This morning, MarketWatch's Michael Shulman listed some of what he sees are the hottest bargain biotech stocks for this year: Cerus, Curis, Compugen, Spectrum Pharmaceuticals and Impax Laboratories.
Cerus: Cerus makes the Intercept blood system to inactivate pathogens in blood components so the blood can be used in transfusions. While the product is approved in Europe, the approval has been held up by one member of the FDA, even though Cerus hit the primary endpoints in its pivotal Phase III trial and is receiving grants from the Defense Department. But Shulman says company management should stand up to the agency and work for approval.
Curis: Curis is a drug development company that is seeking to create new targeted small molecule drug candidates for cancer. The company has several ongoing clinical trials and boasts partners like Genentech and Debiopharm. And earlier this month, the company chose CUDC-907, an orally available, synthetic small molecule inhibitor of phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase and histone deacetylase as a development candidate from its targeted cancer programs. Shulman thinks the company's technology will be succesful, meaning the now $2 stock could be worth $40-plus.
Compugen: Israel's Compugen bills itself as a drug and diagnostic product candidate discovery company. Compugen's discovery efforts are based on a decade-long focus on in silico prediction and selection of therapeutic and diagnostic product candidates using a growing number of field-focused proprietary discovery platforms accurately modeling biological processes at the molecular level. Late last month, the company said it had entered into an agreement with Baize Investments through which it will receive $5 million in R&D funding. The company has collaborated with titans Pfizer and Merck, as well as Bayer, Seattle Genetics and Medarex.
Spectrum Pharmaceuticals: Spectrum has several FDA-approved products, including Zevalin and Fusilev. Other drugs it has in development are Belinostat, a novel HDAC inhibitor in late stage clinical development for peripheral T-cell lymphoma, and other solid tumors; apaziquone, which is being investigated in the treatment of non-invasive bladder cancer; Ozarelix, for the treatment of prostate cancer and Ortataxel, for the treatment of taxane-refractory tumors.
Earlier this month, Spectrum reported that the first patient has been dosed in Japan in a Nippon Kayaku-sponsored Phase I study of apaziquone in bladder cancer. Shulman notes that the risk in this stock is high--it could be cut in half or worse on bad news from one of ongoing several clinical trials. But positive study results could take this stock from below $7 to $32 in one to three years, he adds.
The final company he lists, Impax Laboratories, is known for its generic products. The company is eyeing Pfizer's Lipitor as a potential target, as it has figured out how to make a generic version of the blockbuster drug. Shulman expects the company to market it through a partner either in November of this year or six months later in May 2012.
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