Down 76%: Is Cortexyme Stock a Bargain?
Yesterday, Cortexyme (NASDAQ: CRTX), a clinical-stage biotech, saw its shares drop by a whopping 76%. The drugmaker's stock crumbled after the company announced that the experimental Alzheimer's disease therapy, atuzaginstat, missed the co-primary endpoints of its phase 2/3 GAIN trial. Atuzaginstat, an experimental drug that blocks the secretion of an enzyme by the bacterium Porphyromonas gingivalis, was the company's best chance at becoming a revenue-generating biopharma in the near future. As such, this mass exodus by shareholders Wednesday afternoon may have been warranted.
Biotech companies that fall sharply in the wake of disappointing clinical trial news can be manna from heaven for bargain hunters, however. As just one example, shares of Exelixis (NASDAQ: EXEL) have now risen tenfold since the devastating clinical failure of cabozantinib as a potential treatment for men with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer. Although it took almost two full years, Exelixis' stock eventually regained its footing after this exact same drug hit the mark in pivotal trials for both kidney and liver cancer.
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Source Fool.com
