March 22, 2017
By Mark Terry, BioSpace.com Breaking News Staff
Want to be a billionaire? Then maybe you should do the same things billionaires do. Keith Speights, writing for The Motley Fool, looked at the stocks the country’s wealthiest investors put their money into. Here’s a peek.
Headquartered in Morris Plains, NJ, Immunomedics is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on monoclonal antibody-based products for treatment of cancer, autoimmune disorders and other diseases. On February 23, the company presented a poster at the ASCO-SITC Clinical Immuno-Oncology Symposium held in Orlando, Fla. that showed a significant increase in potency when its bispecific antibodies were combined with its immune checkpoint inhibitor.
Speights notes that Steven Cohen’s Point72 Asset Management fund has invested in Immunomedics. Company shares have increased more than 70 percent since the beginning of the year.
“There have been two primary factors driving Immunomedics stock recently,” Speights writes. “Immunomedics licensed IMMU-132 to Seattle Genetics . The agreement also allows Seattle Genetics to buy a 9.9 percent stake in Immunomedics.”
The second is that venBio Select Advisor, an activist investor group, tried to block the Seattle Genetics deal and attempted to get four positions on the company’s board. This has led some investors to think Immunomedics might get a better deal with Seattle Genetics or even a sale.
Immunomedics is currently trading for $6.27.
Based in South San Francisco, Calif., Achaogen is focused on antibacterial development for multi-drug resistant (MDR), gram-negative infections. On March 1, at the company’s R&D Day, it presented an overview of its lead products, Plazomicin and C-Scape. In December, the company announced that plazomicin met its primary endpoints in two Phase III trials.
Three big investors, Steven Cohen, Paul Tudor Jones and James Simons have invested in Achaogen, whose stock has jumped 60 percent so far this year. Speights writes, “Achaogen expects to file for regulatory approval to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in the second half of 2017. Analysts project that plazomicin could reach peak annual sales of $340 million if approved.”
Achaogen is currently trading for $20.56.
Headquartered in Bannockburn, Ill., AveXis focuses on gene therapy for rare neurological genetic diseases. Its lead product candidate is AVXS-101, currently in Phase I trial for the treatment of spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) type 1. The company has been rumored to be a possible acquisition target for Cambridge, Mass.-based Biogen (BIIB), which recently received approval for its SMA drug Spinraza.
Steven Cohen has invested in AveXis, whose stock has climbed about 70 percent so far this year.
AveXis is currently trading at $72.69.
Based in Marlborough, Mass., Exact Sciences markets Cologuard, the first and only FDA-approved stool DNA noninvasive colorectal cancer screening test. Cohen’s Point72 Asset Management is an investor. The stock has picked up nearly 60 percent since the beginning of the year.
Speights writes, “The big story for Exact Sciences has been wider acceptance for its Cologuard DNA test for colorectal cancer. In January, the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association released a positive review for Cologuard. That’s great news, since the association represents 36 Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans that together cover one out of three Americans.”
Exact Sciences is currently trading for $20.58.
Headquartered in Boulder, Colo., Clovis Oncology is focused on cancer drugs, combining precision medicine with companion diagnostics. It has one marketed product, Rubraca (rucaparib). It also has two other product candidates, roceletinib and lucitanib.
James Simons’ Renaissance Technologies has a stake in the company. Since the beginning of the year, shares are up almost 60 percent.
Clovis Oncology is currently trading for $66.70.
