Biotech stocks rarely perform well during the summer months, and 2019 has proven to be no exception in regards to this historical pattern. The iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF, for example, has fallen by nearly 2% since the official start of summer.
The values of biotech equities, however, do generally start to pick up as the year winds down. The underlying reason is that the latter part of the year is chock-full of key data readouts, regulatory decisions, and thousands of scientific conferences across the globe.
Biotech Stocks To Watch
GT Biopharma (GTBP)
Earlier this quarter GT Biopharma, Inc. (GTBP) an immuno-oncology company focused on innovative treatments based on the Company’s proprietary NK cell engager announced that Jeffrey Miller, M.D. has been hired by the Company as its Consulting Chief Medical Officer.
Further to this, the company confirmed that it had notified FDA that it was commencing enrollment in its first-in-human GTB-3550 Phase I/II clinical trial. The clinical trial is being conducted at the University of Minnesota’s Masonic Cancer Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota under the direction of Dr. Erica Warlick.
GTB-3550 (OXS-3550) is the Company’s first Tri-specific NK cell Engager (TriKE™) product candidate being initially developed for the treatment AML. GTB-3550 is a single-chain, tri-specific scFv recombinant fusion protein conjugate composed of the variable regions of the heavy and light chains of anti-CD16 and anti-CD33 antibodies and a modified form of IL-15.
Since making the announcement, shares of GTBP are up by 13.2%.
NewLink Genetics Corp (NASDAQ:NLNK)
NewLink Genetics Corp (NASDAQ:NLNK) said the FDA has accepted partner Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)’s BLA for its investigational Ebola vaccine, according to the application priority review status. The PDUFA goal date has been set for March 14, 2020.
Potential approval of the vaccine will trigger issuance of a priority review voucher, owned by Merck and in which NewLink has a substantial economic interest. NewLink can then monetize its share of interest in the voucher. The vaccine candidate, originally developed by the Public Health Agency of Canada, was licensed to NewLink.
vTv Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:VTVT)
vTv Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:VTVT) is scheduled to present at the European Association for the Study of Diabetes 55th annual meeting being held in Barcelona, Spain with a new Phase 1/2 Simplici-T1 study of liver-selective glucokinase activator TTP399 as an adjunctive treatment for Type 1 diabetes.
Biotech IPO To Watch
IGM Biosciences priced its IPO of 10.938 million shares at $16, the midpoint of the estimated price range of $15-$17 per share. The shared of the preclinical and clinical-stage immuno-oncology biotech will be listed on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol “IGMS.”
