6 Top Gainers In Healthcare Sector (XON, ACB, AVXL…)

(RTTNews) - The following are some of today's top gainers in the pharma/biotech sector.

1. Intrexon Corporation (XON)

Gained 21.26% to close Tuesday's (Mar.5) trading at $5.02.

News: Investing legend Bill Miller has given an optimistic view of the Company's financial position.

About the company's "going-concern" declaration in its latest SEC filing, Miller has tweeted "But I think the cause of the big decline, the "going concern" audit warn, will be cured in the next 6 months. XON has multiple sources of funding in my opinion".

The "going concern" notice had spooked investors, with the stock falling more than 18% yesterday.

2. Bionano Genomics Inc. (BNGO)

Bionano is a life sciences instrumentation company that develops and markets Saphyr, a platform for ultra-sensitive and ultra-specific structural variation detection in genome analysis.

Gained 19.32% to close Tuesday's trading at $4.88.

News: A study, which used Bionano system to analyze structural variation in a record 154 humans, has found that Bionano optical mapping identified 8.5 times more large insertions in the same samples than previously reported by the 1000 Genomes Project using short-read sequencing, and 35% more large deletions.

Recent event:

The Company went public on the Nasdaq Capital Market on August 21, 2018, offering its shares at a price of $6.125 per unit.

3. Anavex Life Sciences Corp. (AVXL)

Anavex is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing treatments for Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, Rett syndrome, and other central nervous system (CNS) diseases.

Gained 13.90% to close Tuesday's trading at $2.95.

News: An independent scientific group has published new preclinical data for ANAVEX2-73, which shows for the first time that the drug candidate induces cellular recycling process linked to the prevention and treatment of age-associated diseases.

ANAVEX2-73 has completed a Phase 2a clinical trial and is currently being studied in a Phase 2b/3 study for the treatment of early Alzheimer's disease and a Phase 2 study for Parkinson's disease dementia.

4. Stealth BioTherapeutics Corp (MITO)

Gained 13.33% to close Tuesday's trading at $14.44.

News: The Company announced the partial exercise and closing of over-allotment option in connection with its previously announced initial public offering of ADSs.

Stealth's ADSs began trading on The Nasdaq Global Market on February 15, 2019, at a public offering price of $12 per ADS.

Clinical Trials & Near-term Catalysts:

The Company's lead product candidate is Elamipretide for rare mitochondrial diseases, including primary mitochondrial myopathy, Barth and Leber's hereditary optic neuropathy.

-- A phase III clinical trial of Elamipretide for the treatment of primary mitochondrial myopathy is underway, and it is expected to be fully enrolled during the first half of 2019. -- A phase II/III clinical trial of Elamipretide for the treatment of Barth is ongoing, with an end-of-Phase 2 meeting with the FDA regarding this program is planned during the first half of 2019 to discuss a potential NDA submission. -- Elamipretide is also expected to enter a phase IIb clinical trial for the treatment of patients with geographic atrophy in the first quarter of 2019.

The second clinical-stage product candidate SBT-20, which has completed two Phase 1 clinical safety trials in early-stage Huntington's disease.

The company is also developing SBT-272, a preclinical-stage product candidate, for rare neurodegenerative diseases, such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS. A phase I trial of SBT-272 is expected to be initiated by the end of 2019.

5. Aurora Cannabis Inc. (ACB)

Canada-based Aurora Cannabis produces and distributes medical cannabis products.

Gained 12.19% to close Tuesday's trading at $8.10.

News: Cowen & Co. analyst Vivien Azer has initiated coverage on Aurora Cannabis with an "Outperform" rating and a price target of C$14.

Aurora Cannabis will likely be "among the first Canadian cannabis companies to reach profitability", according to Cowen & Co.

6. Diffusion Pharmaceuticals Inc. (DFFN)

Gained 9.83% to close Wednesday's trading at $3.80.

News: No news

Clinical Trials:

The Company's lead drug candidate is Trans Sodium Crocinate.

A phase III study of Trans Sodium Crocinate to target inoperable glioblastoma multiforme brain cancer, dubbed INTACT, is underway.

The Company was given FDA clearance to conduct a phase II on-ambulance trial of Trans Sodium Crocinate for the treatment of stroke last September.