PTC Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: PTCT)
PTC Therapeutics, Inc. (PTCT), a biopharmaceutical company on Thursday announced results from their phase 3 ACT DMD clinical trial of Translarna. Translarna is used for the treatment of nonsense mutation Duchenne muscular dystrophy (nmDMD). The trial was able to show that Translarna did slow the disease progression for patients with nmDMD.
PTC Therapeutics, Inc. CEO Comments
“These results show Translarna’s ability to change the course of DMD disease progression. The totality of the data from our two robust placebo-controlled studies across over 400 patients demonstrate a clinically relevant impact on patients’ lives,” said Stuart W. Peltz, Ph.D., chief executive officer of PTC Therapeutics. “We plan to submit these results to the EMA and complete our NDA submission to the FDA by the end of the year. We sincerely thank all the boys and young men, their parents, and the investigators who participated in this study for their commitment.” PR Newswire
PTCT Technical Analysis
PTCT gapped up in price on friday to $33.92, up from the prior day’s close of $31.74 which is a 7% 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 on October 9th when it closed at $34.23. Taking a further look back on the chart, we can see the stock has been in a downward trend dating back to March 17th when the stock was trading at $77.53. There have been a few peaks and valleys but all with the common trend of putting in lower highs. If the stock can break through the $34 price level, the next significant resistance level would be $38 reached on September 18th. The stock has a relatively low float of 30.76 million shares and is trading on over 4.5 times the normal daily trading volume. Both of these factors make the stock a good candidate for the gap and go strategy. The stock did reach pre market highs of $39.18 but gave back $5.26 at the open, or equivalent to 13%. For trading purposes, my entry point would have been $34.00 looking for a move to $35. My stop loss would have been $33.75 fearing anything below that and the stock would start to fill in the gap up.
Company Profile
PTC Therapeutics, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, focuses on the discovery, development, and commercialization of orally administered, small molecule drugs that target post-transcriptional control processes. The companys lead product is Translarna (ataluren), which is in Phase III clinical trials for the treatment of nonsense mutation Duchenne muscular dystrophy in ambulatory patients; and for the treatment of cystic fibrosis caused by nonsense mutations. It also intends to develop Translarna for the treatment of mucopolysaccharidosis type I caused by nonsense mutation, as well as develops spinal muscular atrophy, which is in Phase II clinical program. The companys preclinical development programs include PTC596, a development candidate used for the treatment of chemotherapy resistant cancers; and PTC672, an antibacterial development candidate for the treatment of life-threatening infections caused by multidrug-resistant Gram-negative bacteria. PTC Therapeutics, Inc. has collaborations with F. Hoffman-La Roche Ltd and Hoffman-La Roche Inc., and the Spinal Muscular Atrophy Foundation to develop and commercialize compounds identified under its spinal muscular atrophy sponsored research program. The company was founded in 1998 and is based in South Plainfield, New Jersey. Yahoo Finance
