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If you want to do well with biotech stocks, trade the anticipation of news.
Look at Structure Therapeutics (NASDAQ:GPCR), for example.
On March 8, I learned that GPCR would report Phase 2a 12-week obesity drug data in the second quarter of the year. Knowing that Phase 1 trials had positive results, I anticipated that Phase 2 results could be just as solid — all as we got closer to the data being released on June 3. At the time, GPCR traded at about $36.80.
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By June 3, the stock would hit a high of $62.74, with the company posting positive top-line 2a data. To make money, all I had to do was jump into the stock when I first learned that Phase 2a study results would be released in June and wait.
Typically, you’d want to just jump into an anticipation trade early and jump out before the actual catalyst to avoid a potential sell-the-news reaction.
In this case, the potential reward outweighed the risk with biotech stocks.
Better, we can trade biotech anticipation with nearing trial results, PDUFA (Prescription Drug User Fee Act) dates, U.S. FDA advisory panel dates and FDA decision dates. Granted, the strategy isn’t perfect, but it can help get you into potentially explosive opportunities early.
Here are three other biotech stocks you may want to keep an eye on.
Cybin (CYBN)
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On Aug. 11, the FDA will decide if it will approve MDMA (midomafetamine)-assisted therapy for the treatment of post-traumatic stress (PTSD).
While a recent study did show that MDMA led to a decrease in the severity of PTSD symptoms after 18 weeks for 86% of participants, a FDA panel voted against approval. That’s because they’re concerned about how trials were carried out.
In fact, due to the “profound alterations in mood, sensation, suggestibility and cognition,” the vast majority of the participants were able to accurately guess which treatment they had received after the study ended, the FDA scientists wrote, as noted by NBC News. “As a result, studies are nearly impossible to blind.”
With a good deal of pros and cons to consider, the FDA could still approve its use by mid-August, which could be great news for psychedelic stocks like Cybin (NYSEAMERICAN:CYBN).
Eli Lilly (LLY)
Source: shutterstock.com/Michael Vi
Oversold shares of Eli Lilly (NYSE:LLY) could easily bounce higher on sales of its obesity drugs. And it could easily jump higher with its Zepbound drug being considered for the treatment of sleep apnea.
In June, the company said “results from its phase 3 SURMOUNT-OSA study, which found that Zepbound at the 10-mg and 15-mg doses aced all primary and secondary endpoints in obese patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), both with or without positive airway pressure (PAP) therapy,” as noted by FiercePharma.