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: 

• Madrigal Pharmaceuticals (MDGL), 151% surge in interest
• Seres Therapeutics (MCRB), 133% surge in interest
• Acadia Pharmaceuticals (ACAD), 123% surge in interest
• Jaguar Health (JAGX), 118% surge in interest
• Lexicon Pharmaceuticals (LXRX), 116% surge in interest
• TG Therapeutics (TGTX), 96% surge in interest
• Axsome Therapeutics (AXSM), 91% surge in interest

Pipeline and key clinical candidates for these companies:

Madrigal Pharmaceuticals is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company pursuing novel therapeutics for nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, or NASH, a liver disease with high unmet medical need. Madrigal’s lead candidate, resmetirom, is a once daily, oral, thyroid hormone receptor-beta selective agonist designed to target key underlying causes of NASH in the liver.

Seres Therapeutics is a microbiome therapeutics company developing a novel class of multifunctional bacterial consortia that are designed to functionally interact with host cells and tissues to treat disease. Seres’ SER-109 program achieved “the first-ever positive pivotal clinical results for a targeted microbiome drug candidate,” according to the company, and has obtained Breakthrough Therapy and Orphan Drug designations from the FDA. The SER-109 program is being advanced to prevent further recurrences of C. difficile infection. Seres is evaluating SER-155 in a Phase 1b study in patients receiving allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation to reduce incidences of gastrointestinal infections, bloodstream infections and graft-versus-host disease as well as additional preclinical stage programs targeting Infection Protection in medically compromised patients.

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.

Jaguar Health is a commercial stage pharmaceuticals company focused on developing novel, plant-based, sustainably derived prescription medicines for people and animals with GI distress, including chronic, debilitating diarrhea. Jaguar Health’s wholly owned subsidiary, Napo Pharmaceuticals, focuses on developing and commercializing proprietary plant-based human pharmaceuticals from plants harvested responsibly from rainforest areas. Their crofelemer drug product candidate is the subject of the OnTarget study, an ongoing pivotal Phase 3 clinical trial for prophylaxis of diarrhea in adult cancer patients receiving targeted therapy.

Lexicon says it is “pioneering the discovery and development of innovative medicines to safely and effectively treat disease.” Lexicon has advanced one of these medicines to market and has a “pipeline of promising drug candidates in discovery and clinical and preclinical development in heart failure, neuropathic pain, diabetes and metabolism and other indications,” the company states.

TG Therapeutics is focused on the acquisition, development and commercialization of novel treatments for B-cell diseases. In addition to a research pipeline including several investigational medicines, TG has received approval from the FDA for Briumvi, for the treatment of adult patients with relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis, to include clinically isolated syndrome, relapsing-remitting disease, and active secondary progressive disease.

Axsome Therapeutics is developing and delivering novel therapies for central nervous system, or CNS, conditions that have limited treatment options. AXS-05 is a novel, oral, patent protected, investigational N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor antagonist with multimodal activity under development for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease agitation and other central nervous system disorders.

Recent news on these stocks:

July 8

Lexicon Pharmaceuticals announced that the Lexicon Board of Directors has appointed Mike Exton, Ph.D. as CEO and director of Lexicon. Dr. Exton succeeds Lonnel Coats who, as previously announced, retired effective July 7, 2024. Dr. Exton most recently served as the global cardiometabolic therapeutic head at Novartis (NVS). Concurrent with Dr. Exton’s appointment as CEO, Jeff Wade has been named president and COO. Mr. Wade has served as Lexicon’s president and CFO since October 2021, having previously served in a series of finance, corporate development, administrative and legal leadership positions since joining the company.

June 26

BMO Capital analyst Keith Tapper initiated coverage of Acadia Pharmaceuticals with an Outperform rating and $31 price target. The analyst believes the shares are valued on the company’s commercial assets Nuplazid and Daybue, with “negative skew” from label expansion setbacks and challenging patient dynamics, respectively. The firm sees share upside on improving commercial sentiment and Acadia’s pipeline execution, namely the Phase 2 dats for ACP-204 in Alzheimer’s disease psychosis, and Phase 3 data for ACP-101 in Prader-Willi syndrome.

Hear more from InvestingChannel by signing up for The Spill.

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.