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: 

• Verona Pharma (VRNA), 261% surge in interest
• Viking Therapeutics (VKTX), 185% surge in interest
• Nektar Therapeutics (NKTR), 181% surge in interest
• BioCryst Pharmaceuticals (BCRX), 105% surge in interest
• Royalty Pharma (RPRX), 84% surge in interest

Pipeline and key clinical candidates for these companies:

Verona Pharma is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing therapies for the treatment of chronic respiratory diseases with significant unmet medical needs. If successfully developed and approved, Verona’s product candidate, ensifentrine, has the potential to become the first non-steroidal therapy for the treatment of respiratory diseases that combines bronchodilator and anti-inflammatory activities in one molecule, the company said.

Viking Therapeutics is focused on the development of novel first-in-class or best-in-class therapies for the treatment of metabolic and endocrine disorders. The company’s clinical programs include VK2809, a novel, orally available, small molecule selective thyroid hormone receptor beta agonist for the treatment of lipid and metabolic disorders, which is currently being evaluated in a Phase 2b study for the treatment of biopsy-confirmed non-alcoholic steatohepatitis, or NASH, and fibrosis.

Nektar Therapeutics is a biopharmaceutical company that describes itself as having “a robust, wholly owned R&D pipeline of investigational medicines in immunology and oncology as well as a portfolio of approved partnered medicines.”

BioCryst Pharmaceuticals discovers novel, oral, small-molecule medicines that treat rare diseases in which significant unmet medical needs exist and an enzyme plays a key role in the biological pathway of the disease. Oral, once-daily Orladeyo is approved in the United States and many global markets. BioCryst has active programs to develop oral medicines for multiple targets across the complement system, including BCX10013, an oral Factor D inhibitor in clinical development. Rapivab is approved in the U.S. and multiple global markets, with post-marketing commitments ongoing.

Royalty Pharma identifies itself as “the largest buyer of biopharmaceutical royalties and a leading funder of innovation across the biopharmaceutical industry, collaborating with innovators from academic institutions, research hospitals and non-profits through small and mid-cap biotechnology companies to leading global pharmaceutical companies.” Royalty Pharma has assembled a portfolio of royalties which entitles it to payments based directly on the top-line sales of many of the industry’s leading therapies. Royalty Pharma’s current portfolio includes royalties on more than 35 commercial products, including Vertex’s Trikafta, GSK’s Trelegy, Roche’s Evrysdi, Johnson & Johnson’s Tremfya, Biogen’s Tysabri and Spinraza, AbbVie and Johnson & Johnson’s Imbruvica, Astellas and Pfizer’s Xtandi, Novartis’ Promacta, Pfizer’s Nurtec ODT and Gilead’s Trodelvy, and 15 development-stage product candidates.

Recent news on these stocks:

November 6

Royalty Pharma reported Q3 revenue of $565M against a consensus of $696.1M. “We delivered strong growth of approximately 15% in Portfolio Receipts in the third quarter of 2024 and are delighted to raise our full year guidance” said Pablo Legorreta, Royalty Pharma’s CEO. “We also strengthened our portfolio by adding royalties on three innovative therapies over the last three months, increasing our Capital Deployment to approximately $1.2 billion in the third quarter and $2.6 billion year-to-date. Notably, two of these transactions were for synthetic royalties for $500 million in total, continuing the strong demand we are seeing for this attractive, flexible type of capital. Lastly, we are pleased with the progress of our portfolio as Voranigo and Cobenfy were recently approved by the FDA. Based on our robust deal pipeline, our leading position as the partner of choice in the royalty market and our efficient business model, I am confident that Royalty Pharma is well positioned to deliver attractive, compounding growth over the long term.”

November 4

Verona Pharma reported Q3 EPS of (7c) against a consensus of (50c), and reported Q3 revenue of $5.6M against a consensus of $2.0M. “We are pleased to report an exceptionally strong start to the US launch of Ohtuvayre (ensifentrine) with healthcare professionals prescribing treatment across a broad range of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (“COPD”) patients including background single, dual and nearly 50% on triple therapy,” said David Zaccardelli, CEO. “While it is still very early in the launch, we are extremely encouraged from the initial patient and HCP reports about Ohtuvayre’s potential to improve COPD symptoms regardless of COPD severity. This broad utilization across all patient types is consistent with market research and supports our belief that Ohtuvayre’s bronchodilator and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory activity is a significant advancement for COPD patients and can re-define the treatment paradigm. In the third quarter, through the first seven weeks of launch, we recorded $5.6 million of net sales. We are excited by the continued acceleration as net sales for October exceeded the third quarter. More than 5,000 Ohtuvayre prescriptions were filled and more than 2,200 unique HCPs prescribed Ohtuvayre in just 12 weeks. Alongside our successful Ohtuvayre launch, in the third quarter we initiated two Phase 2 clinical trials: a dose-ranging trial with glycopyrrolate, a long-acting muscarinic antagonist, supporting a nebulized fixed-dose combination program with ensifentrine for the maintenance treatment of COPD, and a trial assessing the efficacy and safety of nebulized ensifentrine in patients with non-cystic fibrosis bronchiectasis.”

Viking Therapeutics presented at the ObesityWeek meeting on Sunday, noting “promising” early results for its experimental obesity pill, with increased weight loss at higher doses, IBD’s Ed Carson reports. Patients taking 100-miligram doses of Viking’s VK2735 lost 8.2% of their body weight after 28 days, or 6.8% more than those taking a placebo, and no patients taking the highest dose stopped taking it, according to the report.

Nektar Therapeutics announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to sell its Huntsville, Alabama manufacturing facility and reagent supply business to Ampersand Capital Partners, a Boston-based private equity firm. Ampersand has agreed to acquire Nektar’s commercial-scale manufacturing facility and PEGylation reagent supply business for a total consideration of $90M, comprised of $70M in cash proceeds and $20M in a retained equity position for Nektar in a newly-created Ampersand portfolio company. Ampersand has also committed to invest additional growth equity capital into the new portfolio company. Following the closing of the transaction, Nektar will be entitled to appoint a representative to the board of the new Ampersand portfolio company. The Huntsville site is a 124,000 square foot, commercial-scale specialized manufacturing facility with a strong history of supporting commercial supply chains for PEGylated therapeutics across global markets. The facility has several commercial-scale supply chain contracts with leading pharmaceutical companies. All of Nektar’s employees at the Huntsville facility will be offered employment at the new portfolio company, ensuring continuity in the high-quality manufacturing and PEGylation expertise that longstanding customers trust and rely on. The sale is not subject to financing contingencies. The transaction will be subject to customary closing conditions and costs and is expected to close by December 2. Following the closing, Nektar will retain all rights to current and future royalty streams and milestones related to existing PEGylated product license agreements.

BioCryst reported Q3 EPS of (7c) against a consensus of (6c), and reported Q3 revenue of $117.085M against a consensus of $112.5M. “Our third quarter performance continues to build on the outstanding year we are having, with significant revenue growth, strong patient demand, pipeline advancement and operating profitability in the quarter. As we look ahead, we see robust and durable revenue growth, new opportunities for younger children to benefit from ORLADEYO, and data readouts from BCX17725 in Netherton syndrome and avoralstat in DME, all while moving closer to sustainable profitability,” said Jon Stonehouse, CEO of BioCryst.

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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.