Valeritas Holdings (VLRX) was up 41% in premarket trading, and now stands high above its September 11 closing value mid-morning, as reported in SeekingAlpha.
News propelling VLRX to greater highs is the announcement that its cannabis patch delivered 40 milligrams of cannabidiol over 24 hours with decent efficacy in trials.
“CBD was detected within one hour of the start of infusion followed by prolonged elimination at almost steady-state levels still detectable 24 hours after the completion of infusion (total of 48 hours),” wrote Douglas House today. “Peak plasma levels were comparable with a single oral dose of 300 mg.”
Today’s news is not the first such spike for the cannabis patch maker – back at the end of July, we were reporting on a similar result that pushed Valeritas up 14% to near the three dollar mark, and prior to that, the stock experienced positive price movement July 10.
“This study highlights Valeritas’ partnering opportunities to leverage the h-Patch™ technology beyond insulin delivery,” said Valeritas CEO John Timberlake in a July 30 statement. “Subcutaneous infusion is a powerful delivery method for a variety of drugs with solubility, permeability, and first-pass metabolism challenges, and the h-Patch™ may offer a cost-effective alternative means of reliable and patient-friendly drug dosing.”
Since then, the equity slumped as low as a $1.77 September 4.
As of September 11, it was still trading under two dollars, where the stock has now broken that psychological barrier.
Still, VLRX has quite a long way to go to reach a 52-week high of $33.20 attained in September of last year. Perhaps as the patch technology comes closer to market, we’ll see this stock go much higher over time.
