December 6, 2022 4:48pm

The beatdown comes as “believability” and length of small patent (recruitment) testing population, therapeutic and gene editing outcomes are at a low point while some managements fiddle as sector burns

The Biostage (OTCQB: BSTG) Chronicles:  the pump/promote keeps company +$0.15 with 11,220 shares traded (3-month average volume = 2,036 shares). Question how can Hong Yu, president of BSTG and head of DST Capital manage the share pricing without SEC oversight of inflows of Beijing, Chinese capital?

News: Editas Medicine (EDIT -$0.22) had positive safety and efficacy data from two patients in a P1/2 trial investigating EDIT-301, a cell therapy candidate that Editas developed. Safety was measured in both patients, and efficacy data are from only the first patient dosed. <Endpoints News>

Pre-open Indications: 1 Hit and 5 Miss

Why do I keep writing this blog/newsletter; to inform investors, what others won’t say or write!


If I have learned one thing as a former research analyst in a venture and public fund now a journalist; it is that your life and your bank account are largely tied to your knowledge of price movements and questioning pricing targets.

 

The Dow closed DOWN -350.76 points (-1.03%), the S&P close DOWN -57.58 points (-1.44%) while the Nasdaq closed DOWN -225.05 points (-2%)

 

Henry’omics:

We need to understand the macro to comprehend the micro re “our” universe of cell and gene therapy companies …

Indexes tumbled Tuesday, building on the previous session’s losses as fears of even higher rates stoked fears of a recession.

Markets are largely expecting a 50-basis point rate increase at the Fed’s December meeting next week, but remain conflicted over how long the central bank’s interest rate hiking campaign will need to last. <CNBC>

Clients across the board sold more stocks than they bought in November. The findings stem from the firm’s latest Investor Movement Index, which fell to 4.17 in November from 4.25 in October. The index measures how investors positioned, including what they purchased and sold during a four-week period each month. <TD Ameritrade>

Economic Data Docket: The U.S. trade deficit widened in October as exports fell on slow demand for U.S. energy goods such as oil and natural gas. The trade gap in goods and services expanded in October to a seasonally adjusted $78.2 billion, up from a revised $74.1 billion in September. But the report was not as bad as the $80.8 billion shortfall that Econoday economists expected.

News (continued): Editas Medicine (EDIT) data showed that the first patient treated reported a total hemoglobin of 16.4 g/dL — combined with a corpuscular, or average, amount of fetal hemoglobin of 13.8 pg. (picograms) per red blood cell. That number, EDIT said, exceeds a threshold of 10.0 pg./red blood cell, which would suppress the sickling of red blood cells/sickle cell disease. Those numbers come in five months after treatment.

 

Monday’s … RegMed Investor’s (RMi) Pre-Open: “an uptrend after a share pricing purge. End of year trading: Take any profits if a gain hits at least 10%. If new buys go the wrong way, cut losses when the stock is 3% to 4% down, instead of waiting for the 7% rule to trigger.” … https://www.regmedinvestors.com/articles/12731

 

RegMed/Stem/Cell and Gene Therapy’s 35 covered equities’ Advance/Decline (A/D) lines: what happened

  • Tuesday’s advance/decline line opened negative at 10 up/ 23 down and 2 flats, stayed negative with 8 up/ 27 down and 0 flat at the mid-day, ending with a negative close of 5/30 and 0 flat.
  • Monday’s advance/decline line opened negative at 2 up/ 30 down and 3 flats, stayed negative with 4 up/ 31 down and 0 flat at the mid-day, ending with a negative close of 3/32 and 0 flat.

