ONTY: Shares of Oncothyreon dropped into the mid three dollar range on Tuesday after it was announced by Merck KGaA that all Stimuvax trials were put on hold due to a patient contracting encephalitis in one of the trials.
An investigation is underway to discover the cause of this event - the first of its kind in any of the Stimuvax trials - and, of course, to determine whether or not the encephalitis was Stimuvax related.
According to the PR on Tuesday, the affected patient was part of a trial arm whose participants were given more of the chemotherapeutic agent cyclophosphamide than in other arms.
Merck gave no indication of how long the trials will be on hold, pending the investigation.
For the time being I sold the remaining ONTY shares that I had on hand as a result of this news, although I'll watch the stock, keep an eye on future press releases and possibly buy back in at a later date.
Disclosure: No position.
BDSI: On Monday BioDelivery Sciences issued a press release announcing the positive outcome of a meeting with the FDA on the development program for BEMA Granisetron. BEMA Granisetron is the company’s potential treatment for the prevention of nausea and vomiting associated with cancer therapy and utlitzes the same BEMA technology as BioDelivery's recently approved product, Onsolis.
It'll be quite a while before BEMA Granisetron is near commercialization, but the announcement contains encouraging information for those who view BDSI as a nice long term growth play, as I do.
Disclosure: Long BDSI.
CELH: Shares of Celsius Holdings remained trading for three dollars on Tuesday after the company issued a press release announcing that three flavors of the calorie burning product would be available at Cumberland Farms locations beginning in April of this year. The Cumberland distribution adds to an already robust distribution network in the NorthEast.
If this company's recent revenue growth continues through the next couple of quarters and approaches the $25 million 2010 revenue number recently suggested by CEO Steve Haley, then these three dollar shares are going to be looked back upon as a steal, in my opinion.
Disclosure: Long CELH.
