Proteon Therapeutics (PRTO) Just Solidified Itself As A Penny Stock

Biotech Stocks Have Risk & Proteon Therapeutics Is Showing Exactly Why Traders Need To Be Aware Of That

When it comes to biotech stocks, there are countless unknown factors that could trigger big break outs or dramatic drops. Proteon Therapuetics (PRTO) is an example of the latter.  Even though this biotech stock was on the higher end of the “penny stock” range, it has now been solidified as a true penny stock.

What Happened With Proteon Therapeutics?

As with many late stage trials, Proteon was at a critical point in its history of being a leading biotech stock. But unfortunately, more times than not, these late-stage trials tend to bring just as much pain as they bring pleasure. There was already uncertainty from investors as the company reported earnings that were shy of Wall Street expectations.

On March 28, the nail was put in the coffin when Proteon announced results from PATENCY-2. This was its Phase 3 clinical trial of investigational vonapanitase in patients with chronic kidney disease. The therapeutic drug company said its PATENCY-2 study missed on the co-primary endpoints of fistula [1] use for hemodialysis [2] and secondary patency.

Click Here To See The Proteon (PRTO) Chart (If You Dare)

The results of its Phase 3 clinical trial showed that adverse events with vonapanitase were similar to placebo. They also showed consistency with previous clinical trials. On short, one of the more pivotal Phase Trials came up showing nothing different from placebo and the market reacted.

This Isn’t Anything New For Proteon

Granted, Proteon Therapeutics was already classified as a biotech penny stock, hovering around $3.50. But this latest drop took it well below $1. In fact, March 28 marked the company’s highest trading volume day, ever.

The crazy part is that this scenario isn’t an anomaly for them. 

In addition, the company was trading above $11 before falling victim to a similar scenario back in 2016. Its first Phase 3 clinical trial with investigational vonapanitase, PATENCY-1 did not meet its primary endpoint. The stock officially became a “high priced penny stock” following that announcement.

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Not up on Biological terminology? Here are a few definitions we thought would be helpful:

[1] A fistula is an abnormal connection between two body parts, such as an organ or blood vessel and another structure. Fistulas are usually the result of an injury or surgery. Infection or inflammation can also cause a fistula to form

[2] In hemodialysis, a dialysis machine and a special filter called an artificial kidney, or a dialyzer, are used to clean your blood.