Gainers & Losers Of Apr.4: INNL, BNTC, PRTK, CRVS, STDY...

(RTTNews) - The following are some of the biotech stocks that made their way onto the Day's Gainers & Losers' list of April 4, 2017.

GAINERS

1. Innocoll Holdings plc (INNL)

Gained 42.19% to close Tuesday's (Apr.4) trading at $1.82.

News: Innocoll Holdings is likely to be acquired by Boston based investment fund Gurnet Point Capital, reports Reuters.

Last month, Innocoll confirmed that it is in discussions which may or may not lead to an offer for the entire issued share capital of the Company.

2. Benitec Biopharma Limited (BNTC)

Gained 34.39% to close Tuesday's trading at $4.10, continuing its rally for the second straight day.

News: On Apr.3rd the Company announced that key pre-clinical data on oculopharyngeal muscular dystrophy (OPMD) were published in Nature Communications, an open access scientific journal.

BB-301, the Company's drug candidate for OPMD, is currently in preclinical development and IND-enabling studies are expected to be initiated later this year.

3. Cyclacel Pharmaceuticals Inc. (CYCC)

Gained 27.26% to close Tuesday's trading at $8.17, continuing its rally for the second straight day.

News: On April 2nd, the Company presented preclinical data demonstrating the therapeutic potential of its drug candidate CYC065 as a targeted anti-cancer agent.

The data showed that CYC065 substantially inhibited growth, triggered apoptosis, and induced anaphase catastrophe in murine and human lung cancer cells with known high metastatic potential.

CYC065 is in a phase I, first-in-human trial to evaluate safety, tolerability and pharmacokinetics in patients with solid tumors. The trial is at an expanded sixth dose escalation level with the objective of determining maximum tolerated dose and recommended dosing for phase II.

4. Paratek Pharmaceuticals Inc. (PRTK)

Gained 22.85% to close Tuesday's trading at $22.85.

News: The Company's phase III study comparing once-daily oral and IV Omadacycline to approved antibiotic Moxifloxacin in the treatment of patients with community-acquired bacterial pneumonia met the endpoints.

In the study, dubbed OPTIC, Omadacycline met the FDA-specified primary endpoint of statistical non-inferiority compared to Moxifloxacin at the early clinical response 72-120 hours after initiation of therapy.

The OPTIC study represents the second positive phase III registration study of Omadacycline, which will be used to support marketing applications to the FDA and the European Medicines Agency.

5. Mesoblast Ltd. (MESO)

Gained 16.11% to close Tuesday's trading at $10.38.

News: On Apr.3rd, the Company announced that a heart disease trial using its proprietary allogeneic mesenchymal precursor cells to grow heart muscle in children with hypoplastic left heart syndrome was cleared by the FDA.

The 24-patient trial is sponsored and funded by the Boston Children's Hospital with support from Bulens and Capozzi Foundation and the Ethan Lindberg Foundation.

Mesoblast's product candidate MPC-150-IM is currently being evaluated in a phase III trial in up to 600 patients with New York Heart Association (NYHA) Class II/III chronic heart failure (CHF) and in a United States National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded phase IIb trial of 159 patients with NYHA Class IV CHF in conjunction with implantation of a left ventricular assist device (LVAD).

Near-term catalyst:

The Independent Data Monitoring Committee is expected to interpret the results of the interim analysis of the ongoing phase III trial in chronic heart failure shortly.

6. TRACON Pharmaceuticals Inc. (TCON)

Gained 14% to close Tuesday's trading at $4.10.

News: The Company is scheduled to make a presentation at the 16th Annual Needham Healthcare Conference at 2:20 pm EDT on Wednesday, April 5, 2017, at the Westin Grand Central Hotel in New York, NY.

7. Diffusion Pharmaceuticals (DFFN)

Gained 12.01% to close Tuesday's trading at $4.01.

News: The Company has been awarded U.S. patent for its lead drug candidate trans sodium crocetinate (TSC) as therapeutic in 5 hypoxia-related indications.

David Kalergis, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Diffusion, commented, "Receiving the patent from the USPTO validates the potential of TSC to serve as a primary therapeutic agent in many conditions involving hypoxia and expands our patent estate. We look forward to advancing the clinical development of our lead compound".

LOSERS

1. Corvus Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (CRVS)

Lost 49.98% to close Tuesday's trading at $10.36.

News: On Apr.3rd, the Company filed a shelf registration statement on Form S-3 with the SEC.

Once the shelf registration is declared effective by the SEC, it will permit the Company to offer and sell up to $250 million in the aggregate of the securities (Common Stock, Preferred Stock, Warrants, Units) from time to time in one or more offerings.

Today, the Company announced interim safety and efficacy results from its ongoing Phase 1/1b study, which showed that treatment with CPI-444 as a single agent and in combination with atezolizumab (Tecentriq) was well tolerated and resulted in anti-tumor activity in patients with multiple types of advanced solid tumors, including those resistant or refractory to prior treatment with anti-PD-1 or anti-PD-L1 antibodies.

2. Stellar Biotechnologies, Inc. (SBOT)

Lost 17.68% to close Tuesday's trading at $1.35.

News: No news

Recent event: On Mar.13th, the Company signed a technology transfer and purchase agreement with Matrivax Inc., a vaccine biotechnology company.

As per the agreement terms, Stellar will transfer its proprietary rights and know-how of immunogens and vaccine technology for a life-threatening pathogenic bacteria known as Clostridium difficile to Matrivax, and in turn, receive upfront fee and future royalties.

3. TearLab Corporation (TEAR)

Lost 13.06% to close Tuesday's trading at $2.13, continuing to plunge for the second day.

News: No news

Recent event: On Mar.9th, the Company reported Q4 and full-year 2016 financial results.

The net loss for the fourth quarter of 2016 was $4.3 million or $0.81 per share on revenue of $7.1 million. This compared with a net loss of $8.9 million or $2.64 per share and revenue of $6.8 million in the year-ago quarter.

4. SteadyMed Ltd. (STDY)

Lost 11.33% to close Tuesday's trading at $6.65. A pullback after having had gained over 145% over the last 2 trading days.

News: No news

Recent event: On March 31, 2017, the Company received a favorable ruling in the Inter Partes Review (IPR) proceeding against United Therapeutics covering patent No. 8,497,393.

The patent in question, No. 8,497,393, is related to a process to further purify prostacyclin derivatives, such as Treprostinil. Treprostinil is the active pharmaceutical ingredient used in United Therapeutics' Remodulin and SteadyMed's lead drug candidate, Trevyent, for the treatment of Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension (PAH). In its ruling, the PTAB found all 22 claims in the '393 patent unpatentable and cancelled them, rendering the patent invalid.

SteadyMed remains on-track to submit a NDA for Trevyent by the end of the second quarter of 2017.