2 Bay Area and 1 Massachusetts Biotech Stocks That Could Double in 2017
December 2, 2016
By Alex Keown, BioSpace.com Breaking News Staff
NEW YORK – Investors already planning their 2017 stock acquisitions should look at these three small-cap biotech companies to add to their portfolios, analysts at the Motley Fool said.
Although 2016 was something of a forgettable year for biotech and pharma stocks, the Fool’s Sean Williams said smart investors should smart investors should snap up shares of Geron Corporation , Portola Pharmaceuticals and CoLucid Pharmaceuticals as each of these has the potential to double in the next year.
1. Geron Corporation
Shares of Menlo Park, Calif.-based Geron Corporation are up this morning, trading at $2.02. Williams said the key to Geron growth will be top line data from two studies, IMbark and IMerge, which are due in the second quarter of 2017. In September, Geron provided updates on its lead candidate, imetelstat, which is being co-developed by Janssen to treat the rare blood cancer myelofibrosis. Geron stock took a beating after Janssen said it will conduct an additional internal data review of the IMbark trial. Janssen and Geron also said they would halt the lower dosing, but continue with higher dosing. The news was enough to scare some investors. Still, Williams said imetelstat could be strong enough to challenge Incyte Corporation 's Jakafi, a JAK-inhibitor used to treat myelofibrosis. If imetelstat proves to be a viable drug, it could send the stock through the roof. However, Williams noted that if it fails, it could break Geron.
2. Portola Pharmaceuticals
Williams called South San Francisco-based Portola a gamble, but said it’s one that could pay off. Shares of Portola are up this morning, trading at $17.94. Portola took a beating earlier this year following mixed results for its factor Xa anticoagulant drug, betrixaban. Clinical trial data comparing betrixaban to Sanofi ’s Lovenox yielded mixed results, which has not helped shares of Portola. The company plans to file a New Drug Application for betrixaban despite the fact that Phase III data missed the mark. Williams though said there is a question about how close it came to hitting the mark of statistical significance. Is it close enough for the FDA to approve without additional trials? That’s the question investors will have to consider, Williams said. In August, Portola took another beating after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) rejected its drug candidate AndexXa to treat life-threatening or uncontrolled bleeding. The FDA issued Portola a Complete Response Letter asking for more information related to manufacturing activities.
3. CoLucid Pharmaceuticals
Boston-based CoLucid Pharmaceuticals, which is developing lasmiditan, for the acute treatment of migraine headaches, is currently trading at $36.45 per share. CoLucid stock has grown exponentially since August, when it was trading at $8.60 per share. The stock shot up after the company announced one of its Phase III trials involving lasmiditan met primary and secondary endpoints. The drug is expected to undergo another Phase III trial examining three dosing levels versus placebo at the two-hour mark after taking the drug. If successful, CoLucid is likely to file a NDA with the FDA. Williams said the drug has the potential to become a blockbuster franchise for CoLucid.