BST Trade Alert – August 31, 2015
Recommendation:
Buy Capricor Therapeutics (NASDAQ: $CAPR) up to $5.00 per share.
About the Company:
Capricor Therapeutics is focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of first-in-class therapeutics for the treatment of diseases. They are doing some interesting things in the field of cardiovascular disease.
Their lead programs target post myocardial infarction (heart attack), heart failure and Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. They have two leading product candidates under investigation.
CAP-1002 is a cardiac cell therapy and Cenderitide is a natriuretic peptide receptor agonist. In addition, the company is conducting research and development on its exosomes platform technology.
They’re coming off a very productive second quarter…
CAPR recently received FDA clearance for the HOPE-DUCHENNE Phase I/II trial of cardiosphere derived cell therapy, CAP-1002, for the treatment of Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD)-related cardiomyopathy.
They also received orphan drug designation from the FDA for CAP-1002 for the treatment of DMD-related cardiomyopathy. And they completed enrollment of the DYNAMIC clinical trial of CAP-1002 for the treatment of advanced heart failure.
Their last quarter ended on June 30, 2015. They finished the quarter with about $20.5 million in cash and another $0.6 million available from a loan granted by the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM).
CAPR recently raised about $17.0 million in two private stock placements.
Research and development expenses are currently running about $3.4 million per quarter as they ramp up their current clinical trials.
About the Drug:
Cenderitide belongs to a class of drugs called natriuretic peptides. Preclinical and clinical data have shown that the natriuretic peptide class can act on multiple disease processes that play a role in negative outcomes associated with heart failure.
Cenderitide is in development for the outpatient treatment of patients following an acute admission for heart failure, as well as other potential indications. Cenderitide was designed by scientists at the Mayo Clinic to be the only dual natriuretic peptide receptor agonist. Cenderitide is currently not an approved product and is strictly for investigational purposes.
About the Market for This Drug:
Capricor Therapeutics’ lead product candidates currently target the prevention and treatment of heart failure and heart attacks, which make up a substantial portion of the $204.4 billion total estimated annual costs of heart disease in the U.S.
According to the American Heart Association, heart failure is the leading cause of hospitalization among adults older than 65 years of age in the United States and is responsible for over 1 million hospital admissions annually. Among those patients that have been admitted, approximately 24% are re-hospitalized within one month, and 50% are re-hospitalized within six months.
About the Potential Catalyst:
A phase II clinical trial of Cenderitide is currently under way and results are expected by the end of the year.
Cenderitide is in development for the outpatient treatment of patients following an acute admission for heart failure, as well as other potential indications.
Their CEO Linda Marban Ph.D. said, “Given the enormous unmet clinical need and heart failure being responsible for over 1 million hospital admissions annually and the staggering re-admission rates for these patients, the goal of this trial is to develop the potential use of Cenderitide as a therapy for patients with clinically advanced heart failure. We believe that, if approved, Cenderitide administered via a patch pump delivery system such as the OmniPod® drug delivery system could keep patients out of the hospital and potentially lower overall costs on the healthcare system.”
Needless to say, if this treatment is approved, it would be a windfall for CAPR.
About the Shares:
CAPR is currently trading for $4.39. The stock is more than 50% below the 52-week high of $10.68. But even after that significant correction, the stock is still up about 15% this year.
Key Facts:
Company: Capricor Therapeutics
Ticker: CAPR
Recent Price: $4.39
Market Cap: $70 million
Average Daily Volume: 70.71K shares
Chart:
Category: BST Trade Alert
