Biotech Penny Stocks To Watch This Week
If you have been looking at the biotech industry, you’ve likely stumbled upon a few penny stocks. This weekend one of the topics of conversation was the industry and how it has superseded the broader markets. If you look at industry benchmark ETF’s like the Nasdaq Biotech ETF (IBB), you’ll see what I mean.
Despite the S&P (SPY) gapping up on Monday, the ETF is still noticeably lower from its all-time highs. The same is true for the Invesco Nasdaq ETF (QQQ). But if you look at the biotech ETF, not only did it reach fresh highs on Friday, it has also continued trading around those levels to start the week.
Something else to note is that the ETF is overweight in smaller companies. This suggests that traders are looking at this industry and that the benchmark ETF itself is targeting smaller-cap names. So it makes sense that biotech penny stocks are in focus to start the week.
Biotech Penny Stocks To Watch
- Biolase Inc. (NASDAQ: BIOL)
- Zomedica Corp. (NYSE: ZOM)
- Isoray Inc. (NYSE: ISR)
- ObsEva (NASDAQ: OBSV)
- Cocrystal Pharma Inc. (NASDAQ: COCP)
Biolase Inc.
Shares of Biolase have been on the move for the last 30 days. While it was a company we had discussed many times throughout 2020, the latest move has been one of the biggest. In fact, since December 19th, BIOL stock has risen from around $0.285 to highs of $1.38 last week. This week the penny stock is starting things off around 85 cents.
What’s been a driving force for Biolase? The company produces dental lasers. Late last month the Biolase was granted a patent for “Dental laser interface system and method,” which acted as an initial catalyst heading into the new year.
Last week Biolase entered into an agreement with DSO Dental Care Alliance to expand the use of dental lasers throughout DCA’s roster. Dental Care Alliance is one of the largest organizations supporting dentists in the U.S. With as many as 330 dental practices in its organization, and this brings Biolase’s platform to myriad potential customers. Dr. Don Gallo, Chief Clinical Officer for DCA, stated, “Biolase’s EpicX and Epic Hygiene lasers are the standard of care in the dental industry. We believe the adoption of this leading technology…will provide a new standard of care for our hygiene appointments while ensuring a safer environment.”
Zomedica Corp.
This year has been full of excitement. Zomedica has become one of the sources of this. While the penny stock had been steadily creeping up in December, momentum picked up in a big way in January. One of the sources of this momentum was an apparent promotional video from Tiger King star Carole Baskin. It would come to light that Baskin was paid to do a Cameo video mentioning the company and its TRUFORMA product.
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Even with this promotion, Zomedica itself has been at the center of attention for a few months. That’s because of the upcoming commercial launch of TRUFORMA. The company’s focus is on the veterinary industry. TRUFORMA was developed by Qorvo (QRVO Stock Report) and provides a non-optical and fluorescence-free detection for use at the point-of-care in veterinary settings. Official commercial sales are expected to begin by the end of this quarter; specifically March 30th.
In a shareholder update last week, Zomedica CEO, Robert Cohen, said, “Toward the end of 2021, we hope to expand our geographic coverage if market conditions justify such an expansion.”
So with the pending commercial launch and sales strategy for 2021, Zomedica could be one of the names to know, with or without the hype from Carole Baskin.
Isoray Inc.
Isoray is another one of the biotech stocks jumping higher in January. Earlier in the month, analysts at Oppenheimer boosted their price target on the stock from $1 to $1.50. Right now the firm maintains an Outperform rating. The company itself develops medical devices and pharmaceutical compounds specializing in treating cancer.
One of the recent catalysts that have helped give ISR stock a boost is what was announced during the first week of January. The company received FDA 510(k) clearance for the use of C4 Imaging’s Sirius® positive-signal MRI Markers with Isoray’s Cesium-131, brachytherapy seeds. Isoray CEO Lori Woods commented, “This achievement represents another step forward in Isoray’s leadership in providing effective prostate cancer therapeutic tools to patients and the doctors who treat them.”
With things getting off to an active start this week, Isoray has followed the current biotech trend. Premarket saw shares of ISR reach highs of $2.20, 1 cent shy of its 52 week high.
ObsEva
Last week was a big week for ObsEva. The relatively quiet penny stock jumped over 100% between Thursday and Friday with some of the highest daily trading volume seen in over a year. This move came in tandem with the day that presented at the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference on the 14th. Other than that, there weren’t any new announcements from the company.
One of the points of focus, however, has been on ObsEva’s Yselty program. This is the company’s treatment for heavy menstrual bleeding associated with uterine fibroids and pain associated with endometriosis. The late-stage treatment is on the road to commercialization and the company plans on submitting its New Drug Application in the US during the first half of this year.
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One of the notable things about ObsEva is the leadership team and Board, behind it. All of the members and executives have prior experience at some of the largest biotech companies. These include the likes of Roche, Merck, GlaxoSmithKline, Bayer, Novartis, and Celgene, to name a few. With a clear focus on European and US commercialization, it could be a top biotech stock to watch in 2021. However, after the big move last week, can OBSV sustain trading at these higher levels?
Cocrystal Pharma Inc.
Finally, Cocrystal Pharma has caught a jolt of momentum on Monday. The move came after the company announced further development of its influenza A/B antiviral compound. The company completed all research obligations under the Merck exclusive worldwide license and collaboration agreement. This resulted in Merck now being solely responsible for the furtherance of the antiviral compounds.
Gary Wilcox, Ph.D., Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Cocrystal commented, “Under the agreement announced in January 2019, Merck had an option for Cocrystal to perform up to 12 months of additional work if the initial two years of collaboration did not progress as expected. We are pleased our collaboration achieved its goals within the timeline and that there is no need for Merck to exercise the option. As this program advances, Merck is now responsible for funding continued development of the compounds.”
What’s more, is that this week the company presents at NobleCon17 as well as the Reimagine Health Research Symposium. In light of these recent milestones and upcoming presentations, COCP could be a stock to watch.
