Aerie Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: AERI)
Aerie Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (AERI), a clinical stage pharmaceutical company yesterday announced positive results for the second phase 3 trial for Rhopressa. Rhopressa is an eye drop that is used to lower the intraocular pressure in patients with glaucoma.
Aerie Pharmaceuticals, Inc. CEO’s Comments
“We are very impressed by these Rhopressa™ Phase 3 results from the Rocket 2 study. This product has demonstrated great promise with its novel mechanisms of action, including its ability to target the diseased tissue responsible for elevated IOP in glaucoma. The clear success demonstrated in this clinical trial, combined with the preclinical research to date on the disease-modification potential of Rhopressa™, represent key building blocks in driving Aerie toward becoming a major ophthalmic pharmaceutical company,” said Vicente Anido, Jr., Ph.D., Chairman and Chief Executive Officer at Aerie. Business Wire
AERI Technical Analysis
AERI gapped up in price yesterday to $32.47 up from the prior day’s close of $18 which is a 80% increase in price based on favorable news. Taking a look at the daily chart we can see the last time the stock traded above this price level was back on April 23 when the stock closed at $35.39. The next day on April 24 the stock tanked and reached lows of $12.79 which is equivalent to a 64% drop in price. The stock dropped on that day because their lead candidate Rhopressa failed to meet primary endpoint in Phase 3 registration study. As we can see the stock can be very volatile with news regarding their candidate’s studies. The stock does have a low float of 20.87 million shares and has a high short float of 28%. The stock is also trading on heavy volume almost 6 times the normal trading volume for the day. All these factors make the stock a prime candidate for the gap and go strategy. The stock did reach pre market highs of $37.77, meaning that it gave back $5.30 at the open equivalent to 14%. For trading purposes my entry point would be $32.50 looking for the run up to continue. My stop loss would be $32.00 fearing anything below that and the stock will start to fill in the gap up.
Company Profile
Aerie Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a clinical-stage pharmaceutical company, focuses on the discovery, development, and commercialization of first-in-class therapies for the treatment of glaucoma and other eye diseases. Its product candidates include Rhopressa, which is a once-daily eye drop that reduces intraocular pressure (IOP) in patients with glaucoma or ocular hypertension and is in Phase III registration trials; and Roclatan, a once-daily eye drop to reduce IOP that has completed Phase IIb clinical trial in patients with open-angle glaucoma and ocular hypertension. The company also provides AR-13533, a second-generation ROCK/NET inhibitor that offers additional IOP-lowering effect in patients with glaucoma is in preclinical studies. Aerie Pharmaceuticals, Inc. was founded in 2005 and is based in Irvine, California. Yahoo Finance
