OCGN Stock Price Increased Over 500% This Past Month: Why It Happened
By Amit Chowdhry ?
February 27, 2021
Pulse 2.0
OCGN Stock Price Increased Over 500% This Past Month: Why It Happened
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The stock price of Ocugen Inc (NASDAQ: OCGN) increased by over 500% this past month. This is why it happened.
The stock price of Ocugen Inc (NASDAQ: OCGN) increased by over 500% this past month as it went from $1.82 per share on January 28 to $10.95 on February 26. These were several catalysts that drove the stock price up.
February 2
The shares of Ocugen climbed over 80% on February 2 after the company announced a deal with Indian-based vaccine development company Bharat Biotech for commercializing a COVID-19 vaccine called Covaxin. The terms of the deal were specified around that time.
As part of the agreement, Ocugen signed on to have U.S. rights for Covaxin and it would be responsible for conducting clinical trials. If those trials are successful, then Ocugen would pursue regulatory approvals. And then Ocugen would receive 45% of the profits if Covaxin becomes commercialized while Bharat Biotech would receive the remaining profits.
The Central Licensing Authority in India had allowed Covaxin to be distributed for emergency use there even though clinical trials were still happening.
“Covaxin has generated excellent safety data with robust immune responses to multiple viral proteins that persist,” said Bharat Biotech chairman Krishna Ella in a press release at that time. “With the recent progression of Covaxin use under EUA in India, I am confident that we will be able to work with Ocugen to develop a plan to bring Covaxin to the U.S. market.”
February 4
The stock price climbed over 15% between February 3 and February 4. H.C. Wainwright analyst Swayampakula Ramakanth had upgraded the company stock to a “buy” rating from “neutral.” And he assigned the price target of the company at $4.50, which imputed a 60% upside to the closing price of the stock price at the time.
February 8
On February 8, the stock price of the company increased over 200%. Investors had responded to the company announcing the sale of 3 million shares at $7.65 each as part of a registered direct offering, generating proceeds of about $23 million. That offer price represented a 46% premium on the last closing price. Ocugen had hit its one-year all time high of $18.77 on this day.
February 9
Another catalyst that influenced the stock price around this time was a $13 price target (up from $0.70) by Chardan Capital. However, Chardan Capital downgraded the stock to “Neutral” from “Buy” based on the recent stock price surge. More details here.
February 23
Between February 8 and February 23, Ocugen had returned some of its aggressive gains. But it made an announcement that led to an uptick in the stock price on February 23.
Ocugen had announced that on the recommendation of the European Medicines Agency (EMA), the European Commission has granted orphan medicinal product designation for OCU400 (AAV5-hNR2E3), for the treatment of both retinitis pigmentosa (RP) and Leber Congenital amaurosis (LCA).
“We believe the granting of this designation by the European Commission validates the potential of our modifier gene therapy platform to treat many inherited retinal diseases (IRDs). IRDs associated with RP and LCA diseases are caused by mutations in over 175 genes, and it is impractical to develop therapies that are specific to each gene. OCU400 has the remarkable potential to address a significant number of patients globally who are in desperate need of rescue from these blindness diseases and we are working diligently to move this program to clinic,” said Dr. Shankar Musunuri, Chairman of the Board, CEO and Co-founder of Ocugen.
The prevalence of RP in Europe is estimated at about 165,000 patients and the prevalence of LCA in Europe is estimated at approximately 40,000 patients. And globally, the number of people suffering from RP and LCA is estimated to be around 2.0 million and 0.2 million, respectively.
“RP and LCA are chronically debilitating groups of IRDs characterized by severe impairment in visual functions starting as young as infancy, often progressing into night blindness and tunnel vision and eventually causing total blindness as early as the patient’s mid-40s. Since the existing approved therapy only addresses a small percentage of this population, there is an unmet need for new treatment options addressing a wider population of patients with IRDs,” added Dr. Mohamed Genead, Chair of Retina Scientific Advisory Board and Acting Chief Medical Officer of Ocugen.
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