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:

• Elevai Labs (ELAB), 132% surge in interest
• Avidity Biosciences (RNA), 116% surge in interest
• Fortress Biotech (FBIO), 77% surge in interest
• Acadia Pharmaceuticals (ACAD), 77% surge in interest
• Siga Technologies (SIGA), 66% surge in interest

Pipeline and key clinical candidates for these companies:

Elevai Labs specializes in medical aesthetics and biopharmaceutical drug development, focusing on innovations for skin aesthetics and treatments tied to obesity and metabolic health. Driven by a commitment to scientific research, Elevai aims to transform personal health and beauty, the company states.

Avidity Bioscience’s proprietary AOCs – Antibody Oligonucleotide Conjugates – are designed to combine the specificity of monoclonal antibodies with the precision of oligonucleotide therapies to target the root cause of diseases previously untreatable with RNA therapeutics, the company says. Avidity’s advancing and expanding pipeline has three programs in clinical development. AOC 1001 is designed to treat people with myotonic dystrophy type 1 and is currently in Phase 1/2 development with the ongoing MARINA and MARINA-OLE trials. AOC 1020 is designed to treat people living with facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy and is currently in Phase 1/2 development with the FORTITUDE trial. AOC 1044 is designed for people with Duchenne muscular dystrophy mutations amenable to exon 44 skipping and is currently in Phase 1/2 development with the EXPLORE44 trial.

Fortress Biotech is focused on acquiring, developing and commercializing high-potential marketed and development-stage drugs and drug candidates. The company has nine marketed prescription pharmaceutical products and over 30 programs in development at Fortress, at its majority-owned and majority-controlled partners and subsidiaries and at partners and subsidiaries it founded and in which it holds significant minority ownership positions. Such product candidates span six large-market areas, including oncology, rare diseases and gene therapy.

Acadia says it is advancing “breakthroughs in neuroscience to elevate life.” The company developed and commercialized what it identifies as “the first and only approved therapies” for hallucinations and delusions associated with Parkinson’s disease psychosis and for the treatment of Rett syndrome. Acadia’s clinical-stage development efforts are focused on treating the negative symptoms of schizophrenia, Alzheimer’s disease psychosis and neuropsychiatric symptoms in central nervous system disorders.

SIGA Technologies is a commercial-stage pharmaceutical company focused on the health security market. Health security comprises countermeasures for biological, chemical, radiological and nuclear attacks, vaccines and therapies for emerging infectious diseases, and health preparedness. The company’s lead product is TPOXX, also known as tecovirimat and ST-246, an orally administered and IV formulation antiviral drug for the treatment of human smallpox disease caused by variola virus. The oral formulation of TPOXX was approved by the FDA for the treatment of smallpox in 2018, and the IV formulation was approved for the same indication in 2022.

Recent news on these stocks:

September 24

In a Monday regulatory filing, SIGA said, “On September 23, the Board of Directors of SIGA Technologies terminated Dr. Jay Varma, effective immediately, other than for cause, from his position as Executive Vice President and Chief Medical Officer of the Company. Pursuant to the terms of his employment agreement, Dr. Varma’s service on the Company’s Board of Directors also automatically ended effective immediately.”

Goldman Sachs initiated coverage of Avidity Biosciences with a Buy rating and $59 price target, implying 36% upside potential. The firm sees “multi-blockbuster, first-to-market commercial opportunities “for del-brax in facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy and and del-desiran in myotonic dystrophy type 1. The analyst likes the “scalable nature” of Avidity’s antibody oligonucleotide conjugate platform. Initial clinical data presented to-date across multiple early clinical programs “significantly de-risk” both individual indications and the company’s platform technology, the analyst tells investors in a research note.

September 23

Acadia Pharmaceuticals (ACAD) announced that Catherine Owen Adams has succeeded Steve Davis as CEO and joined the Acadia Board of Directors. Most recently, she served as Senior Vice President and General Manager, U.S., at Bristol Myers Squibb (BMY), where she led a $20 billion commercial business, overseeing a large and diverse portfolio of promoted brands across Oncology, Cardiovascular, and Immunology.

Elevai Labs has priced a public offering with gross proceeds to the Company expected to be approximately $8M, before deducting placement agent fees and other estimated expenses payable by the Company. The offering is a best-efforts offering, with no minimum amount of securities required to be sold. The offering is comprised of 28,571,425 shares of the Company’s common stock. Each share of common stock or pre-funded warrant will be sold with one Series A Warrant to purchase one share of common stock at an exercise price of $0.38 per share and one Series B Warrant to purchase one share of common stock at an exercise price of $0.38 per share or, pursuant to an alternative cashless exercise option, three shares of common stock. The Series A Warrants will be exercisable beginning on the date of completion of the requisite waiting period following the filing of the Information Statement related to the approval by the stockholders of the Company of the issuance of shares upon exercise of the Warrants, among other things. The Series B Warrants will be exercisable beginning on the Effective Shareholder Approval Date. The Series A Warrants will expire on the five-year anniversary of the Initial Exercise Date and the Series B Warrants will expire on the two and one-half-year anniversary of the Initial Exercise Date. The purchase price of each share of common stock and accompanying Warrants is $0.28, and the purchase price of each pre-funded warrant and accompanying Warrants will be equal to such price minus $0.0001. The Company intends to use the net proceeds from this offering for general corporate purposes, including working capital and investments. This offering is expected to close on or about September 24, 2024, subject to satisfaction of customary closing conditions. Univest Securities, LLC is acting as sole placement agent for the offering.

September 20

Fortress Biotech entered into securities purchase agreements with healthcare focused institutional investors for the issuance and sale of 3,939,394 shares of its common stock in a registered direct offering at a purchase price of $1.65 per share. In a concurrent private placement, the Company also agreed to issue to the same investors warrants to purchase up to 3,939,394 shares of common stock. The private placement warrants have an exercise price of $1.84 per share, will be exercisable commencing six months from the date of issuance, and will expire five and one-half years following the date of issuance. In a separate concurrent private placement, the Chairman, CEO, and President of the Company purchased 763,359 shares of common stock at a price of $1.84 per share, which represents the consolidated closing bid price on September 19, 2024, and warrants to purchase up to 763,359 shares of common stock. These warrants were purchased at a price of $0.125 per warrant, have an exercise price of $1.84 per share, will be exercisable commencing six months from the date of issuance, and will expire five and one-half years following the date of issuance. The gross proceeds from the offerings, before deducting the placement agent’s fees and other offering expenses, are expected to be approximately $8 million. Fortress expects to use the net proceeds from the offerings for its operations, including, but not limited to, general corporate purposes, which may include research and development expenditures, clinical trial expenditures, license or acquisition of new products, and working capital. A.G.P./Alliance Global Partners is acting as sole placement agent for the offerings.

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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.