Biotech Penny Stocks Take Center Stage On Monday
One industry has been more active than others this year. I think we can all consider biotech penny stocks among the sector stocks gaining ground in 2020. Much of that has stemmed from coronavirus vaccine development and testing options. Other biotech penny stocks, however, have offered different options outside of “just COVID”.
If you look at the stock market today, tech has obviously shined strong. While investors have doted on the fact that the tech-rich NASDAQ reached all-time highs during a pandemic, take a look at health care. The Select Sector Healthcare ETF (XLV) recently etched its own, new all-time highs this month. It didn’t receive all of the fanfare that tech stocks did. However, it is a telling sign that investors are placing value in health industry-related stocks.
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I don’t think COVID-19 is going anywhere in the near-term. So I’m not saying to only focus or not focus on coronavirus vaccine stocks. But what I am saying is that biotechnology and healthcare penny stocks are making waves in the market. With this in mind, here’s a list of a few names gaining attention this year.
Biotech Penny Stocks To Watch: Revive Therapeutics
Revive Therapeutics (RVVTF Stock Report) (RVV) has made a strong move in 2020. The company focuses on several areas of the healthcare market. It has a treatment it’s working to advance for addressing coronavirus. It also has taken a directive to build IP around psychedelics. With its acquisition of Psilocin Pharma Corp., Revive is developing Psilocybin-based therapeutics in various diseases and disorders.
However, the more recent focus has been on its COVID-19 side. At the end of June, Revive announced the submission of an Investigational New Drug application to the U.S. FDA. This was for a Phase 3 confirmatory study for Bucillamine. The trial is to see Bucillamine as a potential treatment in COVID-19. Once the U.S. FDA allows the IND to go into effect, Revive said it will initiate a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study of Bucillamine in patients with mild-moderate COVID-19 in Q3-2020.
The company has also previously met with Health Canada in a Pre-Clinical Trial Application meeting. Revive also said that it intends to follow up with the submission of the complete CTA package for Health Canada around its Phase 3 study as part of the same multinational clinical strategy.
From a technical perspective, the Revive chart has been following closely with its 50 Day Moving Average. Furthermore, since the end of June, the average daily volume has also been picking up. Will these recent developments continue acting as a catalyst for Revive heading into August?
Biotech Penny Stocks To Watch: Ocugen Inc.
Ocugen Inc. (OCGN Stock Report) is another one of the biotechnology penny stocks we’ve watched frequently. Over the last week, we’ve been following OCGN stock more closely. Last Tuesday, shares started spiking with irregular trading volume and it piqued some interest in the market. That interest continued growing right into the weekend as you may have read up on.
The company offers an ophthalmology portfolio that includes gene therapies, biologics, and small molecules, as well as targets a range of retinal and ocular surface diseases. Its pipeline includes OCU400 and OCU410 for the treatment of inherited retinal disorders. Its OCU200 is for the treatment of wet-AMD, DME, and diabetic retinopathy. Finally, OCU100 is for retinitis pigmentosa and OCU300 is in Phase III clinical trial for the treatment of ocular graft versus host diseases. The company has a strategic partnership with CanSino Biologics Inc. for gene therapy co-development and manufacturing.
This week has gotten off to an even stronger start. This came after the company announced the FDA granted the third Orphan Drug Designation for OCU400. This is in the treatment of RHO mutation-associated retinal degeneration. This is one of the larger mutations within the RP class, representing about 12% of RP patients in the US.
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“Our third ODD for OCU400 from the FDA is an important step towards developing a broad-spectrum treatment for RP and getting a therapy faster to patients who are in desperate need of rescue,” said Dr. Shankar Musunuri, Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of Ocugen. Since July 21st, OCGN stock has climbed as much as 129% so far.
Biotech Penny Stocks To Watch: Ampio Pharmaceuticals Inc.
This was another one of the penny stocks discussed over the weekend. Ampio Pharmaceuticals (AMPE Stock Report) moved higher on Monday. Prior to today, AMPE stock has been on our watch lists frequently. If you remember from our first few articles in April, AMPE stock was gaining attention. It was just after the company was preparing an expanded access FDA protocol to study the possible benefits of its Ampion treatment via nebulizer to targeting Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome induced by coronavirus. Further to this, more progress came in May.
Ampio then filed an IND application for Ampion with the FDA about a week and a half later. From there, the FDA gave clearance to formally begin trials for human testing of its investigational COVID-19 treatment. Last week the company announced that it began enrollment in its Ampion COVID-19 Program. The estimated primary completion date is August 13th with the estimated completion date in mid-November.
There weren’t any further updates on Monday, however, momentum continued driving AMPE stock. During the morning session, shares reached an intra-day high of $1.24. Obviously this is a very extended move for the penny stock. So if AMPE is on your watch list, keep in mind that it has climbed over 70% in the last week alone. Since April, it has jumped as much as 161%.
Biotech Penny Stocks To Watch: Amyris Inc.
Amyris Inc. (AMRS Stock Report) has been one of the biotech penny stocks to watch for the better part of the last 4 months. Shares retreated to lows of $1.40 as the entire market sold off. However, since then, AMRS stock has been on the move. It managed to see a new 52-week high of $6.07 in June, pulled back, and has reversed course after its latest update.
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The company announced the signing of a binding term sheet for a planned COVID-19 RNA (ribonucleic acid) vaccine technology program. The term sheet was signed with the Infectious Disease Research Institute. According to the company, this program combines the Institute’s expertise in combating infectious diseases with Amyris’ fermentation platform technology.
The ultimate goal is creating semi-synthetic squalene-based adjuvants at scale. The Institute’s RNA vaccine platform is expected to offer significant differentiated advantages over other RNA vaccines currently in development and will be further enhanced by a scalable Amyris adjuvant.
John Melo, Amyris President, and CEO said, “We believe synthetic biology can play a significant role in scaling vaccines and therapies that meet the needs of global health crises…We expect first commercial supply of our leading vaccine adjuvant by the end of this year and, assuming successful trials, could have a successful vaccine platform next year.”
