Thursday was a breakout day for a few biotech companies. Some made absolutely massive runs, while others fell off a cliff. Although the sector is feeling the pinch from the recent market downturn, there are a couple standouts.
24/7 Wall St. has picked a few of those standouts from Thursday to highlight. We have included information about each company, as well as recent trading activity and the consensus price target.
DBV Technologies S.A. (NASDAQ: DBVT) shares took the plunge on Thursday after the company announced that after discussions with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), its Biologics License Application (BLA) for Viaskin Peanut in children four to 11 years of age has been voluntarily withdrawn.
DBV is working closely with the agency to resubmit the application for Viaskin Peanut as quickly as possible.
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A few analysts weighed in on DBV in the wake of this announcement:
- Morgan Stanley has an Equal Weight rating and lowered its price target to $10 from $26.
- JMP Securities reiterated a Market Perform rating and lowered its target to $20 from $30.
- H.C. Wainwright reiterated a Buy rating but lowered its price target to $25 from $50.
- Merrill Lynch downgraded it to an Underperform rating.
- Stifel downgraded it to a Hold rating from Buy.
- Barclays downgraded it to Equal Weight and lowered its target to $8 from $30.
- Jefferies downgraded it to Hold rating with a $5.25 price target.
Shares of DBV were last seen down 68% at $4.53 on Thursday, in a 52-week range of $4.47 to $26.98. The consensus price target was $35.06 ahead of this announcement.
Agenus Inc. (NASDAQ: AGEN) shares pushed higher on Thursday after the company announced a new partnership with Gilead Sciences Inc. (Nasdaq: GILD) focused on the development and commercialization of up to five novel immuno-oncology therapies.
Under the terms of the agreement, Agenus will receive $150 million upon closing, which includes a $120 million upfront cash payment and a $30 million equity investment. The agreement also includes approximately $1.7 billion in potential future fees and milestones.
Shares of Agenus were last seen up 43% at $2.88, in a 52-week range of $1.54 to $6.19. The consensus price target was $7.00.
Spectrum Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: SPPI) dropped on Thursday after the firm announced that the FDA did not grant Breakthrough Therapy Designation (BTD) to poziotinib for the treatment of patients with metastatic non-small cell lung cancer.
This decision was based on a subset of data from MD Anderson’s ongoing Phase 2 study. The company’s overall development plan and timeline for a New Drug Application (NDA) filing based on the first cohort of the ZENITH20 trial remains unchanged.
Shares of Spectrum were down 34% at $6.90. The 52-week trading range is $6.81 to $25.29, and the consensus price target was $33.00.
G1 Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: GTHX) shares fell after the company announced that its Phase 2 trial evaluating trilaciclib in combination with topotecan as a treatment for 2nd-/3rd-line small cell lung cancer saw positive data.
Despite that positive data, the treatment was less effective than the placebo. In this instance, patients given this treatment had an objective response rate of 13.3%, compared to 23.1% in the placebo group, and a clinical benefit rate of 60%, versus 61.5% in the placebo group.
Shares of G1 Therapeutics were down 33% at $19.19, in a 52-week range of $18.03 to $69.57. The consensus price target was $71.00.
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