$SRPT SAREPTA grinding higher, gap approaching
Hopefully you followed our previous winning trades on SRPT and having banked some nice gains.
The next trade setup is to trade the gap with a entry level @ $16.85 and a gap fill target @ $119.
Local rare disease drugmaker Sarepta Therapeutics Inc. is expanding its efforts in the gene therapy field, signing a deal this week with a North Carolina startup to develop up to eight new treatments.
Sarepta (Nasdaq: SRPT) will pay Durham-based StrideBio Inc. $48 million upfront for four potential drugs, with additional milestone payments, in the deal announced Thursday. The Cambridge company also gets an exclusive option to partner on another four drugs for an additional $42.5 million, plus milestone payments, and will invest in StrideBio’s next financing round, according to a press release.
Under the deal, StrideBio will conduct initial research on the first four treatments, which are for Rett syndrome, Dravet syndrome, Angelman syndrome and Niemann-Pick.
Earlier this year, Sarepta expanded its reach beyond rare disease drug development, announcing in August it would develop a gene-targeting treatment for multiple sclerosis, a disease that affects close to 1 million adults in the U.S. The early focus of the StrideBio collaboration is on four rare central nervous system diseases. Sarepta will also have exclusive rights to license four further potential drugs from StrideBio’s pipeline under the deal.
The move puts Sarepta in competition with Novartis (NYSE: NVS), whose subsidiary AveXis is developing a treatment for the rare neurological disorder Rett Syndrome, as well as local startup Stoke Therapeutics (Nasdaq: STOK).
Sarepta made its name by developing the first treatment for the rare disease Duchenne muscular dystrophy. It is currently developing treatments that insert healthy genes into a person’s system for Duchenne and another form of muscular dystrophy.
But Sarepta’s gene therapy for Duchenne was put under the microscope in August when a 7-year-old trial participant suffered a potentially life-threatening complication, which did not require any pause in or changes to the clinical trial.
This is not StrideBio’s first deal with a Massachusetts drugmaker. Earlier this year, the privately held company signed a collaboration agreement with Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. (NYSE: TAK) to develop gene therapies for the rare genetic disease Friedreich's Ataxia and two other undisclosed disease targets. Takeda is in the process of relocating its U.S. headquarters from Illinois to Massachusetts.
The StrideBio collaboration will also involve addressing a industry-wide question around the possibility and effectiveness of giving patients a second, third or subsequent doses. Researchers have questioned whether the body’s immune cells will begin to recognize and fight the viruses used to deliver gene therapies.
Source Bostonnews
Short squeeze potential with a very high 22.14% short interest.
Company profile
Sarepta Therapeutics , Inc. is a commercial-stage biopharmaceutical company, which is engaged in the discovery and development of therapeutics for the treatment of rare diseases. The company was founded on July 22, 1980 and is headquartered in Cambridge, MA.
The next trade setup is to trade the gap with a entry level @ $16.85 and a gap fill target @ $119.
Local rare disease drugmaker Sarepta Therapeutics Inc. is expanding its efforts in the gene therapy field, signing a deal this week with a North Carolina startup to develop up to eight new treatments.
Sarepta (Nasdaq: SRPT) will pay Durham-based StrideBio Inc. $48 million upfront for four potential drugs, with additional milestone payments, in the deal announced Thursday. The Cambridge company also gets an exclusive option to partner on another four drugs for an additional $42.5 million, plus milestone payments, and will invest in StrideBio’s next financing round, according to a press release.
Under the deal, StrideBio will conduct initial research on the first four treatments, which are for Rett syndrome, Dravet syndrome, Angelman syndrome and Niemann-Pick.
Earlier this year, Sarepta expanded its reach beyond rare disease drug development, announcing in August it would develop a gene-targeting treatment for multiple sclerosis, a disease that affects close to 1 million adults in the U.S. The early focus of the StrideBio collaboration is on four rare central nervous system diseases. Sarepta will also have exclusive rights to license four further potential drugs from StrideBio’s pipeline under the deal.
The move puts Sarepta in competition with Novartis (NYSE: NVS), whose subsidiary AveXis is developing a treatment for the rare neurological disorder Rett Syndrome, as well as local startup Stoke Therapeutics (Nasdaq: STOK).
Sarepta made its name by developing the first treatment for the rare disease Duchenne muscular dystrophy. It is currently developing treatments that insert healthy genes into a person’s system for Duchenne and another form of muscular dystrophy.
But Sarepta’s gene therapy for Duchenne was put under the microscope in August when a 7-year-old trial participant suffered a potentially life-threatening complication, which did not require any pause in or changes to the clinical trial.
This is not StrideBio’s first deal with a Massachusetts drugmaker. Earlier this year, the privately held company signed a collaboration agreement with Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. (NYSE: TAK) to develop gene therapies for the rare genetic disease Friedreich's Ataxia and two other undisclosed disease targets. Takeda is in the process of relocating its U.S. headquarters from Illinois to Massachusetts.
The StrideBio collaboration will also involve addressing a industry-wide question around the possibility and effectiveness of giving patients a second, third or subsequent doses. Researchers have questioned whether the body’s immune cells will begin to recognize and fight the viruses used to deliver gene therapies.
Source Bostonnews
Short squeeze potential with a very high 22.14% short interest.
Company profile
Sarepta Therapeutics , Inc. is a commercial-stage biopharmaceutical company, which is engaged in the discovery and development of therapeutics for the treatment of rare diseases. The company was founded on July 22, 1980 and is headquartered in Cambridge, MA.