3 Biotech Stocks To Check Out This Week
The broader stock market appears to be taking a breather after a mostly hot week fueled by earnings. Despite all this, some would argue that biotech stocks remain relevant plays in the current market. Now the slowdown in stocks is likely due to earnings letdowns from tech names such as Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) and Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN). Despite both firms being part of the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite, the S&P 500 is on the decline as well.
Now, how might all this relate to biotech stocks might you ask? Well, for one thing, the industry is a necessity in good times and bad. This is evident from the creation of cutting-edge treatments to vaccines among other things enabled by biotech companies. For instance, we could take a look at the likes of Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ: GILD) and AbbVie (NYSE: ABBV). Firstly, Gilead reported an earnings per share of $2.65 on revenue of $7.4 billion for the quarter. The company handily beat Wall Street’s projections of $1.71 and $6.18 billion respectively. As a result of its current momentum, Gilead is raising its revenue guidance for the fiscal year as well.
At the same time, the likes of biopharmaceutical giant AbbVie continue to break new ground on the research front. Just this week, the company announced notable updates regarding its major depressive disorder and Parkinson’s disease treatments. In essence, both candidates yielded significantly positive results in their respective Phase 3 studies. Accordingly, AbbVie lifted its profit forecasts for the fiscal year and also raised its quarterly dividend payout. Having read all that, you might be interested in biotech stocks yourself. Should that be the case, here are three to know in the stock market today.
Top Biotech Stocks To Buy [Or Sell] Ahead Of November 2021
- Ocugen Inc. (NASDAQ: OCGN)
- Argenx SE (NASDAQ: ARGX)
- AstraZeneca Plc (NASDAQ: AZN)
Ocugen Inc.
Ocugen is a biopharmaceutical company that is focused on discovering and commercializing gene therapies to cure a wide number of diseases. Investors have and continue to watch Ocugen closely thanks to its ongoing Covid vaccine manufacturing deal. By using its breakthrough modifier gene therapy platform, it is able to treat multiple retinal diseases with one drug. Furthermore, its novel biologic product candidate is able to offer better therapy to patients with underserved diseases like wet age-related macular degeneration and diabetic macular edema. OCGN stock has experienced year-to-date gains of over 250%.
Last week, the company announced that it has submitted an Investigational New Drug application (IND) with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to evaluate its coronavirus vaccine candidate, Covaxin. Covaxin is a whole-virion inactivated investigational vaccine candidate that uses the same vero cell manufacturing platform that has been used in the production of polio vaccines for decades. In theory, the Phase 3 trial in the IND will serve to establish whether the immune response experienced by participants in a completed Phase 3 efficacy trial in India is similar to that observed in a demographically representative adult population in the U.S.
This comes after the company’s vaccine was given emergency use approval for children ages 2 to 18 by India’s Subject Expert Committee. Ocugen is currently partnering up with India’s Bharat Biotech to commercialize Covaxin in Canada and the U.S. Also, the two companies are now waiting on word from the World Health Organization on the vaccine’s emergency use application. Given this piece of news, will you consider buying OCGN stock?
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Argenx SE
Argenx is a global immunology company that develops treatments for people suffering from severe autoimmune diseases and cancer. The company is now working with leading academic researchers through its Immunology Innovation Program (IIP) and strives to translate immunology breakthroughs into a world-class portfolio of novel antibody-base medicines.
Last week, the company reported its third-quarter financials and provided a business update. The company currently has three parallel regulatory reviews in its key territories of the U.S., Japan, and the EU. Furthermore, the company seems well-positioned for the planned global launch of efgartigimod for the treatment of generalized myasthenia gravis. Argenx says that, in order to optimize its strategy to make efgartigimod available to patients across the world, it is pursuing innovative partnerships across the world.
This would include signing an exclusive partnership agreement with Medison to commercialize efgartigimod for gMG in Israel. Under the agreement, MEdison will be responsible for seeking requisite regulatory approvals as well. CEO Tim Van Hauwermeiren had this to say, “As part of our commitment to becoming a fully-integrated, global immunology company, we are expanding our efgartigimod development plan to be in at least 15 indications by 2025 while also advancing a series of additional high-potential programs emerging from our Immunology Innovation Program.” With that being said, is ARGX stock worth buying right now?
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AstraZeneca Plc
Last but not least, we have AstraZeneca, a biopharmaceutical business whose innovative medicines are used by millions of patients worldwide. It focuses on key therapeutic areas like Oncology, Cardiovascular, and Immunology among others. With its headquarter in the U.K., the company is one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies and has operations in over 100 countries.
Notably, there is no shortage of updates on the developmental front when it comes to AstraZeneca now. Just last week, the company’s Imfinzi drug candidate produced groundbreaking results in the company’s TOPAZ-1 Phase 3 clinical trials. In detail, the study aims to determine the viability of the drug as a treatment for patients with advanced biliary tract cancer (ABTC). According to AstraZeneca, it is possibly the “first immunotherapy combination to demonstrate superior clinical outcomes” in ABTC patients.
By and large, this would mark the second positive Imfinzi trial this month in relation to the drug being a treatment for gastrointestinal cancers. The earlier case was its HIMALAYA trial in liver cancer. If anything, this would go to show AstraZeneca’s expertise in the biotech field now. All things considered, will you be adding AZN stock to your portfolio anytime soon?
