Questcor Pharmaceuticals imploded. We said shares would rebound after tuning into the company’s conference call and coming out thinking Questcor’s lead product, H.P. Acthar Gel, would continue to grow at an impressive rate. Shares cut some of their earlier losses to close out the week.
We noted that tax-selling is likely to pressure Targecept throughout the remainder of 2012, particularly given a lack of catalysts until next year. Elsewhere, Vivus quietly launched Qsymia, but enthusiasm was short-lived as guidance that a European (EU) approval may not occur took the wind out of the stock’s sails on Friday.
No final verdict yet, but Jazz Pharmaceuticals remained strong through the week after comments on its Xyrem lawsuit.
The ability to quickly address a Complete Response Letter, or CRL, from the FDA spurred shares onwards as much as 21% in two trading sessions following our coverage of Navidea; we updated our report here.
Merge Healthcare advanced a tad over 5% after we sent subscribers (click here to subscribe) an in-depth analysis pointing to this undervalued name. We continue to believe there is alpha in Merge; several institutional investors have suggested to us that the company may even be a potential take-out target.
Ending the week 15% higher, SciClone beat naysayers’ expectations, as Zadaxin price cuts in China are unlikely to hurt the company as much as some analysts thought. Sources say the company may even be exploring strategic options.
Optimer continued to decline after analysts fanned the flames around the company’s declining Dificid prescriptions. Spectrum Pharmaceuticals ended flat on Friday following our call for share strength on a generic Leucoverin recall and trial initiation.
Our long Achillion/Short Idenix pair trade continues to generate alpha, with Achillion ending the week up 14.5% and Idenix declining 17.7% since Monday. We continue to like this trade, as Achillion appears to be the next potential take-out candidate in the small-cap hepatitis C (HCV) space.
The run-up continues ahead of catalysts for NPS Pharmaceuticals, as we pointed out here. A knee-jerk reaction indeed. Shares of Delcath Systems trended flat to close off the week. Value-seekers should take note of Aeterna Zentaris and its performance this week ahead of a few catalysts and fueled by a new initiation of coverage from broker-dealer, Roth Capital. We expected Synergy Pharmaceuticals to gain on its patent truce with Ironwood, but earlier gains were forfeited by the closing bell on Friday.
Halozyme cratered; PropThink’s research team went to work. Since our newsletter to subscribers (click here to subscribe) back in August, our Halozyme idea has provided investors returns in excess of 100%, or ‘doubling’ of their money. This week, Halozyme was allowed to continue development of its subcutaneous form of Cinryze and performed beautifully on Friday. Here’s a look at what we sent subscriber ahead of the bell.
Pain Therapeutics is up over 15% since we recommended to subscribers on September 10th. Per our report Pain Therapeutics partner, Pfizer, could have a favorable update for investors next month or in early November on a resubmission of Remoxy.
