These Current & Former Biotech Penny Stocks Have Seen A Strong Year So Far
One of the great things about biotech penny stocks is the potential of these companies. There are very few places that offer this kind of early access to potentially life-saving treatments. If you take a look at last year’s pandemic, some of the most unassuming names flourished. That was thanks to the fast-acting business acumen from some of these companies. One of the biggest highlights, at least among penny stock traders, was Novavax (NASDAQ: NVAX).
This was one of the biggest winners of the pandemic, thanks to a quick pivot in treatment focus. The company was working on an influenza treatment when coronavirus cases began picking up. It was then that the company started to flip things around. Fast-forward about a year, and NVAX stock went from under $5 to over $330 thanks to key milestones reached in its vaccine treatment candidate.
Biotech Industry Trends Attract Investors
Something else to note is that big investment continues flooding this industry. Look back at where large positions (via 13F filings) were built. Biotech has stood out for years. According to data from WhaleWisdom, Sector Allocation has clearly shown an overwhelming trend in favor of Health Care related companies:
I think you’ll see the trend I’m talking about above. The green bars represent 13F allocation over time, being very strong in Health Care. Institutional investment managers file 13Fs each quarter. These investors exercise investment discretion over at least $100 million in 13F securities. So this is where you’ll hear about “whales” being in stocks as it refers to larger investors. Why health care and biotech?
Hot Biotech Stocks To Watch
Not only do companies have the potential to achieve what Novavax was able to under the right circumstances, but the industry is also full of big mergers and acquisitions. Early-stage companies develop clinical trial pipelines. Larger companies may then target these smaller firms as buyout candidates.
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For instance, Merck (NYSE: MRK) bought cancer drug research company VelosBio Inc. from Pappas Capital and other investors for $2.75 billion. Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ: GILD) picked up Immunomedics for $21 billion to gain access to a breast cancer treatment, Trodelvy. The list goes on. In this article, we’ll look at a few current and former biotech penny stocks that have continued demonstrating strength in the stock market in 2021.
- GT Biopharma Inc. (NASDAQ: GTBP)
- Second Sight Medical Products (NASDAQ: EYES)
- Daré Bioscience Inc. (NASDAQ: DARE)
- Predictive Oncology Inc. (NASDAQ: POAI)
Biotech Stocks To Watch: GT Biopharma Inc. (NASDAQ: GTBP)
Taking a look at stock charts first, GT Biopharma has seen a strong year in the market. Less than 52 weeks ago, the former penny stock was trading around $2 a share. An uplist to the NASDAQ earlier this year and several key milestones have helped bring some added attention to the company. GT Biopharma focuses on advancing its immune treatment pipeline. The backbone to this pipeline is its tri-specific killer engager technology or “TriKE” treatment. Its solid tumor TriKEs are designed to target breast, lung, gastric, colorectal, and ovarian cancer indications.
The main point of focus for the market right now is on the company’s lead treatment candidate GTB-3550. It’s currently undergoing clinical trials in a Phase 1/2 study in patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and higher-risk myelodysplastic syndrome (HR MDS). In a recent update, the company presented interim data on GTB-3550 at the Raymond James Human Health Innovation Conference.
“We have seen significant reductions in CD33+ cancer cells in four of the last seven patients (57%) treated with doses of GTB-3550 ranging from 25mcg/kg/day to 150mcg/kg/day. This early sign of CD33+ target-specific cancer cell killing is very encouraging as we begin to focus on transitioning to the expanded efficacy part of the current GTB-3550 clinical trial.”
Anthony Cataldo, GT Biopharma Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Furthermore, analysts at B.Riley recently raised their price target to $26 on GTBP stock. This was thanks, in part, to preclinical prostate cancer treatment showing meaningful response to TriKE combined with FT538, a Fate Therapeutics natural killer cell treatment. This week could be another important one for the company as it attends the Sir Anthony Ritossa Global Family Office Investment Summit.
