June 6, 2023 4:52pm

With four (4) positive closes following 2 negative closes and a holiday

Pre-open Indications: 2 Hit and 1 Miss

Financing:  Ions Pharmaceuticals (IONS) intends to offer, subject to market conditions and other factors, $500 million aggregate principal amount of Convertible Senior Notes due 2028 in a private placement. IONS expects to use a portion of the net proceeds from the offering to repurchase for cash certain of its 0.125% Convertible Senior Notes due 2024

Subscription is coming, it is not conscription but, an offer to join our collective of like-minded investors!  Join me … in the NO spin zone.

If you want facts to expose share pricing facts to save your portfolio for deliberate decisions, bookmark this site!

 

If I have learned one thing as a former research analyst in a venture and public fund, operating executive, adjunct (MBA) business school professor now a journalist; it is that your life and your portfolio are largely tied to your knowledge of price movements and questioning pricing targets.

 

The Dow closed UP +10.42 points (+0.04%), the S&P closed UP +10.06 points (+0.24%) while the Nasdaq closed UP +46.69 points (+0.36%)

 

Henry’omics:

We need to more than consider the economic environment rising rates and inflation to comprehend the micro re “our” universe of cell and gene therapy companies.

Tuesday, indexes closed up as next week’s Fed policy meeting gets closer.

The Cboe Volatility Index, known as the VIX and the fear gauge, hit a low of 14.32 today, reaching its lowest level since July 2021 on an intraday basis. The VIX closed below 15 on Friday, the first close below that threshold since February 2020.

 

Monday (6/6) … RegMed Investors’ (RMi) pre-open: “The sector is coming off a barely up session. Stem, cell and gene therapy’s kumbayas this week in Boston, MA (BIO) and Winston-Salem, NC (World Stem Cell Summit).” … https://www.regmedinvestors.com/articles/12989

 

Pre-open Indications: 2 Hit <Ultragenyx Pharmaceuticals (RARE +$0.23), Sage Therapeutics (SAGE +$1.81)> and 1 Miss < BioLife Solutions (BLFS +$0.40)>

 

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

  • Tuesday’s advance/decline line opened positive at 24 up/ 8 down and 3 flats, stayed positive with 26 up/ 8 down and 1 flat at the mid-day, ending with a positive close of 29/6 and 6 flat
  • Monday’s advance/decline line opened negative at 11 up/ 23 down and 1 flat, flipped positive with 19 up/ 15 down and 1 flat at the mid-day, ending with a BARELY positive close of 18/17 and 0 flat

 

Key Metrics:

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

  • Tuesday, the IBB was down -0.39% and the XBI was up +1.49%
  • Monday, the IBB was up +0.38% and the XBI was up +0.35%

The CBOE Volatility Index (VVIX: INDEX) tracked:

  • Tuesday was down -0.72 point or -4.89% at 14.01
  • Monday was up +0.17 point or +1.16% at 14.75

 

Closing Down (6 of 6):

  • Chinook Therapeutics (KDNY -$0.33 after Monday’s -$0.11),
  • MiMedx (MDXG -$0.07),
  • Biostage (OTCQB: BSTG -$0.06 after Monday’s -$0.33)
  • Mesoblast (MESO -$0.06),
  • Precigen (PGEN -$0.04),

Closing Up (10 of 29):

  • Intellia Therapeutics (NTLA +$2.35 after Monday’s +$0.31),
  • Blueprint Medicine (BPMC +$1.98 after Monday’s -$2.20),
  • Sage Therapeutics (SAGE +$1.81 after Monday’s +$2.11),
  • CRISPR Therapeutics (CRSP +$1.54 after Monday’s -$1.96),
  • Verve Therapeutics (VERV +$1.21 after Monday’s +$0.47),
  • Vericel (VCEL +$1.18),
  • Ionis Pharmaceuticals (IONS +$1.07 after Monday’s +$0.41),
  • Regenxbio (RGNX +$0.88 after Monday’s -$0.50),
  • Voyager Therapeutics (VYGR +$0.85 after Monday’s +$0.36),
  • Editas Medicine (EDIT +$0.81 after Monday’s -$0.23),

 

Q2/23 – June

  • Tuesday closed positive with 29 incliners, 6 decliners and 0 flat
  • Monday closed positive with 18 incliners, 17 decliners and 0 flat
  • Friday closed positive with 26 incliners, 8 decliners and 1 flat
  • Thursday closed positive with 28 incliners, 7 decliners and 0 flat

 

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

I follow the dictum, quoting Churchill that “short words are best, and the old words when short are best of all.”

Right up front, “I also hate to be so negative or contrarian but, this is a NO spin zone and truth is its product; I can always be WRONG but, I am mostly EARLY!”

At ANY time, this week, be ready to take partial profits and exit losers.

As I have stated, “The cell and gene therapy sector WILL be experiencing yet another “flight of Icarus” …  since “our” universe have oscillated between gains and losses since the first of 2023!”

Yet, there is VALUE out there however, it’s about playing or betting the timing of the sector. Even as I had stated, “I wouldn’t be buying into this rally … I would be selling into this upside!”

 

The top three (3) performing in the session:

·         Tuesday: Blueprint Medicine (BPMC), Intellia Therapeutics (NTLA) and Sage Therapeutics (SAGE) – again

·         Monday: Sage Therapeutics (SAGE), Prime Medicine (PRME) and Ionis Pharmaceuticals (IONS)

While The worst three (3) in the session:

·         Tuesday: Chinook Therapeutics (KDNY), MiMedx (MDXG) and Biostage (OTCQB: BSTG)

·         Monday: Blueprint Medicine (BPMC), CRISPR Therapeutics (CRSP) and Alnylam Pharmaceuticals (ALNY) – again

 

WHY (?) do I keep posting, so investors can get a daily update of the sector's share pricing and some individual companies TRUTHS while electronic trading chews on our portfolio edges.

I am definitely considered a contrarian depending on the session – one has to be a watcher of the ups and downs as well as measurer of sentiment. I am also a NO trust investor but, a validate and verify journalist/analyst.

Check your portfolio reports: Vanguard Group was fined and censured by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) for errors appearing in about 8.5 million customer account statements.

 

The NO spin zone! U.S. public shareholders deserve facts and accountability …

 

Biostage (OTCQB: BSTG) … so many issues from the past as many of those “miscreant management” members are still employed!

Tuesday closed down -$0.06 with 1,100 shares traded after Monday closed down -$0.33 with 500 shares traded, Friday close up +$0.20 with 1,141 shares traded, Thursday closed down -$0.17 with 1,610 shares traded, Wednesday closed flat and last Tuesday closed down -$0.13 with 2,718 shares traded <3-month average =1,474 shares>

·         Biostage (OTCQB: BSTG) finally announced a clinical trial initiation for an IND that was approved on 3/20/2020 – what’s with the time (3 years and 2 months) interval?

·         They wouldn’t have had the IND unless I (Henry) had brought in an FDA specialist and worked so many hours diligently with him and others to NOT be paid!

·         Question: Review the number of shares traded on a weekly and monthly basis … is OTCQB: BSTG a Ponzi scheme (with their pump/promote buy and sell agenda) as shares are bought to replace those sold?

·         Accumulated deficit:  $85,901 M – still NO product in sight – a 4-to-5-year clinical trial BEFORE they can evolve to a pediatric protocol!

·         Hopefully, BSTG will pay the new CRO having tried to NOT pay the former CRO with them having to squeeze there arrears almost NOT filing the old IND so BSTG had to pay-up after I had worked out the pay plan!

 

My question that resounds, 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.