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:

• Mediwound (MDWD), 3,216% surge in interest
• Insmed (INSM), 16% rise in interest

Pipeline and key clinical candidates for these companies:

MediWound refers to itself as “the global leader in next-generation enzymatic therapeutics focused on non-surgical tissue repair.” Specializing in the development, production and commercialization of solutions that seek to replace existing standards of care, the company says it is “committed to providing rapid and effective biologics that improve patient experiences and outcomes, while reducing costs and unnecessary surgeries.”

Insmed is a biopharmaceutical company that says its on “a mission to transform the lives of patients with serious and rare diseases.” Insmed’s first commercial product is a first-in-disease therapy approved in the United States, Europe, and Japan to treat a chronic, debilitating lung disease.

Recent news on these stocks:

July 8

H.C. Wainwright raised the firm’s price target on Insmed to $90 from $70 and keeps a Buy rating on the shares. Based on the limited initial data presented at the Airleaf trial, the analyst believes that BI 1291583 is not an immediate threat to brensocatib, either in terms of efficacy or regulatory timing. The firm says the competitor DPP1 data “didn’t overly impress.”

MediWound (MDWD) saw its share price jump 35% on Friday on Wall Street to $19.60 and at one point in trading on Friday the share price was up 60%, noted Globes’ Shiri Habib-Valdhorn, who attributes the move in shares to media reports that Solventum (SOLV) had offered to acquire the Israeli biopharmaceutical company for $400M, or $34 per share. MediWound “has made no official comments on the reports of Solventum’s offer but market sources believe that any negotiations are still in their early stages and no deal is yet on the table,” Globes added.

July 5

BofA analyst Jason Zemansky notes that the lead investigator of ASPEN, Insmed’s pivotal trial of brensocatib for NCFB, formally presented the main outcomes at the World Bronchiectasis Conference and received “an overwhelmingly positive reception from a packed hall.” While the firm wouldn’t be surprised if “the Street saw the presentation as a non-event after Insmed distributed the slides” previously, BofA would argue there was strong interest in broadly administering brensocatib and remain positive on the story with support from providers bolstering the firm’s favorable outlook. BofA maintains a Buy rating and $83 price target on Insmed shares.

MediWound was rumored to have received a $34 per share takeover offer from Solventum (SOLV), The Market reported, according to an account from Street Insider. When asked about the report from The Market that the company was the target of a takeover, a spokesperson for the company is quoted as having said: “It is the policy of MediWound not to comment on rumors.”

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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.