Wednesday, March 29, 2017

AVP-786 for Neurobehaviorial Disinhibition

A new clinical trial AVP-786 was recently posted on the clinicaltrials.gov website. Avanir Pharmaceuticals (the company Concert Pharmaceuticals licensed AVP-786 to) will be initiating AVP-786 for patients who experienced a traumatic brain injury (TBI), and suffer from neurobehavioral disinhibition, including aggression, agitation, and irritability. The phase 2 clinical trial is planning on enrolling 150 patients at 17 U.S. locations. The completion date is estimated to finish in December of 2019. More importantly, this is further validation that Otsuka is committed to furthering AVP-786 for neurological indications. Concert could achieve royalties in the mid single digits to low double digits based on AVP-786 future sales. Thank you for reading.

Thursday, March 9, 2017

CTP-656 Sold to Vertex Pharmaceuticals for $250 Million

Very nice news from Concert Pharmaceuticals on Monday March 6th.  CTP-656 for cystic fibrosis nets $160 million upfront, and another $90 million in milestones for the sale to Vertex Pharmaceuticals, closing by October 31st.  This deal gives Concert around $250 million (in present terms) cash on hand, with a cash runway into 2021.   The focus will be CTP-543 for Alopecia Areata, and to broaden their future pipeline.  With the upfront $160 million, the company will have around $11.50 per share in cash, zero debt.  Below is a 60 minute chart of CNCE.  The stock has gained 76% this week through Thursday. 

Bottom Line:
A well timed move by management to get the cash without diluting shares at extremely undervalued prices.  The future now is with CTP-543 for the initial indication of unmet need Alopecia Areata, and potentially others to follow. Thank you for reading.