Genocea Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: GNCA)
Genocea Biosciences, Inc. (GNCA), a biopharmaceutical company made an announcement yesterday stating positive data from 6 month analysis of Phase 2 clinical trial of GEN-003 for treatment of genital herpes. The study reached its primary endpoint and showed a statistically significant reduction in viral shedding rate and lesion rates.
Genocea Biosciences, Inc. CEO Comments
“These data confirm the durable virological and clinical effect of GEN-003 to at least six months post dosing and further improve upon the results in our prior Phase 1/2a trial,” said Chip Clark, president and chief executive officer of Genocea. “These data support the potential of GEN-003 to serve as a cornerstone therapy for genital herpes infections with convenient, long term viral shedding and symptom control. Given the excellent results at six months, which reinforce GEN-003’s existing strong profile, upside exists from potential efficacy at twelve months. We look forward to this data in the first quarter of 2016 and to advancing GEN-003 towards an end-of-Phase 2 meeting with the FDA in late 2016.” Business Wire
GNCA Technical Analysis
GNCA gapped up in price yesterday to $7.11, up from the prior day’s close of $5.90 which is a 21% 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 September 28th when it closed at $7.35. Taking a further look back on the daily chart, we can see the stock has been on a downward trend since July 17th when it was trading at $16.06. As recent as September 21st, the stock was trading at $10.67. We can see the stock’s decline has been steeper recently. It will be interesting to see if this move up on news is sustained or if this move is a dead cat bounce. The stock does have a low float of 17.63 million shares and traded on almost 2 times the normal daily trading volume. Both of these factors make the stock a good candidate for the gap and go strategy. The pre market high of the stock was $8.00, meaning that it gave back $0.89 at the open, or equivalent to 11%. For trading purposes, my entry point would have been $7.25 looking for a run to pre market high level of $8.00. My stop loss would have been $7.00, fearing anything below that and the stock would start to fill in the gap up.
Company Profile
Genocea Biosciences, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, discovers and develops novel vaccines and immunotherapies to treat infectious diseases. The company uses its proprietary discovery platform, AnTigen Lead Acquisition System, to design vaccines and immunotherapies that act through T cell immune responses. Its lead product candidate is GEN-003, a therapeutic vaccine or immunotherapy that is in Phase II trials to treat genital herpes infections. It is also developing GEN-004, a Phase II vaccine for the prevention of pneumococcal infections; GEN-001 that is in pre-clinical product candidate for treating chlamydia prophylaxis; GEN-002, which is in pre-clinical stage for the treatment of HSV-2 prophylaxis; and GEN-005 that is in research stage for treating malaria prophylaxis. The company was founded in 2006 and is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Yahoo Finance
