Repros Therapeutics, Inc. (RPRX)

[The Borg]

Biotech Roundup: Judgment Day for Dendreon; Just Say No to Pfizer-Wyeth Combo

http://www.minyanville.com/articles/PFE-BMY-NBIX-WYE-ZGEN-rprx/index/a/20780/from/yahoo

Repros Therapeutics

At the end of September, I wrote about Repros Therapeutics (RPRX) and a recent financing deal. I was hopeful the deal would start a new trend in financing in the space. In the deal, the current investors decided to make a meaningful additional financing commitment to the company at a price that did not represent a significant discount to the stock price. This is unusual in the biotech space, where even current shareholders often like to extract a pound of flesh from companies they already own.

My hope that this might start a trend in the sector has not yet been borne out – though I’ve heard the performance of the stock since the deal was done (up over 58% from the deal to today) has turned some heads in the investment space. I’ve even read at least one fund manager suggesting this financing might be a model going forward. Let’s hope so.

Repros itself is doing well. It released updated data on a successful Phase II trial in endometriosis, and is demonstrating good progress on enrollment for pivotal trials for their lead drug Proellex. Some folks who have fallen in love with a competitive drug from Neurocrine Biosciences (NBIX) called Elagolix are sniping about the Proellex data, but that’s OK. That’s what makes a market. Elagolix, essentially a reformulation of Lupron, is an improvement over current therapy in this disease. It will sell, but more like an improved buggy whip sold in the age of the automobile.