Apexigen (APGN) Stock Jumped 126.8% on Positive Stock Rating

The Apexigen Inc (NASDQ: APGN) stock jumped 126.8% after EF Hutton Acquisition Co. initiated coverage of the stock with an $8.00 price target and a buy rating. The rating was issued on Wednesday, January 4, 2022, reigniting investor interest in the company.

The last significant announcement from the company was the release of its Q3 earnings results on November 15, 2022, where its earnings per share rose to $0.41, representing a slight improvement to last year’s $0.40 figure.

The biopharma company also announced positive phase 2 clinical trial results after evaluating its lead drug candidate, sotigalimab, in combination with doxorubicin, the standard of care, in patients with advanced soft tissue carcinoma. 

Apexigen reported that in the patient subgroup suffering from liposarcoma, the second most common STS, treatment with the combination of sotigalimab and dox resulted in a median progression-free survival (mPFS) of 12.45 months compared to the historical mPFS of less than 5 months in patients treated solely with dox monotherapy.

The positive data should have been enough to trigger a rally in APGN stock, but it wasn’t, as the stock remained out of the radar of most investors. However, the situation seems to have reversed as investor interest in APGN stock is relatively high. 

Over 3.94 million APGN shares had changed hands at the time of writing as retail investors flocked to the stock following the recent buy rating and impressive price target from EF Hutton. 

After releasing the positive phase 2 clinical trial data, Apexigen said the study's results supported the trial's expansion by recruiting another 10 patients and registering for a phase 3 clinical trial, which could fast-track the commercialisation of sotigalimab. 

Apexigen’s sotigalimab drug candidate is also being tested as a treatment for metastatic melanoma in combination with systemic pembrolizumab. The phase 1/2 clinical trial results in patients with first-line metastatic melanoma showed that the combination therapy was well-tolerated. 

The trial also showed an improvement in the best overall response rate (ORR) relative to pembrolizumab monotherapy, which is the standard of care. The results demonstrated that sotigalimab could be a treatment for multiple cancers. 

*This is not investment advice. 

Apexigen (APGN) stock price.

Apexigen (APGN) stock rallied 126.78% to trade at $1.99, from Friday’s closing price of $0.88.