Humanigen Inc (HGENQ)

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Insiders Buy These 2 Stocks at Discounted Prices — Analysts Say They Have Over 200% Upside Potential

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/insiders-buy-2-stocks-discounted-194703999.html

Next up in Humanigen, a $250 million dollar biopharmaceutical research company, whose leading drug candidate, lenzilumab, is under investigation in three late-stage clinical trials. Lenzilumab is a potential cancer treatment; two of its trials are evaluating it against acute GvHD and chronic myelomonocytic leukemia, while the third, the SHIELD study, will test lenzilumab as a preventative treatment for CAR-T-related toxicities.

Most importantly, however, Humanigen is moving forward with the ACTIV-5/BET-B study, a clinical trial of lenzilumab as a treatment for COVID-19. The company announced earlier this year that it has achieved target enrollment in the ACTIV-5/BET-B study, which is a follow up to last year’s LIVE-AIR Phase 3 study.

The NIH is sponsoring the ACTIV-5/BET-B follow-on, and has advanced the study from a Phase 2 exploratory to a Phase 2/3 treatment investigation. That modification of the study will enable Humanigen to use it as a confirmatory study in a push forward with a Biologics License Application for lenzilumab as a COVID treatment. Top line data is expected in the next quarter.

Investors should note that company management – and some of Wall Street’s biopharma experts – are sanguine about lenzilumab’s ability to treat COVID, regardless of the variants. Management noted in a recent conference that a patient’s risk of going on a ventilator or dying from the virus was not impacted by which variant caused infection. This is an important finding, that can support lenzilumab as a COVID treatment.

Turning to Humanigen’s other clinical projects, the SHIELD study is on schedule and getting started in the first half of this year. The company has announced that it is in alignment with the FDA on the registration phase of the trial. Initial data is expected for release in December of this year.

Two other trials, the Phase 2/3 RATinG and the Phase 2 PREACH-M, are also getting underway in the first part of this year. The company is in the enrollment stage of RATinG, a clinical trial of lenzilumab against acute GvHD. It has begun dosing patients in the PREACH-M trial against Chronic myelomonocytic leukemia. Both of these trials are expected to reach later stages before the end of 2022.

Humanigen shares have been falling steadily for the past 12 months; the stock is down 80% in that period. However, while the shares are down, CSO and Board member Dale Chappell made a stir and swung the sentiment deep into the positive range with his recent purchase of 1 million shares for a total of $3 million.

This stock has also caught the attention of Oppenheimer's 5-star analyst Kevin DeGeeter who sees Humanigen positioning itself for future gains.

“HGEN reiterated top-line data readout from ACTIV-5/BET-B study of lenzilumab in COVID-19 in late 1Q22 or early 2Q22. Management considers >20% reduction on the risk of patients progressing to mechanical ventilation or death as clinically differentiated from competitor compounds. Regulatory filings for lenzilumab in treating hospitalized COVID-19 patients are on track pending ACTIV-5 readout. Separately, we view Phase III development of lenzilumab on prophylaxis of CAR-T neurotoxicity as intriguing…. We view the top-line readout from ACTIV-5/BET-B study in late 1Q22/early 2Q22 as the most important upcoming milestone for HGEN,” DeGeeter noted.

DeGeeter is bullish here, and gives the shares an Outperform (i.e. Buy) rating. His $16 price target suggests an upside of 337% for the year ahead. (To watch DeGeeter’s track record, click here)

All in all, Humanigen boasts a unanimous Strong Buy analyst consensus rating, based on 3 recent stock reviews. The shares are selling for $3.66 and their $23.67 average price target indicates an upside of 547% from that level.