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Athenex (ATNX) Stock Soared 173.9% on Positive Trial Results

Simon Mugo trader
Updated 20 Dec 2022

The Athenex Inc (NASDAQ: ATNX) stock price soared 173.9% after its partners at the Quantum Leap Healthcare Collaborative reported positive data from the I-SPY2 clinical trial of its oral paclitaxel plus encequidar in combination with a PD-1 inhibitor and carboplatin.


YOUR CAPITAL IS AT RISK. 76% OF RETAIL CFD ACCOUNTS LOSE MONEY.


The trial demonstrated that oral paclitaxel was associated with less neuropathy when compared to intravenous paclitaxel and did not result in an increase in febrile neutropenia, which is a significant win for the company and breast cancer patients.

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YOUR CAPITAL IS AT RISK. 76% OF RETAIL CFD ACCOUNTS LOSE MONEY

Investors reacted positively to the news, which positions oral paclitaxel as a much superior treatment to intravenous paclitaxel. The distinction between the two forms of the drug gives the company a unique marketing edge and could appeal to more patients.

Today’s announcement was the second significant by Athenex in two weeks after the company announced that it was exiting its 503B sterile compounding business on December 16, 2022. Sales from the 503B division contributed 19% of the company’s total product sales in Q3 2022. 

Athenex decided to quit the 503B business to focus its attention on creating shareholder value by advancing its cell therapy pipeline and monetizing non-core assets.

Dr Johnson Lau, Athenex inc’s EO, said: “We are very pleased that the Oral Paclitaxel combination regimen graduated from this prestigious program which has brought exciting and innovative treatments to neoadjuvant breast cancer patients. This study confirms our finding of less neuropathy for Oral Paclitaxel compared to intravenous paclitaxel in our metastatic breast cancer study. It's reassuring to see that the Oral Paclitaxel regimen was not associated with increased febrile neutropenia relative to the intravenous paclitaxel regimen in a well-conducted U.S. study. We will explore different opportunities to maximize the value of Oral Paclitaxel.”

In November, the company received shareholder approval to increase its common stock's total number of authorised shares and conduct a reverse stock split to bring its stock price in line with the Nasdaq’s continued listing requirements. 

Athenex shares had given up some of their gains at the time of publishing. However, I would wait for a pullback before buying. 

*This is not investment advice.

Athenex (ATNX) stock price.

The Athenex (ATNX) stock price soared 173.85% to trade at $0.3697, from Monday’s closing price of $0.1350.


YOUR CAPITAL IS AT RISK. 76% OF RETAIL CFD ACCOUNTS LOSE MONEY.


Simon has over six years of professional trading experience across FX, commodities and equities. He has a strong passion for financial markets and is particularly focused on price action trading