it got FDA approval for generic docetaxel injection for breast cancer, non-small cell lung cancer, prostate cancer, gastric adenocarcinoma, and head and neck cancer.

Eagle Pharmaceuticals is currently trading for $81.98.

2. Exelixis

Based in South San Francisco, Exelixis focuses on developing and marketing small molecule therapies for cancer. On June 19, the company announced that a blinded independent radiology review committee reported the primary efficacy endpoint of its Phase II CABOSUN trial of cabozantinib compared to sunitinib in previously untreated advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC) with intermediate- or poor-risk disease.

The trial was conducted by The Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology as part of the company’s agreement with the National Cancer Institute’s Cancer Therapy Evaluation Program (NCKI-CTEP).

“We are very pleased that CABOSUN’s primary endpoint of a statistically significant improvement of progression-free survival has been confirmed by the independent radiology review committee,” said Michael Morrissey, president and chief executive officer of Exelixis, in a statement. “We continue in our focused efforts to complete the regulatory filing of cabozantinib for the treatment of patients with previously untreated advanced renal cell carcinoma and are on track to submit a supplemental New Drug Application in the third quarter of this year.”

Over the past three years, Exelixis stock has grown almost 550 percent. It really took off in May 2015, after Cabometyx had positive results as a first-line treatment for advanced renal cell carcinoma. Speights writes, “The drug had already won FDA approval in treating RCC for patients who had received prior therapy. However, the market for first-line treatment of RCC is significantly larger and presented tremendous growth opportunities for Cabometyx—and Exelixis. The company plans to submit for approval in the new indication in the third quarter of 2017.”

In addition, the company is expecting data of a study of Cabometyx as a second-line treatment for liver cancer in the second half of this year.

Exelixis is currently trading for $24.03.

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