Second Sight Medical Products (NASDAQ: EYES)
Shares of Second Sight have also experienced a strong move over the last year. Despite being down from their 2021 highs, EYES stock has climbed from under $1 to over $5 over the last 52 weeks. Company growth and sector momentum bolstered this trend. The company develops implantable visual prosthetics. The company recently closed a $57.5 million offer to put toward developing its Orion device, among other things. This is the company’s cortical stimulation device providing artificial vision to visually impaired patients.
Are large investors watching EYES stock right now? When we discussed large investors earlier, it’s important to focus on quarterly 13Fs and other things like 13Ds. Certain investors with larger positions periodically file statements like these. In the case of Second Sight, Empery Asset Management recently reported an 8.71% stake in the company.
Biotech Penny Stocks To Watch: Daré Bioscience Inc. (NASDAQ: DARE)
Daré is one of the current biotech penny stocks gaining steam in the market this week. It came in tandem with the company’s presentation on Phase 1 results of its DARE-HRT1 treatment. This is the company’s intravaginal ring (IVR) designed for delivering bio-identical hormone therapy. The treatment targets patients with vasomotor symptoms and genitourinary syndrome associated with menopause.
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“We are highly encouraged by these Phase 1 data as they demonstrate DARE-HRT1’s ability to achieve our dual release objectives,” said David Friend, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer of Daré Bioscience. “In addition to delivering hormone therapy, we believe the IVR technology used in DARE-HRT1 is an important platform technology with the potential to offer a versatile, vaginal drug delivery solution to address a variety of unmet needs in women’s health through its ability to release one or more drugs at desired rates over time and with the added benefit of convenience.”
What’s more, this week, Roth Capital helped give DARE stock a boost. The firm maintained its Buy rating on the penny stock. However, analysts boosted their $9 price target to $11.
Predictive Oncology Inc. (NASDAQ: POAI)
Another one of the biotech penny stocks jumping this week is Predictive Oncology. The company focuses on artificial intelligence for applications in oncology and drug discovery. Earlier this month, the company announced that two of its subsidiaries expanded their services by completing the build-out and qualification of GMP labs. Furthermore, the facilities are expected to increase the potential customer base and enhance the potential for longer-term collaborations.
Further to this, Predictive got a nice boost on June 30th, thanks to new analyst coverage from H.C. Wainwright. The firm started Predictive with a Buy rating along with a $5 price target.
More Biotech Penny Stocks To Watch
While these are some of the more active names, there are plenty more biotech penny stocks that could be on the watch list right now. Other trending names in the stock market today include:
- Vistagen Therapeutics (NASDAQ: VTGN)
- SINTX Technologies (NASDAQ: SINT)
- Sesen Bio Inc. (NASDAQ: SESN)
- Castlight Health Inc. (NYSE: CSLT)
Heading into the new month, quarter, and half of the year, they’ve all been trending as biotech and healthcare captivate investor interest in 2021.
Pursuant to an agreement between Midam Ventures LLC and GT Biopharma (GTBP) Midam has been paid $150,000 for a period from March 1, 2021, to April 1, 2021. This compensation is payment 1 of 12 as part of a 12-month agreement between Midam Ventures LLC & GT Biopharma (GTBP), for a period from March 1, 2021, to February 28, 2022. Midam Ventures LLC expects to be paid $150,000 per month for a total of 12 months by GT Biopharma (GTBP). Midam has been paid an additional $150,000 for a period from April 2, 2021, to May 1, 2021. This compensation is payment 2 of 12 as part of the Agreement. Midam has been paid an additional $150,000 for a period from May 2, 2021, to June 1, 2021. This compensation is payment 3 of 12 as part of the Agreement. Midam has been paid an additional $150,000 for a period from June 2, 2021, to July 1, 2021. This compensation is payment 4 of 12 as part of the Agreement. Midam has been paid an additional $200,000 for a period from July 2, 2021, to July 29, 2021. This compensation is payment 5 of 12 as part of the Agreement. Midam has been paid an additional $200,000 for a period from July 29, 2021, to September 2, 2021. This compensation is payment 6 of 12 as part of the Agreement. We may buy or sell additional shares of GT Biopharma (GTBP) in the open market at any time, including before, during, or after the Website and Information, to provide public dissemination of favorable Information about GT Biopharma (GTBP). Click here for full disclaimer.
