Shares of Seelos Therapeutics (NASDAQ:SEEL) were skyrocketing 35.2% higher as of 11:01 a.m. EST on Friday. The huge gain came after BTIG initiated coverage on the stock with a buy recommendation and a one-year price target nearly 4.7 times higher than Seelos' closing price on Thursday.
So what
Investors shouldn't buy a biotech stock (or any other stock, for that matter) just because an analyst likes it. However, it's always a good idea to gain an understanding of the reasons behind the bullish view.
In this case, BTIG analyst Robert Hazlett likes the prospects for Seelos' pipeline. Last week, the biotech announced that it had completed enrollment in a pivotal proof-of-concept study evaluating SLS-002 in treating acute suicidal ideation and behavior in patients with major depressive disorder.
Seelos also has two other clinical-stage candidates. It's evaluating SLS-005 in phase 2 studies for three neurodegenerative disorders: amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), rare genetic disease Sanfilippo syndrome, and oculopharyngeal muscular dystrophy.
Now what
The drugmaker should report key data from its study of SLS-002 in the second quarter of this year. Seelos also plans to advance SLS-005 into a pivotal phase 2b/3 clinical study targeting ALS in the first half of the year.
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