Biotech Stocks to Love: Biogen Inc (NASDAQ:BIIB), OncoGenex …

Biotech Stocks to Love: Biogen Inc (NASDAQ:BIIB), OncoGenex …

Many individual investors have opted to invest in biotech ETFs and mutual funds. The XBI and SBIO funds have performed well because they focus more on small and mid-sized biotech companies. The IBB, which has emerged as something of a proxy for the industry for many investors, is weighted much more heavily to bigger, more proven biotech companies.

The volatility of small- and mid-sized biotech stocks mean they will fall sharply once the inevitable correction comes, whether they have promising drugs in the works or not. The wildcard in the sector is the possibility of a wave of M&A, which could drive up some stocks.

But if picking which company has the next blockbuster drug is tough, anticipating the next M&A target is even trickier. And the longer the biotech rally continues, the more important it becomes to pick the winners from the losers.

On the trading floor, shares of Biogen Inc (NASDAQ:BIIB) gained 1.18% to close at $315.82. On August 19, 2015 Applied Genetic Technologies Corporation (AGTC), a biotechnology company conducting human clinical trials of adeno-associated virus (AAV)-based gene therapies for the treatment of rare eye diseases, announced that its collaboration with Biogen (BIIB), first announced on July 2, 2015 is effective, and Biogen’s equity investment in AGTC has closed, following the expiration of the applicable waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976 and the satisfaction of other customary closing conditions.

OncoGenex Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:OGXI) closed at $2.80 with an increase of 4.09%. The $80.14M company on August 13, 2015 announced second quarter 2015 financial results.

Revenue for the three and six months ended June 30, 2015 decreased to $4.0 million and $5.4 million , respectively, from $4.9 million and $16.7 million for the three and six months ended June 30, 2014 , respectively.

Total operating expenses for the three and six months ended June 30, 2015 were $9.6 million and $16.0 million , respectively, compared to $12.6 million and $32.2 million for the three and six months ended June 30, 2014 , respectively.

Net loss for the three and six months ended June 30, 2015 was $6.0 million , or $0.26 per dilluted common share, and $10.5 million , or $0.46 per dilluted common share, respectively, compared with $7.0 million , or $0.47 per diluted common share, and $15.7 million , or $1.05 per dilluted common share, respectively, for the three and six months ended June 30, 2014 .

As of June 30, 2015, cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments increased to $60.2 million from $47.1 million as of December 31, 2014.

Raptor Pharmaceutical Corp. (NASDAQ:RPTP) Inc ended at $13.07 by gaining 1.40%. The $1.05B company on August 17, 2015 announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the expanded use of PROCYSBI(R) (cysteamine bitartrate) delayed-release capsules to treat children two to six years of age with nephropathic cystinosis. The approved supplement was based on efficacy and safety data from an ongoing long-term extension study in which a cohort of children aged 2 to 6 years were enrolled and treated with PROCYSBI for 12 months. Additionally, data submitted as part of this supplement supported the long-term maintenance of white blood cell cystine levels and renal function in all age groups studied during extended treatment with PROCYSBI. PROCYSBI is now approved for the treatment of nephropathic cystinosis in adult and in pediatric patients 2 years of age and older in the U.S.

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Biotech Stocks to Love: Biogen Inc (NASDAQ:BIIB), OncoGenex …

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