 

Pre-open indication results: 1 Hit < BioLife Solutions (BLFS +$0.07)> and 5 Miss < Solid BioSciences (SLDB -$0.15), Beam Therapeutics (BEAM -$1.19), CRISPR Therapeutics (CRSP -$1.33), Sage Therapeutics (SAGE -$1.91), Ultragenyx (RARE -$0.61)>

 

Key Metrics:

The iShares NASDAQ Biotechnology (IBB) and the SPDR S&P ETF (XBI) indicators:

  • Tuesday, the IBB was down -1.65% and the XBI was down -2.76%
  • Monday, the IBB was down -2.12% and the XBI was down -3.25%

The CBOE Volatility Index (VVIX: INDEX) tracked:

  • Tuesday was up +1.40 points or +6.75% at 22.15
  • Monday was up +1.69 points or +8.87% at 22.75

 

Closing Down (10 of 30):

  • Alnylam Pharmaceuticals (ALNY -$6.56 after Monday’s -$8.20),
  • Intellia Therapeutics (NTLA -$3.03 after Monday’s -$4.11),
  • Sage Therapeutics (SAGE -$1.91),
  • uniQure NV (QURE -$1.41),
  • CRISPR Therapeutics (CRSP -$1.33 after Monday’s -$2.39),
  • Fate therapeutics (FATE -$1.26),
  • Beam Therapeutics (BEAM -$1.19 after Monday’s -$2.45),
  • Ionis Pharmaceuticals (IONS -$0.95 after Monday’s -$1.34),
  • Prime Therapeutics (PRME -$0.74 after Monday’s +$0.86),
  • Ultragenyx (RARE -$0.61),

Closing Up (5 of 5):

  • Caribou Biosciences (CRBU +$0.21),
  • Biostage (OTCQB: BSTG +$0.15),
  • Compass Therapeutics (CMPX) +$0.12)
  • BioLife Solutions (BLFS +$0.07 after Monday’s -$3.03),
  • Bellicum Pharmaceuticals (BLCM +$0.03),

 

Q4 – December

  • Tuesday closed negative with 5 incliner, 30 decliners and 0 flat
  • Monday closed negative with 3 incliner, 32 decliners and 0 flat
  • Friday closed positive with 29 incliner, 5 decliners and 1 flat
  • Thursday (12/1/22) closed negative with 8 incliner, 24 decliners and 3 flats

 

The BOTTOM LINE: I try to keep it simple … and short!

The cell and gene therapy sector extended its losses on Tuesday, again.

As the glow comes off the sector of the past years rapidly fades, I believe the sector will become more focused on the status of clinicals, share pricing and guidance from management teams who have FORGOTTEN the investors while focused on lining their own pockets with OUTSIZED G&A “obligations”. Communication MUST will be driven by a constant out-reach to individual investors.

Volume rose on the Nasdaq versus the same time on Monday.

Just 18 trading days remain in 2022.

One aspect driving this market and conversely the cell and gene therapy sector – FEAR of more Fed rate hikes; the probability the Fed will raise rates by 0.5% in its meeting next week is pegged at 77%, while odds for a 75-basis-point hike are 23%.

At any given time, not many stocks are flashing buy signals, while shakeouts and sector rotations can make holding onto positions difficult.

Avrobio (AVRO closed down -$0.0489 to $0.83 after Monday’s +$0.0169 and Friday’s -$0.0228) filed a S-3 for $250 million common stock, preferred stock, debt securities, warrants and unit offering within draft prospectus by Cowen as stock sinks while delisting continues? Just another “screw-job” of investors! < Read, SELL and Weep - see hyperlink below> Avrobio (AVRO) files S-3 (Registration Statement) for offering with draft prospectus by Cowen … https://investors.avrobio.com/node/9116/html

·         Also, RA Capital has sold its position in the company – a sign of dissatisfaction!

·         President, CEO and director Geoff Mackay carries home a HUGE salary of $754.39 K per year?

As I continually question, “The real question that should be asked is how many companies are at the end of sentiments …  leash?

 

Opinions expressed are those of the author and are subject to change, and not intended to be a forecast of future events, a guarantee of future results, nor investment advice.

Whether information or intelligence is good, bad or somewhere in between; I put into context what is relevant and useful for investors.  All investments are subject to risks. Investors should consider investment objectives.

Henry McCusker, the editor and publisher of RegMed Investors does not hold or have positions in securities referred to in this publication.

Regulation Analyst Certification (Reg AC): The research analyst primarily responsible for the content of this report certifies the following under Reg AC: I hereby certify that all views expressed in this report accurately reflect my personal views about the subject company or companies and its or their securities. I also certify that no part of my compensation was, is or will be, directly or indirectly, related to the specific recommendations or views expressed in this report.