Threshold Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: THLD) almost screens out as though it was being acquired.  How many times does non-buyout news drive gains north of 70%?  In emerging pharma and biotech, it happens more than in other sectors.  The news this morning is that Merck KGaA has signed a global agreement with Threshold to co-develop and commercialize Phase 3 Hypoxia-Targeted drug TH-302, which is Threshold’s small
molecule hypoxia-targeted drug.

As far as what this translates to, Threshold will receive $25 million as an upfront payment and it is set to receive further milestone payments and royalty payments upon certain targets being achieved.  With a market cap of only $63 million and with a recent cash balance of only about $25 million ahead of the news, this is driving home for speculative traders.

After closing at $1.29, the stock’s pre-market surge is a whopping 77% at $2.28. Threshold has a 52-week trading range of $1.20 to $3.34. Threshold has no product revenues as of yet.  We have also already seen over 300,000 shares trade hands in the pre-market and the average daily volume is only 136,000 shares.

JON C. OGG