Gemphire Therapeutics Inc. (NYSE: GEMP)
Gemphire Therapeutics Inc. (GEMP), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company yesterday announced top-line data from its phase 2b COBALT-1 trial.
The COBALT trial evaluated gemcabene which is used treat HoFH a rare genetic disease. Gemcabene achieved its primary endpoint for LDL cholesterol in the phase 2b HoFH trial.
Gemphire Therapeutics Inc. CEO’s Comments
“We are excited by these results from our COBALT-1 Phase 2b trial in HoFH patients,” said Steven Gullans, Ph.D., Interim CEO of Gemphire Therapeutics. “Gemcabene’s mean LDL-C reductions compare favorably with the LDL-C reductions, generally 15-25%, observed for approved therapies to treat HoFH patients and are consistent with the LDL-C reductions seen in our prior hypercholesterolemia trials. These data continue to support gemcabene’s complementary mechanism of action, which is additive to existing lipid lowering therapies.” Globe Newswire
GEMP Technical Analysis
GEMP opened trading yesterday at $11.99 which was up from the previous day’s trading close of $11.84. GEMP closed trading yesterday at $12.27 and spiked up after market to $13.50, equivalent to a 10% increase from the closing price. Taking a look at the daily chart we can see the last time GEMP traded above these levels we have to go back to September 1st, 2016 when it traded at highs of $13.87.
Taking a closer look at the daily chart we can see that before the spike up GEMP had been in an overall upward trend dating back to May 31st when it traded at $9.90. GEMP has a float of 4.86 million shares and traded 1.05 times the normal daily trading volume on Wednesday.
For trading purposes, I would like to see GEMP open trading on Thursday above $13.10 and if it does I would be looking to take a long position at the bell. My stop loss would be $0.20 from my entry position fearing anything more than that and the stock would start to fill in the gap up.
Company Profile
Gemphire Therapeutics Inc., incorporated on October 30, 2014, is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company. The Company is engaged in the development and commercialization of therapeutics to treat cardiovascular and metabolic diseases. The Company is developing its product candidate, gemcabene (CI-1027), a once-daily, oral therapy, for patients who are unable to achieve normal levels of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) or triglycerides with approved therapies, primarily statin therapy. Gemcabene is liver-directed and inhibits apolipoprotein C-III (apoC-III) protein in the liver and may inhibit acetyl-CoA carboxylase (ACC) in the liver. Gemcabene blocks the overall production of hepatic triglycerides and cholesterol. Gemcabene has been tested as monotherapy and in combination with statins and other drugs in over 895 subjects, across approximately 18 Phase I and Phase II clinical trials. Gemcabene is used as an adjunctive therapy to reduce LDL-C, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP), and triglycerides.
The Company is focused on a spectrum of indications for dyslipidemia patients ranging from the orphan indication homozygous familial hypercholesterolemia (HoFH) to prevalent conditions, such as heterozygous familial hypercholesterolemia (HeFH), atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) and severe hypertriglyceridemia (SHTG), as well as strategies for leveraging gemcabene’s additive LDL-C lowering characteristics and a lack of drug-drug interaction with statins to pursue combination therapies. The Company is also exploring the utility of gemcabene in Nonalcoholic Steatohepatitis (NASH) and/or Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD). Gemcabene has received orphan drug designation for the treatment of HoFH. As part of a nonclinical toxicology program, over 30 exploratory and definitive single and repeated-dose toxicity studies with gemcabene were conducted in mice, rats, dogs and monkeys. Reuters
