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TRENDING - Small cap pharma in focus whilst Pfizer dominates blue-chips

Last updated: 05:31 24 Nov 2015 AEDT, First published: 00:31 24 Nov 2015 AEDT

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It would be very tough to take the spotlight of Pfizer’s massive takeover bid for Allergan.

At US$160bn the proposed tie-up between Pfizer and Allergan is the largest in the history of the pharmaceuticals sector.

And whilst both companies, which have about US$65bn of annual sales between them, have vast portfolios both are pretty much known for their respective blockbuster drugs – Viagra and Botox.

Hot Small Caps

Looking past the ‘megamerger’ and it may be a tad notable that a stand-out in the small cap market is another biotech targeting a form of ‘self-improvement’ product.

Shares in M Pharmaceutical (CNSX:MQ, OTCMKTS:MPHMF)  shares jumped around 40% as investors digested news of a new acquisition to boost its weight loss business.

The product is a reformulated version of orlistat (the basis of Roche’s Xenical and GSK’s Alli) which aims to retain anti-obesity efficacy whilst minimizing or eliminating gastrointestinal side effects.

Meanwhile, on social media and the internet forums, a variety of developers of other types of drugs were also in focus.

Among them was Anavex Life Sciences Corp (NASDAQ:AVXL, OTCMKTS:AVXL), an Alzheimer drug developer which rose around 6% today, while another was Elite Pharmaceuticals (OTCNKTS:ELTP) which is working on ‘abuse resistant’ opiods.

Two tid-bits kept Cellceutix Corp (OTCMKTS:CTIX) in the conversation as its Kevetrin drug candidate, a possible treatment of a rare childhood eye cancer, was awarded orphan drug status by the FDA and it also revealed that it had completed enrolment for a Phase 2 psoriasis drug trial ahead of schedule.

The stock rose as much as 10% too.

Monday’s Market Movers

RISERS

Solar3D (NASDAQ: SLTD) climbed 6.9% to US$3.10 after the provider of solar power solutions guided for 2016 revenue above market expectations.

Command Security (NYSEMKT:MOC) surged 20% to US$2.48, after reaching US$2.83 (the highest intraday price since June) due to confirmation of a US$250mln 10-year contract from the US Postal Service.

CTI BioPharma Corp (NASDAQ:CTIC) jumped 9.1% to US$1.20 after the biopharmaceutical company revealed that a preclinical study has shown there’s potential to improve outcomes for certain brain cancer patients.

ADRs of Summit Therapeutics (NASDAQ:SMMT) soared 11% to US$10.70 after the U.K.-based biopharmaceutical company reported ‘outstanding’ results in the phase II trial of ridinilazole, its new C.difficile (CDI) treatment.


FALLERS

Comtech Telecommunications (NASDAQ:CMTL) fell 6.3% to US$20.92. The network hardware group agreed to acquire TeleCommunication Systems (NASDAQ:TSYS) for US$430.8mln enterprise value. TeleCommunications jumped 12.3% to US$4.93.

Baxalta (NYSE:BXLT) surrendered 1.1% to $33.95 after the biopharmaceutical compamy said  an EU medicinal panel adopted a positive opinion recommending marketing authorization for use of ONCASPAR.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) fell 1% to US$4.39, reversing an earlier gain. The clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company and Kennedy Krieger Institute announced a sponsored research collaboration focused on evaluating Viking's novel thyroid beta agonists for the treatment of X-linked adrenoleukodystrophy (X-ALD).

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