A Look at the Top 5 Biotech Stock Performers of 2016
November 30, 2016
By Mark Terry, BioSpace.com Breaking News Staff
With December just around the corner, investors are taking stock (pun intended) of overall trends in the market. Keith Speights, writing for The Motley Fool, takes a look at five biotech stocks that top his list.
1. Axim Biotechnologies
Axim Biotechnologies is focused on developing pharmaceutical, nutraceutical, cosmetic products, and alternative energy sources using cannabis. To date, it doesn’t have any marketed products, but plans to in 2017, including CanChew chewing gun, and CannQuit chewing gun to help with smoking cessation. It is also investigating its products in chronic pain and multiple sclerosis spasticity.
Speights writes, “Axim Biotechnologies’ stock has popped by more than 2,000 percent year to date, with most of those gains coming in the second half. The company has yet to make a profit, but many investors have high expectations for Axim’s cannabinoid-based products and pipeline.”
Axim is currently trading for $7.84.
2. CoLucid Pharmaceuticals
Although currently not making any money, CoLucid Pharmaceuticals ’s sole pipeline product is lasmiditan, which recently completed the first of two Phase III trials for migraine headache. On November 14, the company announced that half of the 2,968 migraine patients expected to enroll in its second SPARTAN Phase III trial have been randomized.
The company generated $70 million from an IPO in September and stock has jumped 340 percent this year.
CoLucid is currently trading for $35.35.
3. Corbus Pharmaceuticals
Corbus Pharmaceuticals focuses on the lucrative rare disease market. It is also working with cannabis-related products, in particular, an experimental oral endocannabinoid-mimetic called Resunab.
Speights writes, “The company completed a mid-stage clinical study of Resunab as a treatment for systemic sclerosis in 2016, and results exceeded expectations. The drug is also being evaluated in two other mid-stage clinical studies, one targeting treatment of cystic fibrosis and the other focused on dermatomyositis. The National Institute of Health (NIH) plans to launch a mid-stage study of the drug as a treatment for systemic lupus erythematosus in the first half of 2017.”
So far, the stock has risen almost 320 percent his year. The is currently trading for $7.60.
4. Exelixis
Focused on cancer drugs, Exelixis recently launched Cabometyx (cabozantinib) to treat advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCCC) in patients who have received prior anti-angiogenic therapy. In this year’s third quarter, the drug brought in $31.2 million in net product revenue. The company’s expected growth rate for the year is 34 percent.
Exelixis is currently trading for $16.90.
5. Tesaro
Tesaro is leading the way with a new class of cancer drug called PARP inhibitors (PARPi). On June 29, the company announced that its Phase III clinical trial of niraparib met its endpoints of progress-free survival (PFS) in patients with ovarian cancer. It’s filed for regulatory approval in both the U.S. and the European Union and is expecting approval in 2017.
Tesaro is currently trading for $137.40.
Speights writes, “Any or all of these biotech stocks could be winners again in the coming year. I like Exelixis’ and Tesaro’s chances the best, though.”